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The Jerusalem Post’s new culture program, The Jerusalem Playlist, launched this week with a look at Israeli cinema, Jewish identity in France, and an unusual Jerusalem art exhibition featuring artists on the autism spectrum.
The program, produced by Gadi Zaig, and hosted by Jerusalem Post culture writer and film critic Hannah Brown and social media manager Ezra Taylor, opened with a discussion on Our Loves, the latest film by veteran Israeli director Avi Nesher, which is set to screen at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The drama begins on October 6, 2023, following several characters who believe they are experiencing the worst day of their lives before the events of October 7 transform their stories. Brown said the film differs from earlier productions about the massacre by introducing fictionalized characters grounded in extensive research rather than recreating specific individuals’ experiences.
International producers Fox Entertainment and Access Entertainment have joined the project, giving the film a path toward theatrical distribution outside Israel, including in the US and Europe.
Looking at French Jewish cinema as well
The episode also examined Just an Illusion, a French Jewish film by directing partners Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache. The semi-autobiographical story follows a Jewish boy growing up in a Mizrahi family in 1980s Paris while preparing for his bar mitzvah and navigating family life, friendships, and questions of French, Jewish, Moroccan, and Algerian identity.
The film has sold around two million tickets in France and recently opened in Israel, with a US release expected later this year.
Brown also discussed Feelings in Between, an exhibition at the Jerusalem Theater featuring collaborative works by artists on the autism spectrum, including her son. The exhibition, which runs through the end of August, challenges assumptions about autism by showing artists choosing to create works together.