Comfortably Numb

Folman captures personal testimonies, turning the camera on different people as they share their experiences, he wanders around the deserted nocturnal streets of the city sniffing out fear and he documents slivers of everyday life, sometimes seriously, sometimes with humor, but always with endless reserves of understanding.

Rarely screened, Ari Folman’s widely unknown student film, made in 1991, might be somewhat unsophisticated, but it holds special interest for two very good reasons: on the one hand it initiates the director into the genre of political cinema and documentary tactics, two elements he would explore exhaustively throughout his career.

One the other hand, it’s a historical document, a realistic chronicle of a terrified Tel Aviv at the beginning of the Gulf War, when residents were still struggling to adapt to the everyday terror of living under constant threat of Iraqi missile attacks.

Folman captures personal testimonies, turning the camera on different people as they share their experiences, he wanders around the deserted nocturnal streets of the city sniffing out fear and he documents slivers of everyday life, sometimes seriously, sometimes with humor, but always with endless reserves of understanding. L.K.

Εναλλακτικοί τίτλοι / Alternative titles: Comfortably Numb / Sha'anan Si

Σκηνοθεσία / Director: Ari Folman, Ori Sivan

Ισραήλ / Israel
1991
Εγχρωμο / Color
40'

Publication date: 2013-09-11 12:30:00

Ari Folman: Memories from the Future

The Congress

Playing herself, Robin Wright is a middle-aged actress who sees her career in decline, while she's forced to deal with her son's health issues. That's when she's made an offer that's as tempting as it is nightmarish: to sell the grand total of her image and voice to the Miramount studios, without any control over the films her 3-dimensional, ageless self will appear in.

Waltz With Bashir

A director, i.e. Ari Folman himself, listens to the confession of a friend and former comrade in the Israel–Hezbollah War about a recurring nightmare. Does it have to do with what happened during the war? And why does the director find it impossible to recall anything from that period?

Made in Israel

Based on a crazy screenwriting premise, Ari Folman enters absurdist territory as he tracks this unlikely group with a cynical sense of humor and a handful of pulp fiction references a la Tarantino, although his own approach often verges on the bitterly dramatic.

Saint Clara

Clara has the ability to predict the future, including quiz questions, which she generously shares with her schoolmates out of sheer selflessness. But what happens when Clara falls in love?