Bait (House) / Letter to A Friend in Gaza

Already in his first feature-length documentary, Amos Gitai perfected many of the elements that would characterize his artistic signature: the fearless engagement with the relations between Israelis and Arabs, the persistence with which he brings uncomfortable truths to light, and the intertwining of the political and the personal. This opening of the "House Trilogy" – News from Home / News from House (2005) being the conclusion – focuses on a building abandoned by its Palestinian owners during the 1948 war. Confiscated by the Israeli government, it was rented to Jewish immigrants from Algeria in 1956 and now belongs to a university professor who intends to transform it into a villa. House was censored by Israeli TV but celebrated at the Berlin and Rotterdam festivals, among others, by Serge Daney, who admired Gitai's ability to "show this house as both a symbol and something very concrete."

On May 31st, Letter to a Friend in Gaza will be screened, a conceptual piece of cinematic protest poetry in which Gitai, drawing on texts by Albert Camus, Yizhar Smilansky, Emile Habibi, Mahmoud Darwish, and Amira Hass, reflects on Gaza. (Jurij Meden)

Photo: Austrian Film Museum