The Video Department

Dir: Noah Sokolovsky

Contemporary Restoration: Eric le Roy and Ya'akov Gross (1998)

Restored by the Film Archive of the CNC, Bois d'Arcy, France, in cooperation with the Israel Film Archive-Jerusalem Cinematheque

A rare look at the pioneers of the First and Second Aliyah, including footage of the the agricultural communities, as well as Jewish urban life in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Hebron, Tiberias and Haifa.  The film disappeared without a trace after WWI, but was discovered in 1997 in the Film Archive of the Centre National de la Cinematographie in Bois D'Arcy, France, and is now presented in its newly restored and preserved version. (60 min., Hebrew voice-over OR international version: 78 min., music track, Fr., Eng. & Heb. inter-titles).

Dir:  Ya'akov Gross

Music: Yochanan Cinnamon

Restoration and Adaptation: Israel Film Archive - Jerusalem Cinematheque in cooperation with the National Center for Jewish Film, Brandeis University

The early builders of the Zionist vision, pioneers of the Third and Fourth Aliyah of the 1920's, are captured on film by Ya'akov Ben Dov, who was a pioneer in silent filmmaking in Palestine between 1917 and 1933.  A compilation documentary made up of three of his films which were considered lost, but were recently rediscovered in archives around the world and were technically restored. (60 min., Hebrew or English).

Dir: Ya'akov Gross

Restoration and adaptation: Israel Film Archive - Jerusalem Cinematheque

A look at Palestine in the 1930's and 40's, based on the Carmel Newsreel collection (1935-1958) by Nathan Axelrod.  A compilation film which portrays the Jewish sector in Palestine, the rapid building - physical, artistic and cultural - in which it was engaged and the existential struggles which occupied it during those years. The film includes elements of daily life in the city and town, examples of building of settlements overnight, cultural events and political leaders.  In addition, it provides a new-old perspective on Arab-Jewish relations. (60 min, Heb., Eng. subt.)

Sc. & Dir.: Ya'akov Gross
        Prod: Israel Film Archive - Jerusalem Cinematheque

"Moledet" - the first film laboratory in Tel Aviv - was established in 1927 at the initiative of two pioneers of silent film and talkies in Israel: producer and translator Yerushalayim Segal, and cinematographer Nathan Axelrod. Throughout its seven years of activity, the studio produced dozens of newsreels, entertaining advertisement films and Zionist documentaries. Moledet combines selected episodes from the history of Tel Aviv, the first Hebrew city, and its inhabitants, settlement life and agricultural work in the Hepher Vally, in Natanya and elsewhere. Also shown here are the dedication of the Iraqi oil pipeline at Haifa, sports events including the first Maccabiah in Tel Aviv, the first Purim celebrations, relations between Jews and Arabs in Palestine, advertisements, cultural and artisticb presentations, and much more.

Dir. & Ph.: Helmer Lerski

Music: Paul Dessau

A monumental and poetic documentary film which dwells on the agricultural and technological achievements of the early pioneers in pre-state Israel. Helmer Lerski is an artistic cinematographer who understood how to utilize the natural light of the land of Israel in order to achieve maximal effect.  The dramatic music track adds an additional strength to the film which helps to make it the most important cinematic achievement of Israel of the 1930's. (48 min., music only).

Dir: Chris Marker

Prod: Wim van Leer

An impressionistic journey by internationally renowned documentary filmmaker, Chris Marker.  Marker searches for answers to questions about Israel's struggle  - not so much a struggle for existence, but rather a struggle concerning the meaning of that existence, both spiritual and cultural.  Winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, 1961. (58 min., Heb., Eng. & Fr. subt.).

Dir.: Baruch Dienar

With: Leo Filler, Yisrael Rubinshik,  Ninette Dinar, Oded Teomi, Bomba Tzur

A sensitive story of heroism and bravery, set during the period of the BILU in the 1880's.  A group of pioneers form a cooperative settlement.  They are then confronted with countless obstacles, from the harsh conditions of nature, to the resentment of neighboring Arabs, to the whims of the Turkish authorities, to internal struggle within the settlement. A milestone in early Israeli filmmaking. (105 min., Hebrew, English subt.)