Description of a Memory

Tza'ad Revi'i La'matbe'a / Israel 2006 / 80min. (Hebrew, Arabic, French, English)
Director Dan Geva / Producer Dan Geva, Noit Geva

To fully appreciate the philosophical and historical journey that is the film, one must cast one’s mind back to innovative French filmmaker Chris Marker. Now 86 years of age, in 1960 Marker released a hypnotic documentary about the then twelve –year-old State of Israel: Description d’un combat (Description of a Struggle). Showcasing a young country’s struggle for identity and what the future could bring, the film won the Golden Bear at the 1961 Berlin Film Festival.

Rejuvenating the masterpiece, Description of a Memory (TZA’AD REVI’I LA’MATBE’A) re-enters Marker’s mind and dialogues with the messages in the original film.

Director Dan Geva, an Israeli born four years after Description of a Struggle was released, takes us on a journey back to places Marker warned about half a century earlier, and also to new places Marker would never have imagined.

Following Marker’s style – weaving in and out of the past, present and future — Geva presents the Israel of today as the future Marker anticipated.

This film presents the reflective viewer with a splendid cinematic essay of the changing currents of Israel’s history.

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