if Nadaf LapidFifth movie Yes! It didn’t exist, it would be impossible to think about anything like him. A provocative, intense and dry sensory study of the life of the modern era in Tel Aviv, is likely to be the first movie by an Israeli to face the elephant in the room: the ongoing war in Gaza. In the middle of the story, there is jazz musician called Y, a type of bohemian, who is tired of its existence, and agrees with a profitable committee, and writing an optimistic song to inspire national pride in the wake of Hamas’s terrorist attacks that occurred on October 7, 2023. But what begins with a simple issue to come out soon, and finds a lot of pressure.
Lapid has lived in Paris over the past three and a half years, and as an external time, his film runs the extraordinary achievement of the ability to see both sides of the situation. But he does not do this calmly or even rationally; Yes! It is an existential crisis for a movie, and sometimes it seems almost collapses in front of our eyes. Fortunately, Lapid has survived so far of any kind of Kneejerk Anti-Israel Enthusiasm, and even enjoyed a peaceful show at the Cannes Festival, where it was shown on the two directors (his last movie, A knee excuseHe was in the competition there in 2021, so extract your own conclusions). Before submitting Yes! in Carlovi differsLapid sat to discuss the film’s origins and complex topics.
The deadline: Is this true Yes! It started as a different film and changed it to integrate the events of October 7? What is the starting point?
Nadaf Lapid: tee Yes! Always Yes!but [the original draft] It was a movie about an artist who says yes to power, to power. It was a movie about the art and the sensitivity that was defeated by vulgarity, brutality, power and money; What we see all over the world. The matter was related to a tired artist from saying no, tired of any form of resistance; Whoever wants, like all of us, love and be loved; He wants to live normally. He wants to be part of humanity. So, saying yes, then again yes, then again yes, then finds himself on the bottom. But then came October 7 and the war. The bottom – the abyss – has become deeper and deeper.
The deadline: Is it in any way personal in terms of the artist’s dilemma?
Labid: Of course he is personal. I think, first and foremost, from my first day in the cinema, I lived with the accuracy of this … I mean, from time to time I feel like this, how you call it, like the watch makers who arrive at the hours, or something like that. I mean, I can see that You You have an hour, but most people do not. They look at their phones, and suddenly this profession became [almost obsolete]…
Looking at the accuracy and weakness in art, and cinema, I always feel as if the days of glory stand behind us now, and in general through this feeling of ingestion of brutality, by chaos, through things that I do not understand, although I always try to understand them. At the same time, I also feel that I live in a position as an artist from a small country.
Being an Israeli director, like existence, perhaps, I think, the director of Bosnian films. It is completely different from being a French film or American director, because we are the ones who knock on the gates, and the gates in which there is money, glory and confession. I received an invitation to all kinds of events, such as, there is one that the Cannes Festival keeps in Paris. Everyone has good intentions, but you find yourself on a table with the wealthy shepherds of the festival, and you are a little monkey. It’s okay, but I think what I am trying to say [in Yes!] It is that everyone – including me – lick another person’s shoes.
The deadline: So, to clarify, you had this idea and then presented October 7. Is this what happened?
Labid: Yes.
The deadline: Have you ever thought, “Maybe you should not touch on this topic,” or did you warn him because he is still hesitating today?
Labid: Well, I was shocked, of course, when that happened, but he did not do that [immediately] Give me any reason to make this movie or any other movie. But a few days after this happened, I opened my computer and looked at the scenario, and the first line that speaks in the movie is when Yasmine says, “Let the generals win”, or something like that. That is So Connected to what happened in Israel. Well, in the movie, it is a battle about a song, and the real war in the background, but somehow, it is everyone Connected, because on October 7, the generals lost. I told myself that we will soon see their revenge, and the revenge they will take. Therefore, I went to Israel to try to discover – to understand – what was happening.
For me, there were many things I realized: First of all, I met more or less than all my friends there. Many of them are artists and all of them suddenly served the state. I mean, they all have good intentions. It was like Israel was bleedingIn shock after October 7, atrocities, etc., etc. Thus, they felt that they needed to contribute to national efforts. The directors were making short films, and explained what happened to Israel, and what happened, atrocities. The editors were the editor, and the photographer was shooting. The singers were singing for the soldiers who were preparing themselves to invade Gaza.
Once again, everyone had good intentions, but it was clear to me that all of this would end, or would lead to an investigation, horrific, or biblical – without any precedent in our history – a massacre. Therefore, you can see that the worst was prepared. And when you see that the worst is prepared, you do not really have options.
The deadline: You surprised me as if it were an angry movie. Your films are very dynamic, very vibrant, but this movie is out of control at times. Do you agree as an angry movie?
