WEEKLONG RUN AT MoMA OF AMOS GITAI’S CARMEL LOOKS AT THE DIRECTOR’S COURSE THROUGH ISRAELI HISTORY
MoMA Presents: Amos Gitai’s Carmel
January 13–January 18, 2010
The Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 2
Carmel. 2009. Israel/France. Directed by Amos Gitai. Pictured: Karen Mor. Courtesy Kino International, New York.
The Museum of Modern Art screens Amos Gitai’s Carmel (2009) in a week-long run from January 13 through January 18, 2010. The director’s newest film, Carmel combines fiction and nonfiction, and possesses elements of both documentary and feature film-making.
Carmel charts the director’s course through Israeli history, and Gitai, who is only two years younger than Israel, becomes a lively symbol for the country itself. A child of the kibbutz, a young soldier wounded during the Yom Kippur War, and a sometimes testy but always honest artist whose works are more often welcomed abroad than at home, Gitai has led a life as dense, rich,and complex as the nation of his birth. Carmel blends historical elements with themes explored in his other films, taking on a variety of subjects, and offering a diary of the director’s concerns about politics, family, and present-day Israel. The film is an ode to Gitai’s family—and he is frequently present in it, as are members of his family—with a focus on the remarkably articulate Efratia, the filmmaker’s late mother. Memories of her (played in the film by actress Keren Mor) are expressed through letters from her read in part by Gitai’s wife, Rivka, and texts relating to Israel read by Jeanne Moreau.
MoMA Presents: Amos Gitai’s Carmel is organized by Laurence Kardish, Senior Curator, Department of Film, The Museum of Modern Art, who also organized a 2008 MoMA retrospective of Amos Gitai’s work.
Carmel. 2009. Israel/France. Amos Gitai. 93 min.
Screening Schedule:
Wednesday, January 13, 7:00, T2
Thursday, January 14, 7:00, T2
Friday, January 15, 4:30, T1
Saturday, January 16, 4:00, T2
Sunday, January 17, 2:30, T1
Monday, January 18, 8:00, T1
Carmel is released in the U.S. by Kino International, New York.
