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Meditation On Life
Filmmaker Ayelat Menahemi has finally landed on home soil to direct the heart-warming Israeli drama Noodle.
You had a big break between making dramatic films and now you're making documentaries. Why the change?
"I made a few films in my twenties and then there was a big break. I started travelling in Asia and there was a change in my life during that time away. When I got back to Israel I started making documentaries and TV commercials. It's been about 14 years between my last full length feature and this one. I'm basically starting over."
So what kinds of documentaries were you making?
"I wasn't just recording reality, it was more like telling a story that really happened but with emphasis on the story and the emotional impact of that story. We were doing a lot of manipulation."
How did you land with Noodle? If you were happy, what changed?
"I never consciously decided that I was going stop making fiction and move onto documentaries. It was always mixed. I really like making high-end home movies because I'm an editor too so I like to have control over all the aspects. I've done a lot of home movies that were a little bit like fiction, so I'd never really left it."
How did the French remake idea come about?
"Well, we have an Israeli-French co-producer who was working on it very vigorously and he's managed to contact people who were interested. It's really interesting to see how it comes through as a French story. They're writing it now."
So you're not involved?
"No, not at all. I'm a silent spectator."
Israel seems to be enjoying a wave of cinema that travels overseas at the moment. Do Israelis go to see Israeli cinema?
"Yeah, there's been a big change in the minds of Israeli moviegoers in the past 5 years or so. For many years, Israeli audiences were disillusioned with Israeli cinema. Once they heard it was an Israeli movie, they wouldn't go unless it was some kind of comedy. If they heard anything about an arty movie or a personal movie they just would think it was badly made even if it wasn't."
So what changed?
"I think there was a new wave of filmmakers coming up and they knew their job. It's not that the older generation didn't know it but there were three or four very good film schools in the past 20 years and the graduates started coming out. Then Channel 2 was formed and it's the most prominent channel in Israel now. That was after there was only one channel that was government owned and Channel 2 was commercial, so everything got more commercial and dramas started being made and TV commercials started being made. So the filmmakers became more aware of form and rhythm and good acting and good storytelling. Israeli cinema tended to be very political. In the ‘70s, even in the ‘80s, it became more personal, so it was more appealing to audiences and different genres started popping up instead of just one or two. In the ‘70s for example, there were comedies or political movies but there weren't many good quality dramas."
When you shoot on the streets of Israel, is it dangerous?
"Not at all. It looks much worse from the outside, but mostly, in Tel Aviv, at least, you don't really think about it as being dangerous on a daily basis. It might be somewhere in the back of your mind but you don't associate it with the fact that you're now on the street and you're shooting. When you're shooting in the street, all you're thinking of is the next shot and the best way to do it. You don't think of the other kind of shot."
Do you speak Chinese?
"No, only a few words. There was a lot of help from translators on the set of Noodle. Especially working with a child."
How was Noodle funded?
"Most people trying to make a fairly high budget film in Israel either have to go through these two channels (one of them is government funded and the other is a cable TV channel) and then using money of your own."
What was the budget for Noodle?
"It was a little bit over $1 million and that's nothing. In Israel and in China, with a dog, a child and Chinese actors, it was almost nothing. If you think about it, it was like a miracle that my most talented producers managed to pull it off."
Noodle is released on June18. For more on Ayelat Menahemi check out the latest issue of FILMINK Magazine.