Ofakim
HD | One channel | Sound | 14:47 | Video Installation / movie theater | Israel | 2010
The film Ofakim forms part of the BaMidbar project, initiated by Joseph Dadoune in 2008, in order to further the cultural and social life in Ofakim. This project brings about the involvement of the local Ofakim community in the various arts media: staging, acting, and photography.
One of the main scenes of the film depicts a group of youths and lasses standing motionless in a deserted factory. They then move out to landscapes and sites near Ofakim: fields cultivated by the Kibbutzim, the Hatzerim and Ze’elim military bases, the desert. The youngsters march with a missile in what seems an endless and pointless Sisyphean march.
Here, Dadoune aims to draw a cultural and social portrait of the laboring class of our times via the story of Ofakim, a town at the peripheral edge of Israel – thus being a microcosm of the fragile Israeli reality and of the complex reality of life in this threatened area, at the peripheral edge on the desert horizon.
The film was shot in part in the deserted building of the Of-Ar textile plant (Of-Ar: Ofakim-Argentina – half the cost of its establishment came from the Israeli state, and half from an investor from Argentina). This was designed by architect Rudolf Troessler, and was officially inaugurated by the then Minister of Industry and Commerce, Pinchas Sapir, in 1961. It’s closure in 1986 marked the economic downturn of this unemployment stricken town.
The young actors in this film are already a third generation of immigrants from North Africa and India, and a second generation of immigrants from the former Soviet Union – the sons and daughters of proletariats, some of whom had worked in Of-Ar.
This group of youngsters underwent a study period of five months, within which it participated in trips in the area surrounding the town, a workshop that prepared them for taking part in the film with Joseph Dadoune, a master’s class in acting with actress Evelyn HaGoel, Yoga classes, lectures, and visiting museums for Contemporary Art.
This film ;was produced with the intention of emphasizing the cultural, social, and environmental landscape of the South,and with the purpose of enhancing the place of local culture within the overall Israeli cultural sphere.
Carrying out this project in Ofakim, with the cooperation of its inhabitants, marks a vision of a multi-cultural space and of a society that does not turn its back on its varied origins, and does not limit itself to present day vogues.
Making Off
Credits
Written and Directed by Yosef Joseph Dadoune
Featuring:
Roi Azran
Halida Eliagoeb
Livnat kotek
Sarit Mayersfled
Yasmin Mayersfled
Shai Peretz
Dudu Rohaker
Producer : Anna Somershaf
Cinematography : Patrick Doberenz
Editor : Yael Hersonski
Sound : Nimrod Shalom
Sound designer : Gilles Laurent
Colorist : Dima Lidhov
Production manager : Idith Vechter
Camera assistant : Moran weissfisch
Technical support : Ori Alon
Production assistants :
Stav Amar
Moria Or
Nofar Ozmo
Shani Shalfman
Catering : Cochy Abuharon
Transportation :
Yakov Anidiger
Miki Azulai
Hadar Moritz
Petra tours
Equipment :
Moshe Ohayon
Amram Swisa
Yoga teacher : Patricia Cohen
Production of " In the desert" project
With the support of :
Sapir College, Sderot
Israel Lottery Council for the Arts
Partnership 2000 program
The Cinema Project, The Yehoshua Rabinovich Foundation for the Arts
Thanks to :
Sapir College, Sderot
Avner Fainguelernt
Alon Gayer
Hagar Saad-Shalom
Air force Museum :
Yakov Terner
Beni Hazbani
Erez Dror
Municipality of Ofakim :
Zvika Greengold
Miri Vaknin
Community center of Ofakim :
Ran Yul
Yifat Amar
Daniel Ori
Special thanks to :
Idit Amihai
Eyal Assuline
Estee Dinur
Erez Dror
Keren Erez Asif
Judith Guetta
Drorit Gur Arie
Evelin Hagoel
Ninel Koren
Renen Mosinzon
Naama Piriz
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Documentation: The premiere of the film “Ofakim” 26.05.2010, in the Patish cave in Ofakim (Ofakim Park). Photos : Elad Sarig
Event 26/05/2010
