Monday, December 1, 2014

19th IFFK- Eran Riklis’ “Dancing Arabs" is the opening film



Dancing Arabs directed by Eran Riklis has been chosen as the inaugural film of the 19TH edition of International Film Festival of Kerala (2014) which is opening on 12th December at Nishagandhi Auditorium at the capital city of Kerala. “Although a bit too sanitized, this tale of a young Arab trying to find his place in Israel is Eran Riklis' strongest film in years”. A young Arab in Israel struggles to find his place and an identity amid necessary compromises in Eran Riklis’ “Dancing Arabs,” a film designed to make Jews — not just Israelis — comfortable with Arabs. That is, until the finale, when bigoted alarmists may take home a more troubling message. Riklis’ strongest film in several years, this is another well-intentioned plea for coexistence, though apart from one scene that lays bare, with welcome righteousness, the disturbing orientalism infiltrating even Israeli intellectual circles, the whole thing is rather too scrubbed and clean. Precisely for this reason, it should play well internationally.
About the novel:
A stunning tragicomic novel by a young Arab Israeli who “rises above the wretchedness of the broken mirrors, and the ills of stereotypes, prejudices and divided identities, and creates a wonderfully complex drama out of simple domestic ingredients” (Yediot Acharonot, Israel)

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