FIRST 54 YEARS: AN ABBREVIATED MANUAL FOR MILITARY OCCUPATION
The new film by the great Israeli documentary filmmaker Avi Mograbi is a testimony of Israeli soldiers about the occupation of the Palestinian territories in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Critics say that you can hardly see the cold anger due to the topic it is dealing with. It is inconspicuous because Mograbi, who directs and acts as a narrator, uses a clever way to allow historical facts and dozens of interviews with ex-soldiers to shed light on exactly what the half-century occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip has done to both Palestinians and Israelis. The title of the film is the key – Mograbi literally constructs an ironic manual from historical facts on how to occupy someone else’s territory for more than five decades.
Avi Mograbi, born in 1956 in Tel Aviv, is a film director whose projects, regularly centered on the conflict between Israel and Palestine, examine how violence impacts the individual. Mograbi frequently appears in his films, taking the position of both director and concerned citizen in seeking to understand what he witnesses. He studied art and philosophy and has made more than twenty films since 1989. Filmography: Between Fences (2016), Once I entered a garden (2012), Z32 (2008), Avenge but One of my Two Eyes (2005), August (2002), Happy Birthday Mr. Mograbi (1999), How I Learned to Overcome My Fear and Love Arik Sharon (1997), The Reconstruction (1994).
Visions du Réel 2021
Berlin International Film Festival 2021
CPH:DOX 2021
IDFA Forum 2020
First 54 Years: An Abbreviated Manual for Military Occupation (doc.)
Director: Avi Mograbi
Country:Israel, France, Finland, Germany
Year: 2021.
Runtime: 110’
Language: Hebrew, English
Cast: Zvi Barel, Shomo Gazit, Avi Mograbi
Production: Les Films d’Ici, Arte France, 24images, Citizen Jane Prods., Avi Mograbi, ma.ja.de.
_____________________________
EU: ZONE OF CHANGE