Izkor, Slaves of Memory

Documentary filmmaker Eyal Sivan follows five Israeli schoolchildren through a month of commemorative holidays: Passover, Holocaust Remembrance Day, Soldiers' Memorial Day, and Israeli Independence Day. Sivan asks to what degree are Israelis slaves of official memory? "We were slaves, but now we are free" is the film's coda, but if one of the purposes of freedom is to remember, what do we choose to remember? This illuminating, provocative, and highly original film challenges the idea of Jew as eternal victim, asserts there may be no lessons from the Holocaust ("That is the horror of the Holocaust," says theologian Y. Leibowitz), and shows 17-year-olds arguing about the difference between brainwashing and tradition. More than any film we have seen, SLAVES OF MEMORY conveys the intensity of experience that takes place in Israel through education, religious ritual, army ceremonies and public tributes, creating a collective memory which is the essential underpinning of Israeli society.

Born in September 1964 in Haïfa Israel, Eyal Sivan grew up in Jerusalem. He left school before completing is studies to devote himself to photography. In 1982, during the Lebanese War, when he received his call-up papers, he was declared unfit for service by the Israeli army. He became a fashion photographer, then left Israel to move to France in 1985. As a pro palestinian militant , his films are about displaced polulations, the propaganda use of memory in Israel, and civil desobedience. His work has been awarded in many international films festivals. 1996-99 THE SPECIALIST Official selection Berlin Film Festival 1999. Co-author and director of a 120 minutes documentary film, based on the Hannah Arendt's book "Eichmann in Jerusalem, Report on the Banality of Evil" Co-author with Rony Brauman of PRAISE OF DESOBEDIENCE, Ed Le Pommier / Fayard 1996-97 POPULATIONS IN DANGER Four documentary short films (13 minutes) Co-director with lexis Cordesse ITSEMBATSEMBA - RWANDA, ONE GENOCIDE LATER Special mention - Festival Documentary Cinema Bilbao 1997 Merit Winner - San Fransisco International Film Festival, 1997 BURUNDI UNDER TERROR / FOCA, ABSOLUT SERBIA / WAR WEARY KABOUL 1995 AQABAT JABER, PEACE WITH NO RETURN ? Momento / La Sept/Arte / Amythos 1994 Theme Evening about Jerusalem "JERUSALEM, JERUSALEMS" Conception and direction of a four hours television programm for Arte "JERUSALEMS, BORDERLINE SYNDROME" 60 minutes Documentary - La SEPT / Arte - Amythos 1993 ITGABER, HE WILL OVERCOME A two parts documentary : "ON SCIENCE AND VALUES" and "ON LAW AND THE STATE" Interviews with the Israeli philosopher and scientist Professor Y. Leibovitz. Les Films d'Ici / France 3 / Amythos / Image & Cie. Video Distribution : Editions Montparnasse. 1991 ISRALAND 58 minutes Documentary - Israël / Palestine, three weeks during the Golf War. IMA Productions / FR3 / Etat d'Urgence. Official Selection at the Etats Généraux du Documentaire, Lussas 1991. 1990 IZKOR, SLAVES OF MEMORY 97 minutes Documentary about collective memory in Israel. IMA Productions / FR3 / ZDF / Rhéa Films / Adam Express Procirep Prize & Special Mention of the Jury at FIPA 1991 - Investigation Prize at the Documentaries European Biennale, Marseilles 1991 - Golden Lens, Tel Aviv 1991. 1987 AQABAT JABER, PASSING THROUGH 81 minutes Documentary. Dune Vision / UNRWA. Great Prize of the Jury at the "Cinéma du Réel", Paris 1987- Golden Crown at the Festikon, Amsterdam 1988 - Air France - Radio France Prize at the Belfort Film Festival, 1988 - Jury's Prize in the social-political Section at the International Film Festival, Oakland 1988 - Jury's Special Mention at the Internationale Filmwoche, Mannheim 1988