January 2011

1. New Address: mec film moved
2. JAFFA – The Orange’s Clockwork in theatres
3. The Image of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict in Film
4. Meet mec film at Berlinale
5. Publication: review of Julian Schnabel’s MIRAL online
6. DVD of the month: MY DREAM HOUSE
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1. NEW ADDRESS:  mec film MOVED
mec film
Emdener Strasse 48d
10551 Berlin
Germany
Phone, fax and mail are still the same
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2. JAFFA – THE ORANGE’S CLOCKWORK IN THEATRES
Since mid-October Eyal Sivan’s latest documentary JAAFA – THE ORANGE’S CLOCKWORK is running in German theatres. This month:
28.+30.1. 11 Karlstorkino Heidelberg
27.1.-2.2. 11 Tilsiter Lichtspiele Berlin 
23.+26.1. 11 Cinema Muenster
22.+30.1. 11 Gasteig Munich

Content
Who doesn’t know it, the Jaffa-Orange? Since decades it has been tasty, healthy and famous. Stars like Ingrid Bergmann and Louis Armstrong posed for it – “Jaffa” was the Coca Cola of the juices. The history of prominent seaport Jaffa, whose remains are a neighborhood of Tel Aviv today, stretches back thousands of years. Till the beginning of the 20th century it was one of the most vibrant and cosmopolitan cities in the Middle East – culturally, economically and politically. For centuries oranges were cultivated in its hinterland and exported via the city’s harbor.

In Jaffa, The Orange’s Clockwork Eyal Sivan traces the orange-brand on the basis of a unique composition of archival material. He shows old photos, early film-footage, commercials, political posters, and paintings on the orange to Israeli and Palestinian intellectuals and workers from the citrus-industry. They remember, reflect and analyze their personal and their country’s history using the example of the Jaffa-Orange. The different narratives complement each other, break myths and write a history beyond nationalist historiography. At the same time the visual self-manifestation of Zionist brand “Jaffa” shows the systematic creation of a legend.
Eyal Sivan, IL/D/F/B 2009, 88 min, Hebrew/Arabic/English/French with German subtitles, Video 
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3. THE IMAGE OF THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT IN FILM
It seems that over the last 40 years no other conflict was displayed as much as the Israeli-Palestinian one. It was filmed for TV, reflected in films and recorded in still photography. Most of the images we know are shot in the territory of the conflict itself, a territory which is not accessible for the vast majority of Arabs. A conflict documented by foreigners who are usually not speaking the respective language and are illiterate to the codes of the societies and place, or explained by those who are part of it. What are the images we are presented? What is their purpose and what do they reflect? Do they mobilize or document still stand? What is an image of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? What is its image? Despite of the pictures promptly associated with the catchword “Israeli-Palestinian Conflict” there is number of films, photographs, and literature that create refection and imagination off road the dominant image-codes.
Lecture by Irit Neidhardt, Saturday, January 22nd @ Gasteig Munich as opening lecture of Israel/Palestine Film-Week Munich
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4. MEET MEC FILM AT BERLINALE
Irit Neidhardt is representing mec film at Berlinale, to arrange a meeting write to irit [at] mecfilm.de, during the festival 49-163-5684073.
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5. PUBLICATION: REVIEW OF JULIAN SCHNABEL’S MIRAL ONLINE
A New Take on an Old View of Palestine. In: Qantara.de 2010 (Title and intro by qantara.de)
Read article
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6. DVD OF THE MONTH: MY DREAM HOUSE
Content
Four families in Israel/Palestine built their Dream Houses. This process confronts them with the wounds of their past and takes us to their dreams for a better future:
Kalman was born to Holocaust survivors in a refugee camp in Cyprus after World War II, his first house in Israel was a house left by the Arab community in Haifa.
Zaki is the son of Palestinian refugees who were expelled from their village in the Israeli War of Independence, the Palestinian Naqba of 1948. He and his family live only few miles away from the ruins of their former home.
Michal, daughter of Israeli settlers in Sinai, saw the bulldozers destroy her beloved home during the evacuation from Sinai in 1982 and Rina never had a private home in the Kibbutz where she grew up.
Through these personal stories Tal creates a sensitive kaleidoscope of Israeli society at the beginning of the new Millennium.

Ran Tal, Israel 2005, documentary, 57 min, Hebrew/Arabic
Subtitles: English
PAL, region free, on stock

Awards
Mayor Award (DocAviv)
Best Sound Design (DocAviv)

Institutional rights: according to the rights you whish to acquire and your territory the fee varies, please place your order at info [at] mecfilm.de
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