September 4-5, 2010
Rehovot, Israel
Main VenueOn September 4th and 5th the International Women's Film Festival of Israel, based in Rehovot, showed two programs of silent films by Alice Guy Blaché, the first woman filmmaker. Each program was preceded by a lecture by Alison McMahan.
Uri Klein, Israel's most respected film critic, conducted an interview with McMahan which appeared in Hebrew in the Haaretz newspaper.
Uri Klein interviews Alison McMahan
It was an incredible pleasure to attend this festival. Rehovot is located just outside of Tel Aviv, so after each day's screenings the organizers took the guests to one of Tel Aviv's fantastic eateries under flowering trees and stars and treated us to fantastic Israeli food.
Tel Aviv Eatery
The other guests included film festival organizers Betty Schiell from Germany and Lee Hyae-Kyung from South Korea who joined Osnat Trabelsi as judges. Filmmaker guests included Yonghi Yang from Japan, who showed her documentary Sona, The Other Myself, Ruxandre Zanida with her Roumanian feature Ryna, and French filmmaker Eléonore Faucher with two features, Sisters, and A Common Thread.
Betty Schiell, Eleanore Faucher
Everyone on the organizing team was just fantastic. We are especially grateful to the festival director, Anat Shperling Cohen and Karin Rykwind Segal and the rest of the festival staff. We were treated like VIPs.
Alison and Charlie at the Festival
During the festival we had a little time to explore Tel Aviv and after the festival we spent several days in Jerusalem, a very moving experience.
Karin and Yonghui
Charlie and I made good friends with Younghui, a Japanese filmmaker of Korean origin whose family is locked away from her in North Korea; her documentaries explore the misery of that situation, which had much in common with the tense relations between the Palestinian Authority and the Israelis, so she was much in demand and the discussions after her film were very rich.
Wix Auditorium
In addition to the foreign films there were numerous Israeli films focused on the festival's theme: Women in War Zones. My two favorite films from that program were Bus and My Name is Ahlam, a heart breaking film that did not leave a dry eye in the house and won an award at the end of the festival.
Concert
It was about a mom trying to take her little daughter with leukemia back and forth through checkpoints to get treatment. Inevitably the little girl dies, but so much unnecessary suffering was added to her misery, and all of it, along with the child and the mother's courage, compassionately documented by the filmmaker.
Breaking Bread Together
Here is the film program for both days. At the last minute Roads Lead Home was replaced by The Thief (Solax, 1913).
Program for Rehovot Film Festival
KEY:
*Title [translation], date. (Production company)
Lending archive, City
Approximate running time
♪ Sound
Film formats used at Whitney Museum, listed by their current location
*Works that were restored for the exhibition and are available on blu-ray are marked with an asterisk.
Indoor Screening
Total running time: 65 minutes
La Fée aux choux [The Cabbage Fairy], 1896?/1900 (Gaumont)
Archival Film Collections of the Swedish Film Institute, Stockholm
Approximate running time: 1 min.
La Concierge [The Concierge], 1900 (Gaumont)
Archival Film Collections of the Swedish Film Institute, Stockholm
Approximate running time: 1 min.
Chez le photographe [At the Photographer’s], 1900 (Gaumont)
Archival Film Collections of the Swedish Film Institute, Stockholm
Approximate running time: 1 min.
La Marâtre [The Stepmother], 1906 (Gaumont)
Restored by Archives Françaises du Film du CNC, Bois d’Arcy, France
La Femme collante [The Sticky Woman], 1906 (Gaumont)
Restored by Archives Françaises du Film du CNC, Bois d’Arcy, France
Les Résultats du féminisme [The Results of Feminism], 1906 (Gaumont)
Safety print made by the Archives Françaises du Film du CNC from an original Gaumont nitrate negative
Approximate running time: 7 min.
*Mixed Pets, 1911 (Solax)
Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Approximate running time: 16 min. 58 sec.
*A House Divided, 1913 (Solax)
Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Approximate running time: 14 min. 11 sec.
♪ Sound: musical score by Barbara Harbach
Alice Guy tourne une phonoscène [Alice Guy directs a synchronized sound film], 1905 (Gaumont)
Gaumont Pathé Archives, Paris
Approximate running time: 1 min. 41 sec.
Le Vrai jiu-jitsu [The True Jujitsu], 1905 (Gaumont; phonoscène). Performed by Dranem.
Gaumont Pathé Archives, Paris
Approximate running time: 2 min. 27 sec.
♪ Sound
Le Matelas alcoolique or Le Matelas épileptique [The Alcoholic Mattress or The Epileptic Mattress], 1906 (Gaumont)
Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Women Film Pioneers Project Collection
Approximate running time: 10 min. 11 sec.
♪ Sound: Alice Guy Blaché Film Score Project: A Whitney Live Commission. Musical score composed and performed for the recording by Mélanie Valera aka Tender Forever, 2009
Outdoor Program
Total running time: 40 minutes
*Falling Leaves, 1912 (Solax)
Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Approximate running time: 14 min. 24 sec.
♪ Sound: Alice Guy Blaché Film Score Project: A Whitney Live Commission. Musical score composed by Tamar Muskal and performed for the recording by Erin Keefe (violin), Pedja Muzijevic (piano), and Wilhelmina Smith (cello), 2009
Madame a des envies [Madame Has Cravings], 1906 (Gaumont)
Gaumont Pathé Archives, Paris
Approximate running time: 4 min. 57 sec.
♪ Sound: Alice Guy Blaché Film Score Project: A Whitney Live Commission. Musical score composed by duYun and performed for the recording by duYun (keyboards, voice, Czech zither, electronics), Peter Hanson (kazoo, accordion, saxophone), Brad Henkel (trumpet), and Daniel Lippel (electronic guitar), 2009
*Sage-femme de première classe [First-class Midwife], 1902 (Gaumont)
Restored blu-ray available from Library of Congress, Washington, DC; un-restored beta-sp available from Gaumont Pathé Archives, Paris
Approximate running time: 4 min. 2 sec.
♪ Sound: Alice Guy Blaché Film Score Project: A Whitney Live Commission. Musical score composed by duYun and performed for the recording by duYun (keyboards, voice, Czech zither, electronics), Peter Hanson (kazoo, accordion, saxophone), Brad Henkel (trumpet), and Daniel Lippel (electronic guitar), 2009
Roads Lead Home, 1913 (Solax)
Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Women Film Pioneers Project Collection
Approximate running time: 16 min. 40 sec.
♪ Sound: Alice Guy Blaché Film Score Project: A Whitney Live Commission. Musical score composed by Tamar Muskal and performed for the recording by Erin Keefe (violin), Pedja Muzijevic (piano), and Wilhelmina Smith (cello), 2009