In the year of 1959 Jean Rouch directed the film The Human Pyramid. The film is, in Rouch‘s own words, an “experience” in between fiction and documentary, where he sought to initiate a debate between two groups of students from the Ivory Cost (a group of white students and a group of black students). The film is, therefore an observation of human behaviour, which for Rouch, as an ethnographer, is the key to in-depth thinking about political, social and racial issues. An anticipation of the Cinéma Vérité, this often forgotten film was the starting point of Filipa César’s (Porto, 1975) last project, ’The Four Chambered Heart.’ When César was invited in the end of 2007 to attend an artist residency at the Israeli Center for Digital Art in Holon, she thought of a similar project but tailored to the local context. She put herself in Rouch’s place – the instigator who captures on film his characters’ reactions and emotions while probing whether they are acting or not. Instead of a group of black and a group of white students, the artist brought together a group of Arab and a group of Hebrew students from three cinema schools in Israel: Almanar Film School, in Taibe; Tel Aviv University, Department of Film and Television, in Tel Aviv; and Sapir Academic College, Department of Film and TV, in Sderot. After watching the projection of Rouch’s film, they start discussing their viewing experience. They question the role of cinema¸ the role of the director, and each other’s positions. They even deconstruct the cinematic device they are themselves part of, pointing out the differences between Rouch’s and César’s experiment. Gradually, an argument about cinema shifts to a debate on Israel and Palestine, on colonialism and language, culminating in the subject of external intervention (in this case European intervention, personified in Filipa César). Filipa César’s films increasingly propose a utopian vision of the role of cinema (and of art). One of the students states at a certain point that, “a film can not change the world”. By proposing projects such as this one, César suggests that art can, nevertheless, have an active role in such discussion. Director | Filipa César Assitant Director | Mai Omer Camera | Mossi Armon, Mor Peleg, Maya Geyer Sound | Daniel Meir Sound Capture | Daniel Meir, Benya Reches Moderation | Galit Eilat Participants | Aya Abu Ras, Dua Abu ras, Ismail Abu Algian, Wala Agbariya, Ahmed Awisat, Natalie Baron, Yuval Ben- Basat, Barak Ben Dov, Hagai Ben Kuzari, Fahami Elamur, Muhamed Gama, Anas Ganaym, Yasmin Gara, Madlin Jabar, Yam Komah, Tahar Muslmani, Amani Msarwa, Mor Peleg, Ofir Raul Graizer, Maya Shahnovich, Nahar Shabtay, Hagar Shapira, Karem Shaib, Siraj Haj Yehiya, Mona Warda. Thanks to | Yael Bartana, Guy Ben Ner, Donia Bransi, Fahima Bransi, Georg Blochmann, Eyal Danon, Amos Dolav, Sergio Edelzstein, Galit Eilat, Adriene Goehler, Dor Guez, Colin MacCabe, Anke Müffelmann, Maya Pasternak, Erez Pery, Moustapha Safouan, Nir Sagiv, Nurit Scharett, Diana Schoef, Amir Tausinger, Daniel Wajman. Hebrew with English subtitles
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