Eyal Sivan
Encyclopedia
Eyal Sivan is an Israeli
filmmaker and critic noted for his criticisms of Israeli
policies.
, Sivan attended school in Jerusalem, but dropped out to pursue photography. Though he found work as a fashion photographer in Tel-Aviv, Sivan left Israel in 1985 for Paris
, where the political climate was more tolerant of his views.
. The film won numerous awards. His next movie, Izkor: Slaves of Memory (1991) set the route for his future work, starting the conflict with official Israeli institutions. In Izkor, Sivan explores the ways of instrumentalising the memory in the Israeli educational system and dispels the "teleology
" of the Zionist
super-narrative in his foundational tenets - linearity and coherence. The film discusses the politics of remembrance, a term introduced by the historian Raul Hilberg
, as applied to the Jewish state and its politics.
Sivan's 2004 film, Route 181: Fragments of a Journey in Palestine-Israel, was created with Palestinian author Michel Khleifi
. It presents his view of the banality of evil
in the Israeli army. Traveling across the 1947 border established by the UN Resolution 181 to the West Bank
they meet an Israeli soldier with philosophic inclination, who loves Kafka
and who follows orders without question. Although the movie explicates no similarities on the Nazi and Zionist realities, they are implied. Sivan targets Zionism as it is presented as an exemplar of refusing to recognize the permanent existence of the banality of evil. The film led to the accusations by a prominent French philosopher Alain Finkielkraut
that Sivan is a self-hating Jew
and that the portions of the film dealing with the Holocaust had been plagiarized.
Claude Lanzmann
, the filmmaker of Shoah (film)
, opined that
Further investigation of the banality of evil is evident in two more of Sivan's films. I Love You All (2004), a film on the surveillance and the control in DDR also speaks about it - representing extreme and almost unbelievable image of a society which has acquired one super-narrative and developed a system which makes it impossible to even speak about the possibility of anything outside it. Citizens K. (2007) is a story of the political success of the Kaczynski brothers (Jarosław and Lech
) in Poland
, though a much brighter social satire, in its essence showing how one obscure, conservative, and backward idea (nationalism
in this particular case), manipulated and popularized in the market and the media, can gain roots and spread to the point of being accepted as an unquestionable truth and the non-recognition.
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
filmmaker and critic noted for his criticisms of Israeli
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
policies.
Biography
Born in HaifaHaifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
, Sivan attended school in Jerusalem, but dropped out to pursue photography. Though he found work as a fashion photographer in Tel-Aviv, Sivan left Israel in 1985 for Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, where the political climate was more tolerant of his views.
Career
His first film, Aqabat-Jaber, passing through, released in 1987, follows the daily life of Palestinian refugees at the Aqabat-Jaber camp in the West BankWest Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
. The film won numerous awards. His next movie, Izkor: Slaves of Memory (1991) set the route for his future work, starting the conflict with official Israeli institutions. In Izkor, Sivan explores the ways of instrumentalising the memory in the Israeli educational system and dispels the "teleology
Teleology
A teleology is any philosophical account which holds that final causes exist in nature, meaning that design and purpose analogous to that found in human actions are inherent also in the rest of nature. The word comes from the Greek τέλος, telos; root: τελε-, "end, purpose...
" of the Zionist
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
super-narrative in his foundational tenets - linearity and coherence. The film discusses the politics of remembrance, a term introduced by the historian Raul Hilberg
Raul Hilberg
Raul Hilberg was an Austrian-born American political scientist and historian. He was widely considered to be the world's preeminent scholar of the Holocaust, and his three-volume, 1,273-page magnum opus, The Destruction of the European Jews, is regarded as a seminal study of the Nazi Final...
, as applied to the Jewish state and its politics.
Sivan's 2004 film, Route 181: Fragments of a Journey in Palestine-Israel, was created with Palestinian author Michel Khleifi
Michel Khleifi
Michel Khleifi is a Palestinian film writer, director and producer. He emigrated from Israel in 1970 and now resides in Belgium. There, he studied television and theatre directing at the Institut National Supérieur des Arts du Spectacle . After graduating from INSAS, he worked in Belgium...
. It presents his view of the banality of evil
Banality of Evil
Banality of evil is a phrase coined by Hannah Arendt and incorporated in the title of her 1963 work Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil. It describes the thesis that the great evils in history generally, and the Holocaust in particular, were not executed by fanatics or...
in the Israeli army. Traveling across the 1947 border established by the UN Resolution 181 to the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
they meet an Israeli soldier with philosophic inclination, who loves Kafka
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...
and who follows orders without question. Although the movie explicates no similarities on the Nazi and Zionist realities, they are implied. Sivan targets Zionism as it is presented as an exemplar of refusing to recognize the permanent existence of the banality of evil. The film led to the accusations by a prominent French philosopher Alain Finkielkraut
Alain Finkielkraut
Alain Finkielkraut is a French essayist, and son of a Jewish-Polish manufacturer of fine leather goods who had been deported to Auschwitz and survived. He currently teaches at the École polytechnique as professor of the "history of ideas and modernity" in the department of humanities and social...
that Sivan is a self-hating Jew
Self-hating Jew
Self-hating Jew is a term used to allege that a Jewish person holds antisemitic beliefs or engages in antisemitic actions. The concept gained widespread currency after Theodor Lessing's 1930 book Der Jüdische Selbsthass ; the term became "something of a key term of opprobrium in and beyond Cold...
and that the portions of the film dealing with the Holocaust had been plagiarized.
Claude Lanzmann
Claude Lanzmann
Claude Lanzmann is a French filmmaker and professor at European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland.-Biography:Lanzmann attended the Lycée Blaise-Pascal in Clermont-Ferrand. He joined the French resistance at the age of 18 and fought in Auvergne...
, the filmmaker of Shoah (film)
Shoah (film)
This page is about the film by the name of Shoah. For other uses, see Shoah Shoah is a 1985 French documentary film directed by Claude Lanzmann about the Holocaust...
, opined that
Further investigation of the banality of evil is evident in two more of Sivan's films. I Love You All (2004), a film on the surveillance and the control in DDR also speaks about it - representing extreme and almost unbelievable image of a society which has acquired one super-narrative and developed a system which makes it impossible to even speak about the possibility of anything outside it. Citizens K. (2007) is a story of the political success of the Kaczynski brothers (Jarosław and Lech
Lech Kaczynski
Lech Aleksander Kaczyński was Polish lawyer and politician who served as the President of Poland from 2005 until 2010 and as Mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 22 December 2005. Before he became a president, he was also a member of the party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość...
) in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, though a much brighter social satire, in its essence showing how one obscure, conservative, and backward idea (nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
in this particular case), manipulated and popularized in the market and the media, can gain roots and spread to the point of being accepted as an unquestionable truth and the non-recognition.
Filmography
- Aqabat-Jaber, passing through (1987)
- Izkor: Slaves of Memory (1991)
- Itsembatsemba: Rwanda One Genocide Later (1996)
- The Specialist (1999)
- I Love You All (2004)
- Route 181: Fragments of a Journey in Palestine-Israel (2004)
- Citizens K. (2007)
- Jaffa, The Orange's Clockwork (2009)
External links
- official web-page http://eyalsivan.net
- Eyal Sivan on culturbase.net