Sufat Chol
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Sufat Chol |
| Country of production | Israel |
| original language | Arabic |
| Publishing year | 2016 |
| length | 88 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Elite Zexer |
| script | Elite Zexer |
| production |
Haim Mecklberg Estee Yacov-Mecklberg |
| music | Ran Bagno |
| camera | Shai Peleg |
| cut | Ronit Porat |
| occupation | |
| |
Sufat Chol (English festival title: Sandstorm ) is an Israeli feature film from 2016. It is the debut film by the director Elite Zexer , who also wrote the screenplay . The film tells of the life of the women in the Bedouin tribes in the Negev , who have to submit to the patriarchal social system.
action
At the beginning of the film, the young student Layla drives her father Suliman to her Bedouin village for his second wedding. Just before they reach the new house, they switch places and their father drives the car the last few meters. While Suliman's second wife is already on the way, Layla and her mother Jalila, Suliman's first wife, try to set up the bed for the future couple. Jalila tears her dress open. Since the wedding party has already arrived and there is no longer enough time to get a new dress from the old house, Layla gives her dress to her mother. While the bride sits apart, the women dance happily. Then Layla's cell phone rings, which she forgot in the dress her mother is now wearing. Jalila accepts the conversation and learns that her daughter has a friend at the university who belongs to a different Bedouin tribe. After the celebration, she confronts her daughter and forbids her to see the boy again. Meanwhile, the eldest of Layla's younger sisters, Suliman, follows to celebrate the men. There she overhears her father ending his eldest daughter's wedding to one of the young men from the village. The next morning Suliman and his second wife set off on their honeymoon. Jalila wants to keep her daughter at home to cut off contact with her boyfriend. However, Layla leaves the house and drives to the university where she meets her boyfriend. He wants to run away with her and expects support from his uncle. When Layla arrives at home in the evening, there is another confrontation with her mother. She assumes that her father will understand her situation if she tells him about her love, while Jalila knows that her husband will not take it into consideration. On the day Sulinam returns from his honeymoon, Layla's friend appears at the family home. The two men meet, at which they discuss, among other things, the fact that some of the boy's family members have been destroyed by the Israelis. However, Suliman does not acknowledge the relationship and feels ashamed of his daughter. He tells Layla that she is going to marry the man from the village. However, Jalila rebels against this decision because she wants a better match for her daughter. Because of this, she is rejected by Suliman and has to return to her parents' house. In doing so, she accuses her own mother of not supporting her against her husband and of already being prejudiced against her. Since the family cannot store supplies due to the lack of electricity, Layla has to fetch food from the house where her father now lives with the second wife. She gives Layla the advice to give in, because she doesn't want to end like she does. Layla tries to run away, but bursts into tears shortly before she meets her boyfriend and turns back. She drives to her father and offers him to perform the wedding if he would take her mother back. Suliman refuses at first because he cannot do this. However, when Layla tells him that he has a choice, he takes her to see his first wife. The film ends with Layla's wedding. She is waiting for her groom in the new house. When he arrives, she criticizes the wall color and he tries to offer her a solution that suits her taste. Her sister is watching through the window.
background
The production company behind Sufat Chol was 2-Team Productions . The film had a budget of 660,000 euros. The last part of the funding was secured at the Locarno International Film Festival in 2015. There Elite Zexer won the First Look Rotor Film Award with their film. Sufat Chol had its world premiere on January 25, 2016 at the Sundance Film Festival 2016 . There the film won the Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic in the World Cinema category . Before the world premiere, Beta Cinema acquired the worldwide distribution rights to the film. The production company and distributor had previously worked together on another film. Sufat Chol had his European premiere on February 12, 2016 as part of the Panorama section of the Berlin International Film Festival 2016 .
It is the first feature film by director Zexer after she had previously made three short films. About the work on Sufat Chol , Zexer said: “Sand Storm is 87 minutes, but for me, it's years. Years of an amazing ride, of passions, of struggles, of ups, of downs, of pure joy, of forever waiting or of an impossible run. Years of creation. What I learned during the making of this film is that the most wonderful part of filmmaking is the making. ”She referred to ten years of work on the film. The original inspiration came from Zexer's mother, who had worked as a still photographer in the Bedouin areas of southern Israel. Zexer received intensive contact with this society and was even present at such an arranged wedding, which was the decisive factor in making this film.
