In the run-up to the Academy Awards, this year delayed until April 25 thanks to Covid-19, movie buffs and the media speculate endlessly about the likely best movie, actor, actress and so forth.
This column, by contrast, is dedicated to the eternal questions “Is it good for the Jews?” and “Is the world paying enough attention to us?”
In 2021 the outlook is not too promising for pro-Semites. For example the movie “Asia,” Israel’s entry among international feature films submitted by 93 competing countries, fell by the wayside in the first cut.
However, in the less prominent category of short films (under 40 minutes), both the Israeli and Palestinian entries have placed among the five finalists, no small feat in a field of 174 competitors. Both films cast a critical eye on less laudatory aspects of Israeli society.
In a separate category, for short documentary films, a 90-year old French woman visits the Nazi concentration camp where her brother, a French resistance fighter, was killed.
All the films can now be viewed in advance at newly reopened theaters or virtually through VOD (Video on Demand).
“White Eye” from 33-year old Israeli Tomer Shushan, revolves around a stolen bicycle. But basically, the film tackles an Israeli problem, only too familiar to Americans – open or subliminal prejudice against non-white inhabitants, especially immigrants.
The film’s title, Shushan told the Journal, is an allusion to “white eye” as an affliction of blind people and implies that many of his fellow Israelis are blind to the racial biases in their country.
Israelis, as represented by Palestinian extras as gruff Israeli soldiers at check points, fare hardly better in “The Present” by Palestinian director Farah Nabelsi.
On his wedding anniversary, West Bank resident Yusef (Saleh Bakri) and his cutie pie daughter Yasmine set out to buy a wedding anniversary present for his wife, in the form of a new refrigerator.
Both setting out and returning on his shopping expedition Yusef is delayed, braced and humiliated by the check point soldiers, until he loses his temper in an anguished tirade.
Nominated in the separate Documentary Short film category is “Colette,” a French-German-USA co-production which focuses on the story of 90-year old Colette Marin-Catherine, who confronts her past by visiting the Nordhausen concentration camp where her brother had been killed.
Colette resisted the Nazis during WWII. Lucie makes sure the past is not forgotten.
This #InternationalWomenDay we’re honoring women who have the courage to resist and to remember, and the determination to maintain hope. pic.twitter.com/6UOQZOcxQy
— Colette – Documentary Short (@ColetteDocShort) March 8, 2021
These and numerous other Oscar-nominated short films are now playing at a dozen movie theaters in the Los Angeles area and additional ones throughout California, Arizona and Nevada.
In addition, the films can be viewed on VOD (Video on Demand) channels as Direct TV, AT&T TV Now, Google Fiber and Hotwire.
For a complete listing of venues, dates and times, go to https://tickets.oscar-shorts.com/.
