HU Credits: 2

Degree/Cycle: 2nd degree (Master)

Responsible Department: communication & journalism

Semester: 1st Semester

Teaching Languages: Hebrew

Campus: Mt. Scopus

Course/Module Coordinator: Prof Raya Morag

Coordinator Email: raya.morag@mail.huji.ac.il

Coordinator Office Hours: Tuesday, 1600-1700

Teaching Staff:
Prof Raya Morag

Course/Module description:
The course discusses the representation of the complex relations between the subject position of the victim and that of the perpetrator (male or female) in Israeli and Palestinian cinema during the Intifada. Issues connected to representation of the trauma of terror, the Occupation, and twenty-first century changes in war will be discussed through analysis of major narrative and documentary works in the two corpora. In addition, documentary literary works and books published by Breaking the Silence will be discussed.

Course/Module aims:
Familiarity with Israeli and Palestinian cinema in the age of the Intifada. Discussion of major ethical issues regarding the conflict emanating from the corpora. Familiarity and understanding of the central models in trauma studies and their application in cinema.

Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
At the end of this course, students will be capable of independently analyzing Israeli and Palestinian films through discussion of the major ethical issues presented in them and in relevant theoretical models.

Attendance requirements(%):
100

Teaching arrangement and method of instruction: Analysis of films and discussion of key research papers.

Course/Module Content:
1. 27.10.14 Introduction
2. 3.11.14 Israeli cinema:
The persecuted perpetrator: Waltz with Bashir – Ari Folman [2008]
3. 10.11.14 Continued
4. 17.11.14 Continued
5. 24.11.14 Discussion: My Holocaust Thief - Noam Hayut [2009]
6. 1.12.14 Testimonies of Soldiers: To See If I'm Smiling - Tamar Yarom [2007]
7. 8.12.14 Continued
8. 15.12.14 Continued
9. 22.12.14 Cinematic shelter for a killer? Z32 – Avi Mograbi [2008]
10. 29.12.14 Continued
11. 5.1.15 Continued
12. 12.1.15 Discussion: Breaking the Silence: Testimonies of Soldiers;
Checkpoint Syndrome - Liran Ron Furer [2003]
13. 19.1.15 Continued
14. 26.1.15 Continued
15. 2.3.15 Palestinian cinema:
The occupation: Divine Intervention - Elia Suleiman [2002]
16. 9.3.15 Continued
17. 16.3.15 The Naqba: The Time That Remains - Elia Suleiman [2009]
18. 13.4.15 The occupation: Arna’s Children - Juliano Mer-Khamis and Danniel Danniel [2004]
19. 20.4.15 Continued
20. 27.4.15 The second generation: 3 cm Less - Azza El-Hassan [2003]
21. 4.5.15 Continued
22. 11.5.15 Presentations
23. 25.5.15 Blood relation? Five Broken Cameras - Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi [2011]
24. 1.6.15 Continued
25. 8.6.15 Blood Relation - Noa Ben Hagai [2009]
26. 15.6.15 Continued
27. 22.6.15 Summary

Required Reading:
1. Morag Raya. Waltzing with Bashir: Perpetrator Trauma and Cinema. London & New York: I.B. Tauris, 2013: 1-32, 211-218.
2. Morag, Raya. “Perpetrator Trauma and Current Israeli Documentary Cinema,” Camera Obscura 80, 27.2 2012: 93-133.
3. Hayut, Noam. The Girl Who Stole My Holocaust: A Memoir, Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 2009: 5, 75-89. (Hebrew).
4. Crawford, Neta C. “Individual and Collective Moral Responsibility for Systemic Military Atrocity.” The Journal of Political Philosophy 15.2, 1989: 187–212.
5. Lifton, Robert Jay. “Haditha: In an “Atrocity-Producing Situation” - Who Is to Blame?” Editor & Publisher June 4, 2006. http://editorandpublisher.com/PrintArticle/Haditha-In-an-Atrocity-Producing-Situation-Who-Is-to-Blame-
6. Ziv, Effi. “Between the Glove and Resistance: The Dialectics of the Shame Mechanism,” Theory and Criticism 32, Spring, Jerusalem: The Van Leer Institute, 2008: 99-128 (Hebrew).
7. Gertz, Nurith & Hermoni, Gal. “Between Lebanon and Hirbet Hizaa Runs a Muddy Path: On Trauma, Ethics, and Revival in Israeli Cinema and Literature,” Mikan 3, October 2013: 145-163. (Hebrew)
8. Morag, Raya. Editorial: “Radical Contextuality: Major Trends in Israeli Documentary Second Intifada Cinema,” Studies in Documentary Film 6.3 April 2013: 253-272.
9. LaCapra, Dominique. Writing History, Writing Trauma. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001: 43-85.
10. Nichols, Bill. "Axiographics: Ethical Space in Documentary Film" in Representing Reality Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991: 76-103.
11. Michael Menkin, Avichai Sharon, Yanai Israeli, Oded Na’aman, Levy Spector (eds.) Occupation of the Territories: Soldiers’ Testimonies 10. Breaking the Silence, 2011. (Hebrew)
12. Furer, Liron Ron. Checkpoint Syndrome Tel Aviv: Gavanim, 2003: 3-4, 82. (Hebrew)
13. Ne’eman, Judd. "The Tragic Sense of Zionism: Shadow Cinema and the Holocaust",
Shofar 24.1, 2005: 22-36.
14. Ilan Avisar. "The Holocaust in Israeli Cinema as a Conflict Between Survival and
Morality", in: Talmon Miri and Peleg Yaron (eds) Israeli Cinema: Identities in Motion.
Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2011: 151-167.
15. Gertz, Nurith, and George Khleifi. Palestinian Cinema: Landscape, Trauma, and Memory. Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2008: 1-73.
16. Gertz, Nurith, and George Khleifi. "Between Exile and Homeland: The Films of Elia Suleiman", in: Palestinian Cinema: Landscape, Trauma, and Memory. Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2008: 171-189.
17. Suleiman, Elia. "The Occupation (and Life) Through an Absurdist Lens, Interview with Elia Suleiman," Journal of Palestine Studies 32.2, Winter 2003: 63-73.
18. Ball, Anna. "Between a Postcolonial Nation and Fantasies of the Feminine: The Contested Visions of Palestinian Cinema", Camera Obscura 2008: 23(3 69): 1-33.
19. Morag, Raya. “'Roadblock' Films, 'Children's Resistance' Films and 'Blood Relations' Films: Israeli and Palestinian Documentary Post-Intifada II” The Documentary Film Book ed. Brian Winston, London: BFI Palgrave McMillan, 2013: 237-246.