Reviews
Andreas Fanizadeh Sufat Chol reviewed for the taz in the context of other festival contributions from the Middle East. He praises the film as a highlight and explains: “Director Zexer combines a sensitive societal view with a calm, very coherent feature film aesthetic. So your film allows contradictions, as they arise in progressive and backward constellations, if you want to perceive them. But without marking them, it makes no sense to film or talk about it. ”For Fanizadeh, Sufat Chol is fulfilling the Berlinale's claim to be able to discover people and stories beyond stereotypes through a film.
The portal femundo praises the film as a touching drama and writes: "The Israeli director Elite Zexer stages [...] in a barren, brittle way and thus reflects the harsh living conditions in the desert. The camera wanders over parched valleys and dusty roads and unfinished-looking houses that seem like temporary solutions. "
International reviews share the positive assessment of Sufat Chol . Bilge Ebiri compared the film with Mustang from the previous year, which was nominated for an Oscar for best foreign language film for Turkey. In comparison to this film, Ebiri Sufat Chol judged : “The betrayal of Sand Storm feels more intimate and familial. It comes from Suliman's weakness in the face of others' scorn, and, more important, from the strong-willed Jalila's inability to wield any real power against the forces that once broke her as well. Ultimately, this is a tale of a mother and daughter trapped in a cycle of yearning and despair. It's a lovely, deeply affecting film. ” Ella Taylor saw the film for Variety . She came to this positive assessment: “On the face of it,“ Sand Storm ”presents a familiar feminist tale of a teenaged girl trapped between her desire to control her destiny and the constraints of her traditional family. Yet this emotionally intelligent first feature offers a sympathetic but clear-eyed look at the tangled skein of inequalities that entrap women (and the men they love and resent) in a Bedouin village stranded between modernization and anachronistic patriarchy. Written and directed by a Jewish Israeli woman, Elite Zexer, and made with a Jewish-Arab crew, the film boasts alluring desert visuals, muscular acting and intricate psychology that should attract audiences for women's movies, foreign art films and those who believe that melodrama Still has a place in cinema. ”Taylor criticizes the sometimes rough work with the hand-held camera and the sometimes exaggerated imagery as a tunnel illustrates Layla's struggle with society, but that cannot tarnish her positive assessment.
Web links
- Sufat Chol in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Data sheet for Sufat Chol on berlinale.de
- Interview about the film with Elite Zexer on indiewire.com.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Information on the film on the Locarno Film Festival website, accessed on February 13, 2016.
- ↑ Awards for Sufat Chol on imdb.com, accessed February 13, 2016 .
- ↑ Viva Sarah Press: Israeli film 'Sand Storm' wins at Sundance , released on February 1, 2016 on israel21c.org. Retrieved February 13, 2016.
- ↑ a b Michael Rosser: Beta Cinema picks up Sundance-Berlinale title 'Sand Storm' , published on January 11, 2016 on screendaily.com. Accessed February 13, 2016.
- ↑ Eboni Boykin: Sundance 2016 Women Directors: Meet Elite Zexer - 'Sand Storm' , published January 22, 2016 on indiewire.com. Accessed February 13, 2016.
- ↑ Andreas Fanizadeh: the Middle East films at the Berlinale. A girl named Layla , published on taz.de on February 12, 2016. Accessed on February 13, 2016.
- ↑ Between tradition and modernity. femundo.de, January 12, 2018, accessed on February 12, 2018 .
- ↑ Bilge Ebiri: The Striking Sand Storm Unearths Loneliness Deep in the Israeli Desert , published on January 27, 2016 on vulture.com. Retrieved February 13, 2016.
- ↑ Ella Taylor: Sundance Film Review: 'Sand Storm' , released January 24, 2016 on variety.com. Accessed February 13, 2016.