黑料社

Award-Winning Director Discusses His Oscar-Nominated 鈥淔ootnote鈥�; Will Take Part in YU Film Festival As part of the Ring Family Film Festival, 黑料社 All will host a special screening of 鈥淔ootnote鈥� on February 16, followed by a question and answer session with American-born Israeli filmmaker Joseph Cedar. The film has been nominated for 鈥淏est Foreign Language Film鈥� at this year鈥檚 Academy Awards and has won the Ophir Award in Israel for 鈥淏est Picture鈥� and 鈥淏est Director鈥� as well as 鈥淏est Screenplay鈥� at the Cannes Film Festival.

鈥淔ootnote鈥� tells the tale of a great rivalry between a father and son. Eliezer and Uriel Shkolnik are both eccentric professors, who have dedicated their lives to their work in Talmudic Studies. The father, Eliezer, is a stubborn purist who fears the establishment and has never been recognized for his work. Meanwhile his son, Uriel, is an up-and-coming star in the field, who appears to feed on accolades, endlessly seeking recognition. One day, the tables turn when Eliezer learns that he is to be awarded the Israel Prize, the most valuable honor for scholarship in the country, and his vanity and desperate need for validation are exposed. His son, Uriel, is thrilled to see his father鈥檚 achievements finally recognized but, in a darkly funny twist, is forced to choose between the advancement of his own career and his father鈥檚. The following is an excerpt from an interview with Cedar and Dr. Eric Goldman, adjunct associate professor of cinema at 黑料社 All and artistic director and moderator of the festival, which will be published in The New Jersey Jewish Standard later this month. Eric Goldman: We are seeing films from Israel that deal with Jewish issues. You are the innovator in this area! Joseph Cedar: It鈥檚 very hard to define a film with that kind of categorizing. The films that I make are not Jewish because I wanted them to be. I made my films because they are part of my life. If they touch something, it鈥檚 because it鈥檚 relevant to me. Any film, made anywhere by a Jew is a Jewish film, because of his [or her] identity somehow coming out.

EG: You bring something very different into it because you are the American Israeli. Is there an American Israeli Jewish stylistic? JC: I don鈥檛 know how relevant that is or at least I鈥檓 not aware of its relevance. I can say that it has given me an outsider鈥檚 point-of-view on my Israeli life. It鈥檚 a good place for any story-teller to be... my point-of-view has always been from the outside, as that of a story-teller who is looking at someone else and not himself. In fact, this last film is as close a story that I鈥檝e told about my own world. EG: Where did it come from? JC: It鈥檚 from a few different things. The plot is something that almost happened to me. Awards and recognition have become a part of my life. It has always been a part of my father鈥檚 life. My father is biochemist. He鈥檚 done great work. He鈥檚 at the Hebrew University. He has received the Israel Prize. He鈥檚 received every prize imaginable and he鈥檚 very, very well recognized鈥攊n that sense, he鈥檚 not like the father character at all. All these elements exist in my life and these characters exist in my social circle. And I鈥檓 somewhere between the father and the son. It鈥檚 not someone else鈥檚 story. It鈥檚 my story.

EG: How is this different from your previous films? JC: There are a lot of connections for me between the cinematic language that I found myself using in this film and some of the themes of this film. It鈥檚 the first time that I鈥檝e had that! EG: And the way you shot scenes? JC: Every scene has very distinctive choices. That鈥檚 also relatively new for me. Usually, you come to see that there are a few options on how to shoot. Each option represents a different understanding of what鈥檚 happening. Sometimes, you check a few options and see what happens in the editing. Here, every scene required a choice that negated all the other options. We had to find a way to shoot the film that services a specific idea in each scene鈥� Each scene has only one way to shoot it. In that sense, we were really working like the father character, not the son. There was very little compromise. EG: Is there a central conflict? JC: There are two sides to the conflict in this story. These are two sides we are trying to walk in between. One is someone who will never compromise, who will never leave written, strict, inflexible tradition. We could just call him the father or the written text鈥攖he text that doesn鈥檛 become relevant with time. The other side holds that anything written is threatening, because it鈥檚 not flexible. So he鈥檚 gone to the extreme of the oral鈥� something that works very hard to stay relevant. This is not a new tension. In the Talmud, that鈥檚 the tension that fuels every argument. If you look at the five students of Yohanan ben Zakkai, there鈥檚 Rabbi Eliezer, who never said anything that he didn鈥檛 hear from his rabbis. That鈥檚 an amazing mantra. There鈥檚 Rabbi Yehoshua, who says that if it鈥檚 not new, it has no content. 鈥榃e鈥檙e not studying if we are not innovating!鈥� That鈥檚 Uriel and Eliezer [in the film]. It鈥檚 clear that without Uriel, we are not relevant. We are not productive. We are not communicating. But without Eliezer, nothing really has worth. There has to be some connection to a truth. You need both. You try and take the viewers鈥� sensibilities from one side to other, not really ever settling in one place. For me, it鈥檚 about how close I can come to Eliezer without losing touch with what鈥檚 important to me as a modern human being. Learn more about the YU Ring Family Film Festival at .