Film | Prelude
Israel, 1980
The first part of Amos Gitai’s documentary film trilogy “HOUSE” (1980–2006) was commissioned by Israeli television, but was censored and shown at the Berlinale's International Forum for New Cinema in 1982. “BAIT” (House, 1980) uses the story of a house in West Jerusalem and its inhabitants to reconstruct the conflict between Israel and Palestine: the house becomes a metaphor, a microcosm. The Israeli filmmaker works like an archaeologist and uncovers a complicated labyrinth of fates beneath the layers of history. In the second (“A House in Jerusalem”, 1998) and third part, “News from Home” (2006), which was also shown in the Berlinale Forum, Amos Gitai returned to the location and depicted the changes of the past years.
The play “House”, which will be shown at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele on 15 and 16 June, is an adaptation of the film trilogy of the same name by Amos Gitai.
Amos Gitai – Director and Screen Writer