Sayed Kashua is a best-selling, Hebrew-language author, satirical newspaper columnist and writer of a popular TV sitcom in Israel – he should be feeling pretty pleased with himself: but there’s a problem – he’s an Israeli Arab.
Israeli filmmaker Dorit Zimbalist’s Sayed Kashua – Forever Scared follows the writer over a seven-year period, in the process examining the situation of Israel’s one million Arab citizens – descendents of Palestinians who remained living in their towns and villages within Israel’s borders after 1948. “I wanted to make a film about the situation of Israeli Arabs, which is less in the spotlight than the plight of Palestinians, even though it is a big issue for Israel”, explains Zimbalist.
Partially integrated into Israeli society, Israeli Arabs are often treated like second-class citizens. Some ultra-rightwing politicians have even called for the Israeli Arab population to be expelled to the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza. The population faces an uncertain future.
Kashua’s cultural complexities are particularly acute because, as a teenager, he was sent to a Jewish high school and as a result feels as comfortable in Jewish Israeli society as his own Arab milieu, even preferring to write in Hebrew rather than Arabic. Zimbalist charts Kashua’s progress from budding writer to prize-winning author, capturing his own personal journey at the same time. “Sayed was a journalist for a small Jerusalem newspaper. He has a very special style. He tackled some sensitive stuff about the Jews and the Arabs and then his first book, Dancing Arabs, came out. I read it and thought, I’ve got to meet this guy.”
The pair met just after the shooting dead of 13 Israeli Arab citizens in the town of Umm al-Fahm in northern Israel by Israeli policemen during a popular demonstration in October, 2000. “I think we clicked because we were both very shocked by what had happened in October 2000”, says Zimbalist. “I had just returned to Israel after 11 years away. It opened my eyes. You don’t see this stuff from the outside. I was naive. I couldn’t live with the idea that 13 citizens were shot dead for demonstrating. You’re not allowed to say it but I don’t think they would have shot Jewish Israelis for the same thing.”
“I said to him, ‘I have a small camera, no money and would like to make a film, I don’t know where it’s going to go. I would like to make a film about you or with you’. He said, ‘You can make it about me.’ I don’t think he realized I would be following him around for the next seven years”, Zimbalist says with a laugh.
Melanie Goodfellow
IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary
Munt 13 Tue 24-11 18:30
OBA Fri 27-11 15:00