Katalog 2004 - DOK.fest München

years of existence the New Foundation supported many films that
deal with conflict and has attempted to choose films that try to
examine the conflict from as broad a spectrum as possible.
The Foundation functions within a complex reality in which the
questions of how to give voice to the “other” arises; and indeed,
who is the “other”? Is the “other” the Arab or perhaps the Jewish
Settler? Is it legitimate to call someone “other”?
To deal with these questions two projects were initiated in 2001-
2002; the Arab Culture Project and the Settler Project. We approached
Arab filmmakers with the request for films dealing with Israeli
Arab identity and culture from a personal point of view.
Paradise Lost, directed by Ibtisam Mara’ana, is just one example
of the results. A young director investigates the secret past of her
village Paradise (Fardis – in Arabic) – a film-diary about recreating
a lost history, and about the re-defining of modern womanhood
within traditional Arab village life.
The New Foundation for Cinema & Television aims to invest in original
documentary films that utilize cinematic media uniquely to
tell a yet untold story. Films which are an expression of the filmmaker
himself, in his own unique language, and not created in typical
television documentary format.
The personal style of the filmmaker, haziness of borders and format
that are developing and changing with time, a statement and
taking a personal stand above and beyond the limits of a normal
documentary, a creation that exists beyond the present, crossing
borders and cultures, a creation that is able to reflect the inner
world of the filmmaker and at the same time tell the story he wants
to tell; all of these are clearly the basis and essence of documentary
endeavor that we are looking for.
The documentary cinema that receives aid for production from the
Foundation is the archive of tomorrow’s Israel. I am certain that in
fifty years time, the researcher of Israeli society will be able to
observe in the clarity of documentary cinema, the complex, – not
one-dimensional – reality of a multi cultural society deliberating
bitter conflicts in a reality of disagreement.
David Fisher
Director of NFCT
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