CINE-CONFERENCE WITH FILM DIRECTOR AMOS GITAI
“Rabin, the Last Day”, the new film of the Israeli director, Amos Gitai, was premiered this week at the cinema “Le Méliès” in Montreuil, near Paris, in a cine-conference organised by Licra (International League Against Racism and Antisemitism) for Get the Trolls Out! More than 200 people attended the screening, which was followed by a debate with the director, Amos Gitai and the scenarist, Marie-José Sanselme.
The movie is a combination of a film and a documentary based on television archives, photos, archival records and re-enactments of the Shamgar Commission’s official inquiry into the murder. “The scenario is strictly factual, not a word has been added”, the director said at the debate. Gitai collected testimonies, archives and documentation for over three years.
The film traces what happened on the 4th of November 1995 in Tel Aviv, just a few minutes after the discourse of the Prime Minister of Israel in front of tens of thousands of peace demonstrators. For Amos Gitai, the murder of Ithzak Rabin was “an abrupt event which has caused the breakdown of the Israeli society”. Rabin had, above all, the courage and the determination to continue its fights in an historical context of violent sedition of a part of the Israeli people, Gitai added.
During the debate, the director provided an alternative view on this murder by taking into account the violent political and societal context of Rabin’s time. The movie highlights the strategies of the political parties using “the collective hysteria with the purpose of being elected or of strengthening their position in the political scene”. Gitai’s insights were also useful to interpret and discuss the current political French, including the increasing popularity of the National Front. The public was particularly interested in knowing about the similarities between the Israeli and the French contexts.
Next cine-conference of “Rabin, the Last Day”: 10 January 2016 at 8PM at cinema Le Luxy in Ivry-sur-Seine (near Paris).
