Yaron Zilberman, Yehuda Nahari Halevi and Face2Face host David Peck talk about their new film Incitement, the complicated history of the Middle East, justice, peace and racism, inclusion, war and the real cost of radicalization.
Synopsis:
“This rigorous psychological thriller by American-Israeli director Yaron Zilberman (A Late Quartet) depicts the lead-up to the 1995 assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin through the worldview of his assassin, Yigal Amir.
In 1995, Yitzhak Rabin, the Prime Minister of Israel, was assassinated by an ultranationalist, right-wing Zionist who opposed the leader’s signing of the Oslo Accords. Rabin’s murder is held to be a definitive — and infamous — moment in the struggling peace process with Palestinians and also in Israel’s charged history. So much so that it has never been depicted in a feature film, until now.
Israeli-American filmmaker Yaron Zilberman sets out, with a rigourous, exacting gaze, to expose — through the eyes of Rabin’s assassin, Yigal Amir — the motivations that led to Rabin’s death. Set in the year preceding the incident, Zilberman’s meticulously crafted period piece is embedded in the world of Amir (portrayed with unsettling stoicism by Yehuda Nahari Halevi), moving from his family home to his failed relationships to his radicalization on illegal settlements.
At its core a psychological thriller, Zilberman’s film also neatly weaves in archival footage, foregrounding the high political stakes of the era, and boldly showing the ways in which Israeli society incited one man to such deadly lengths. In this way, and with unflinching clarity, the film draws connective lines from the past to the present.
Co-written by Zilberman and Ron Leshem (who penned the novel and script for the Oscar-nominated Beaufort), and made without state money, Incitement is a gripping work of cinema that concretely writes into history a moment that many would rather not reflect on.”
With thanks to Kiva Reardon – TIFF
About the Guests:
Yaron Zilberman was born in Haifa, Israel. He studied physics at MIT before turning to filmmaking. He wrote, produced, and directed the documentary feature Watermarks. He also directed, co-wrote and produced A Late Quartet, which starred Philip Seymour Hoffman Christopher Walken, and Catherine Keener. The film premiered in the Special Presentation program at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival. Inspired by and structured around Beethoven’s Opus 131, the film follows the world-renowned Fugue String Quartet after its cellist Peter Mitchell (Christopher Walken) is diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. It was a New York Times Critics Pick. Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers called it “a shining gem of a movie”[5] and Roger Ebert said, “it does one of the most interesting things any film can do. It shows how skilled professionals work.”
Zilberman made his directorial debut with his theatrical feature documentary Watermarks, which follows the champion women swimmers of Hakoah Vienna as they reunite at their old swimming pool 65 years after they were forced by the Nazis to flee Austria. Watermarks won nine film festival awards and enjoyed a successful theatrical run internationally.
Yehuda Nahari was born in 1985 in Herzliya. After graduating from school he joined the army between 2003-2006. In 2007 he met Eyal Cohen, manager of “The Way” where he was discovered and this inspired Yehuda to become an actor. In 2008 he played a series of youth television series “Our High School Song” as “Asi”.
As part of his school studies he also underwent an acting technique course with Ruth Dytches.
Image Copyright: Yaron Zilberman and Metro Communications. Used with permission.
F2F Music and Image Copyright: David Peck and Face2Face. Used with permission.
For more information about David Peck’s podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit his site here.
With thanks to Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.
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