Rahat Film Festival puts coexistence in the spotlight

The Rahat Film Festival – which promotes coexistence and celebrates cinema – will take place for the second time, February 10-17, at the Rahat Cinematheque in the Rahat Cultural Palace, in spite of the war and the losses the Bedouin community has suffered in it.

The festival spotlights movies from countries along the Mediterranean and all over the Middle East. Rahat, the largest Bedouin city in the world, has struggled to develop its economy and to be integrated into the social fabric of Israel, and the cultural cooperation that this festival represents is an important step toward achieving these goals.

Fouad Ziadna, the director of the Rahat Community Center, which is sponsoring the festival, wrote in a statement in the program, “In this difficult war, we found ourselves, Jews and Arabs, suffering together the same pain; the war did not distinguish who was Arab and who was Jewish. Bedouin society in the Negev suffered the worst blow it had ever known, both in the number of casualties and in the number of abductees, and all this is very clear evidence that the Bedouin can no longer remain invisible. Together with our dear partners, we led the project that will be much talked about – the joint war room – and we showed in the most difficult times that together we are stronger, and coping together is the key to shared life in the most appropriate way. We once again welcome film lovers, the visitors to the Rahat Film Festival, celebrating shared life.”

During the October 7 massacre by Hamas, over 20 Bedouin were killed and six were taken hostage. Several are still being held in Gaza. Many Bedouin acted heroically to rescue those who were attacked by Hamas at the Supernova music festival and in the Gaza border communities.

Despite the hostage crisis and the deaths, Daniel Alter, the producer and artistic director of the festival, felt that the event needs to take place as scheduled. Describing the festival as a “miracle,” he said he had lost several friends in the October 7 massacre, but that after about 10 days of shock and sorrow, “I pulled myself together and got back to work on the festival.”

There had been ambitious plans to bring guests from abroad, but due to the war, the program had to be revised.

“I tried to find a way to make every screening more than just a movie,” he said. “With almost every screening, there is a meeting with filmmakers, an opportunity for discussion or some other activity, before or after the movie.”

What movies will be shown at the Rahat Film Festival?

The festival will include an original movie produced in honor of the event, Bedouin Dream by Kaid Abu Latif, which tells the over 50-year history of the city of Rahat, from the point of view of its entrepreneurs and artists. The screening will be attended by the present mayor of Rahat, Atta Abu Mdegm, and many of its former mayors.

The festival will open with Sugar and Stars, directed by Sebastien Tulard, which is based on the true story of Yazid Ichemrahen, the son of Moroccan immigrants to France who became a master chef.

A highlight of the festival will be a screening of the movie The Third Man by Adi Adwan, a documentary about Israel Prize-winning actor Makram J. Khoury.

Khoury has had a distinguished career as an actor. Abroad, he played Shylock in a filmed version of The Merchant of Venice with the Royal Shakespeare Company and appeared on The West Wing. In Israel, he won an Ophir Award for Best Actor for his performance as a Greek Holocaust survivor in Magic Men by Guy Nattiv and Erez Tadmor, and has a long list of film, television, and stage credits.

The screening will be preceded by a symposium with Khoury and Adwan, as well as other Israeli arts professionals, moderated by movie critic and director Albert Gabay. Participants will include director/actor/writer Shlomi Elkabetz, actress Rawda Suleiman, and actor Ghassan Ashqar. There will also be an opportunity to tour Rahat.

Another special event will feature a screening of Avi Nesher’s Image of Victory, which tells the story of the battle for Kibbutz Nitzanim, not far from Rahat, during the War of Independence, told from the points of view of the Jews living at the kibbutz and a photojournalist from Cairo embedded with the Egyptian troops making a documentary about the war. It will be followed by a panel discussion with Nesher and two of the movie’s stars, Amir Khoury and Ala Dakka.

The Blue Caftan, a Moroccan film directed by Maryam Touzani, tells the story of a devoted husband and his ailing wife who make traditional caftans, and how the husband finds himself attracted to a new male apprentice who comes to work with them. The prizewinning film stars Lubna Azabal, Saleh Bakri, and Ayoub Missioui, and will be released in Israel later this year. Gabay will present a lecture on the image of women in films before the screening.

Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar’s The Conductor, aka Divertimento, is based on the story of two French sisters from an Algerian family who dream of careers in classical music, one as a cellist and one as a conductor. The movie will be preceded by a conversation between festival director Alter and the Israeli maestro Doron Salomon, who has conducted prestigious orchestras around the world.

Maha Haj’s latest movie, Mediterranean Fever, about a depressed writer who befriends his new neighbor, a handyman who dabbles in petty crime, will also be on the program. Its producer, Baher Agbariya, will take part in a discussion before the film that will also include director Yusuf Abu Madi’am and actors Hanna Azoulay-Hasfari and Uri Gavriel.

LIKE ALL good film festivals, the Rahat event is both national in focus and geared toward engaging the local population. To that end, it will feature children’s movies dubbed into Arabic.

It might sound to many of us like a small matter, but in Israel the vast majority of movies for young children are dubbed into Hebrew, and Arab-speaking kids don’t often get that experience of seeing movies on the big screen. But at Rahat, children will be able to enjoy Disney classics, such as the original Jungle Book, Peter Pan, The Aristocats, and Alice in Wonderland, as well as more recent movies, including The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Elemental, and the live-action version of The Little Mermaid.

As Lia van Leer, the founder of the Jerusalem and Haifa cinematheques, always understood, every community needs to develop a filmmaking culture in order to tell its stories, and fostering a love of movies in children is a critical first step.

In addition to the Rahat Community Center, the sponsors of the festival include the Office of Regional Cooperation, the Rahat Municipality, and the Council of Community Centers. The festival is taking place in cooperation with the Red South Festival.

For more details and to see the full program, go to rff.co.il