Additional Reading Material:
1. Kaldor, Mary. New and Old Wars: Organized Violence in a Global Era. 2nd. Ed., Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2007.
2. Nichols, Bill. Introduction to Documentary. 2nd Ed., Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana UP, [2001] 2010.
3. Shohat, Ella. “Super-Narrative / Critical Reading: The Politics of Israeli Cinema,” in Fictitious Perspectives on Israeli Cinema, Nurith Gertz, Orli Lovin, and Judd Ne’eman (eds.). Tel Aviv, 1998: 66-44. (Hebrew)
4. Shohat, Ella. Israeli Cinema: History and Ideology, Tel Aviv, 1991. 8:236-179 (Hebrew).
5. Shohat, Ella. "Postscript to Israeli Cinema: East/West and the Politics of Representation" in Deeper than Oblivion Trauma and Memory in Israeli Cinema eds. by Raz Yosef and Boaz Hagin New York: Bloomsbury, 2013: 21-50.
6. Weizman, Eyal. Hollowland Israel: Architecture of the Occupation. London: Verso, 2007.
7. Dabashi, Hamid. Dreams of a Nation: On Palestinian Cinema. London: Verso, 2006.
8. Gertz, Nurith. Cinema Story: Israeli Fiction and Film Adaption, Tel Aviv: The Open University, 1993: 176-97. (Hebrew)
9. Gertz, Nurith. A Different Chorus: Holocaust Survivors, Aliens, and Others in Israeli Cinema and Literature, Tel Aviv: Am Oved, The Open University, 2008. (Hebrew)
10. Shnitzer, Meir. Israeli Cinema, Kinneret, 1994. (Hebrew)
11. Ne’eman, Judd. “’The Moderns’”: The Genealogy of the New Sensitivity” in Gertz, Lubin, & Ne’eman (eds.) Fictive Perspectives, Tel Aviv, 1998: 9-32. (Hebrew)

Course/Module evaluation:
End of year written/oral examination 0 %
Presentation 0 %
Participation in Tutorials 0 %
Project work 80 %
Assignments 20 %
Reports 0 %
Research project 0 %
Quizzes 0 %
Other 0 %

Additional information:
Course Requirements:
Active participation. Required reading of one journal article for each class meeting.
For lessons 3 and 7 – Required reading of documentary literature in addition to the journal article (see nos. 25, 26, 27 on required reading list).
Required viewing of 6 films:
Checkpoint - Yoav Shamir [2003]
Nine Star Hotel - Ido Harr [2007]
The Hangman - Netalie Braun and Avigail Sperber [2010]
Arna's Children - Juliano Mer-Khamis, Danniel Danniel [2004]
The Time That Remains – Elia Suleiman [2009]
Five Broken Cameras - Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi [2011]
Submission of papers: (20% of final grade)
Topic of paper: The modes of representation of the subject position ‘between victim and perpetrator’ in the two corpora.
Length of report: Up to three pages (12 point font, double spaced).
Choose one Israeli film (from the following list: Checkpoint, Nine Star Hotel, The Hangman) and one Palestinian film (from the following list: Arna’s Children, The Time That Remains, Five Broken Cameras).
1. Present a claim based on a comparison of the two films. 2. Choose a scene from each of the films on which to base your claim and describe the scene briefly (two lines for each scene). 3. Analyze the scenes based on two cinematic language strategies (one major strategy from each scene). Use two bibliographic entries from the list to support your argument. Explain the contribution of each of the scenes to the discussion of the claim. 5. What do each of the scenes contribute to the meaning of the film?
Submission deadline: Before 10:30 a.m. on 30.11.15. The paper should be turned in before the beginning of the class. No submissions will be accepted after the deadline.
• Students who chose to write a seminar paper will be required to present them in front of the class after corrections have been made.
Submission of final paper (80% of the final grade): Analysis of an Israeli film and a Palestinian film not discussed in class (please ask me for approval of the films). Bibliographic sources – at least 6 items. Length of the paper – up to 10 pages. 12 point font, double spaced). Deadline for submission: Four weeks after the last class meeting: before 13:00 on 21.2.16, to the Communication Department secretary. The submission must be recorded in the office. Detailed instructions will follow.