Friday Night (Vilnius) — 09.19.03 — Screening of 'August' a film by Avi Mograbi
Comments Off on Friday Night (Vilnius) — 09.19.03 — Screening of 'August' a film by Avi MograbiFriday Night — 09.19.03 — Screening of ‘August’ a film by Avi Mograbi
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please note:
this Tuesday in Vilnius, at the CAC, 16beaver
is organizing artist presentations, more details
to follow, so please stay tuned.
start time — 7:00 pm
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Contents:
1. About Friday Night
2. Mark Your Calendars for Lunchtime Summit 09.26.03
3. About 16Beaver Mirror Site
4. Know about all events at CAC (sign up for Vilnius 16Beaver email list)
5. Press Clips for ‘August’
6. Director’s statement for ‘August’
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1. About Friday Night
What: Screening
When: 6:30 pm
Who: All are invited (Free)
Where: CAC, Vilnius Lithuania
This Friday at 6:30 as a part of 16Beaver Group’s participation in 24/7 all are invited for a free screening of Israeli filmmaker Avi Mograbi’s “August”.
Synopsis for ‘August’
AUGUST
a moment before the eruption
by Avi Mograbi
Peace Film Award – Berlin International Film festival 2002
Best Film Award – 2002 “It’s All True” Documentary festival – Sao Paulo
Michael Moore award for best documentary – 2003 Ann Arbor Film festival
A documentary filmmaker goes out to document August, since he believes that this month constitutes a metaphor of whatever is hateful in the State of Israel. Yet while doing so he himself becomes August.
“August” is a partly documentary and partly fictional film that portrays a month in the life of a filmmaker and his wife. He wishes to document the month of August, since he believes that this month constitutes a metaphor of whatever is hateful in the State of Israel. She, on the contrary, is rather fond of August, which represents to her all that is optimistic
And indeed the filmmaker goes out to the street and on one hand loses control over what is captured by his camera, he fails to deliver whatever goods he planned to. Yet, on the other hand, he miraculously tells, by his failure to fulfill his mission and document what he was after, that very story, though in a totally different way from what he planned and without being aware of it at all. He goes out to document August and whatever is so horrible about August, yet he himself becomes August.
At the same time, in his home, his wife is taken in captivity by the producer of another film this filmmaker is engaged with – a film concerning the massacre of tens of Moslem prayers by an Israeli physician in the cave of Machpela in the occupied town of Hebron in 1994.
All three characters – the filmmaker, the filmmaker’s wife and the producer – are played by one person – the director of this film – Avi Mograbi.
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2. Mark Your Calendars for Lunchtime Summit 09.26.03
As an example of one of the upcoming events, a Lunch/Summit will be organized at the CAC on September 26, 2003, so please mark your calendars!
This lunchtime event will be concurrent to similar programs in 16+ other cities including Mexico City, New York, Rome, Paris, Ljubljana, London, Manila, Tornoto, Los Angeles, Chicago, Durham, Austin, Skopje, Yerevan, Berlin, Vancouver, Concord, Krasnoyarsk, … .
The basic theme of the summit will be Vladimir Lenin’s provocation, “What is to be Done?” The program is still being constructed, but we are looking for artists, performance artists, interesting issue oriented groups, people who enjoy making toasts or are good at public speaking. So if you are interested please write to Rene Gabri, who is one of the 16Beaver participants. Rene@16beavergroup.org.
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3. About 16Beaver Mirror Site
16 Beaver is the address of a space initiated/run by artists and thinkers to create and maintain an ongoing platform for the presentation, production, and discussion of a variety of artistic/cultural/economic/political projects. It is the point of many departures/arrivals.
Since its inception in 1999, individuals involved with 16Beaver have organized a variety of activities from political discussions to artist presentations, theoretical readings, activities taking place in different parts of the city to parties music events, dinners and lunches, … This physical and discursive space is always open to anyone who is interested.
The 16beaver Mirror Site is a project with modest aspirations. It attempts to relocate and link activities and initiatives we have been and are interested in developing/discussing at 16beaver with individuals in other cities and contexts.
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4. Know about all 16Beaver events at CAC
(sign up for Vilnius 16Beaver email list)
Over the course of the exhibition, we will also be organizing a variety of events, open discussions, artist presentations, as well as film screenings. We would like to invite you to be kept abreast of all events by writing to subscribe_vilnius@16beavergroup.org.
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6. Press Clips for ‘August’
I highly recommend seeing August, the new film of the most forceful and talented Israeli filmmaker in activity….. The result is sometimes amusing, verging on the grotesque, but it does not conceal what is really at stake in the film. Running the risk of bad faith, it opposes the democracy of the image to the image of democracy
Le Mond
As a tragic-comic double agent, therefore, Avi Mograbi is at his best. That is why at the end of “August” there are two, three, many Mograbis sitting in front of the camera telling stories.
Frankfurter Allegemeine
For me there is only one conclusion: Avi Mograbi is the most important political filmmaker today. He invests himself and lets us share his feelings about being an Israeli citizen and filmmaker at the center of a turmoil.
DOX
August, the third feature film of the most caustic of Israeli troublemakers is well worth seeing and supporting.
Le Mond
The sureal identity crisis peaks as the different Mograbis, all now wedded to the darkest possible worldview, criticize, fight and, finally, sexually betray one another.
The personal-political construct begins to fold in upon itself in increasingly grotesque ways, as the country, the family, the filmmaker and the film itself suffer a sort of collective breakdown…
Variety
It’s funny, it’s harsh and telling – and at 72 minutes is just about as much as you can take.
Jewish Week
….a potent movie – there is no denying the force of August.
IslamOnline.net
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6. Director’s statement for ‘August’
The idea behind AUGUST was very similar to the one proposed in the film by the filmmaker’s wife: to make a film that would consist solely of violence, bickering, and anger. Just that. This is Israel, wherever you go, be it in the private or public spheres, everything is fraught with violence, as though earmarked for an impending disaster, a disaster waiting to happen without, as it were, prior warning. And August, in my eyes, epitomises more than anything else this burdensome feeling. I hate this month more than any other month. It is hot in August, scorching hot. An unnecessary month, August is leading nowhere, bringing forth nothing. August is a month, in which you find yourself in the middle of a huge fire, just standing, doing nothing, just waiting for it to pass. When I started filming, I thought I would shoot events, small and big, whose potential violence would materialize. But once you go out to the street with an intention to film it the way you conceive it in your mind’s eyes, you find that it has a mind of its own. In 2000, October outdid August, big time. All the apprehensions and worries of what this country has had in stock for us were proven true. All that was charged has been uncharged in an insane gush of violence, and with pure pleasure thereof.
AUGUST depicts a portrait of the state of Israel. Unlike other portraits of Israel this is not based on the exposure of the ideological forces that are active in Israel, it is not based on the political and bilateral conflicts that are evoked in Israel, and this is not a portrait that decodes this place with historical keys. It is a portrait of the nature and character or should I say personality of this country and of the people that lives in it. A portrait of constant anger, of bitterness, of suspicion. A portrait of a place set in motion by a turbulence of anger and rage. A place where every man has an enemy, and at every given moment the person next to you could be that enemy, and there is no better moment than the present moment to expose the potential of dispute between the two of you. This is AUGUST.
Avi Mograbi