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Amos Gitai “History is not a linear story”

2017; OpenEdition Journals; Issue: 124 Linguagem: Inglês

10.4000/temoigner.5717

2506-6390

Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration

Amos Gitai is considered as the most important living Israeli filmmaker, known for Disengagement, Free Zone, Kippur and Kadosh among many other titles. His films have been selected for the festivals of Cannes, Venice, Berlin, and Rotterdam. In 2008 he was awarded an honorary Leopard at the Locarno festival. Apart from feature films, he makes documentaries and video installations, and has been involved in book publications. He actively engages in public debate, generating controversy every so often with his views on the Arab-Israeli conflict. Our conversation with Amos Gitai took place at the Center for Fine Arts (BOZAR) in Brussels, where he presented his exhibition/installation Chronicle of an Assassination Foretold. The exhibition was made up of archive footage, pictures, and other documents Gitai collected over the years by way of preparing for Rabin, the Last Day, his 2015 docudrama about the assassination of the then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on 4 November 1995. The film was the starting point for a wider discussion about his work, the position of artists and intellectuals in contemporary Israeli society, the peace process, and the importance of remembrance.