Mikdamot / Premilinaries

Fascinating. Jean Perret, Vision du Reel

The voice of this film is that of the Israeli author S. Yizhar, who reads the first few chapters of his autobiography "Mikdamot" (“Preliminaries” or “Prefaces” in Hebrew). Director Anat Even (“Detained”/"Asurot") accompanies Yizhar’s voice with her gaze, which continues it and stands against it at one and the same time.

S. Yizhar describes a dramatic day in the life of infant Yizhar, (1917) a story that is a dialogue of love and reckoning with his father, with the founding generation, and the Zionist dream. Even, who sees Yizhar as a member of that founding father generation, examines this score-settling up close through purely visual means. The film traverses Israel’s battered landscape, moving along its bypass roads that masquerade as the highway to Zionism, progressing and retreating in time when in fact it is stuck at the very point that Yizhar, the infant/80 year old, marked in “Mikdamot” – when the Zionist dream is simultaneously realized and shattered.

Yizhar Smilansky (b. 1917, known as S. Yizhar), is considered to be the greatest Israeli author of 20th century Hebrew writing; he is a part of the literary-cultural canon in Israel. His work spans over 60 years of writing and uses a unique language to draft the geographical and human landscape of Israel before, during and after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.

Anat Even, Israel 2005, 40 min, Video, colour, Hebrew with English, French or German subtitles 
Cinematographer, Director & Producer Anat Even | Script Oron Adar & Anat Even | Editor Oron Adar | Music D.J. E. | Exe. Producer Zeev Smilansky