Labid: I think it is TRUE film. I mean, I think the movie is going in all directions at the same time. I mean, in terms of type, it is romantic, it is a musician, and it is a movie about love, it is about the couple, it is about the family. Of course, it is a political movie, a war movie, and sometimes a horror movie. Sometimes an existential film. Therefore, I think the movie is going everywhere at the same time. But it was a film filmed in the middle of the war, while the war is still taking place, while bombs and missiles fall. Every day there is a new tragedy, and every day is the worst day.
I mean, can you make any other type of movie? Yes, you can. I mean, I could have made a very severe and volatile political film. I find these films very boring, educational, and in some way, not sincere of the truth, because the truth, as I see it at the end of the movie is not just a topic life at this point. In life, everything is connected. In the end, Tel Aviv and Gaza are linked. Tel Aviv is associated with the war in Gaza, and the parties are connected to Tel Aviv with bombs in Gaza. You cannot talk about someone without talking about the other, especially if you want to talk about humans, as you see them at a certain moment.
The deadline: Was it easy to make people work with you in this movie?
Labid: No, it was almost impossible. For the first time it was almost impossible. For example, dozens of technicians refused to work in the movie. It happened to me before. It never happened. I think it was a reflection of what was happening in Israel. Dozens of technicians refused to work in the movie, one by one. I became a joke at a certain point, not funny. Every day a new technician is leaving. We could not find a makeup artist. We had to find the Serbian makeup artist. AA a lot of actors refused. Some actors passed their tests, got the roles, and were very happy. After that, after two weeks, their agents called that they will not participate in the movie.
Also, it was very difficult to find funding, especially after October 7. I think there is a phenomenon of fear of the movie. I mean, that the financiers in Europe, in France, were saying, “No, we are not on both sides …” as Michael Jordan’s quote, “Republicans but the coaches too.” Therefore, they were like, “We are not on the Palestinian side, not on the Israeli side.” All kinds of garbage like this, as if the issue of the side, did you know? People who saw themselves supportive of cinema were saying, at this moment, it would be very complicated for them to finance such a movie – as if it was not exactly The reason they funded this.
I think there is an increasing misunderstanding, and I feel it throughout this movie. In a strange way, I think this is a misunderstanding of the cinema industry much more than the masses. The shows of this movie were incredible. He started. Of course, there are people who love him and people who do not like them, but it’s okay. I mean, it’s great. The audience is very young. And I feel that the film speaks to everyone, but also for young people because it describes them, I think, the world as they feel it, so that it goes beyond the Israeli question. And I think people are eager, because they feel that something in the movie talks about the truth about this chaotic reality, which is something they do not find in many other films.
But on the other hand, I think it is in the film industry, there is a lower and less understanding of the role of films. I mean, values such as provoking debate, providing dialectical, and creating harsh discussions. Why not? It is great for people to discuss these things. This is due to years, I think this was one of the reasons that made us sanctify the arts and love them. I think we all discovered the cinema through these stray directors who made films that were only safe anything but by mutual consent. In some way, this has become an obstacle, and there is a kind of “safe” films. When many people in this industry talk about political films, they talk about films about political issues that you can actually study in the history category. I mean, it is not very courageous to produce a movie on a political topic that was relevant 50 years ago.
The deadline: It is very fashionable to boycott Israeli and Israeli products. Did you have experience in that?
Labid: If anything, the opposite experience was. For me, my main problem and my interests came from the financing stage. I don’t think it is [partisan] view. It is the sincere view of an Israeli cinematic director of his mandate. I felt the opposite. Perhaps someone tweets me on Twitter …
The deadline: You are based in Paris. Do you think that the world has become more authoritarian, or more right -wing and more reactionary?
Labid: I have my opinions, but somehow, I feel that my films are not left -wing films. I am not a movie director. I do not do Anjaji cinema. I love cinema so much. In the end, the goal is the movie. I feel that, as a director, my films are, first and foremost, to celebrate fact From the cinema, hoping that the truth of the cinema is compatible with the reality of the universe. But I think the main thing is that I feel like people like me – maybe you too – do not understand the world anymore.
I mean, you can describe it in many words. fascist. Cutting, definitely. However, at a higher level, I have a son, and I do not feel that I can give any advice to my son about what he should do in his life, because I feel that we still believe in a set of values that are not relevant anymore. But at the same time, I am not a cinematic director of nostalgia. I do not like nostalgia. I mean, I am not like, “Oh, the past was so glorious“In the end, the only thing that exists is the present.
The deadline: What about the future? What after you?
Labid: Perhaps another movie begins as dance and ends as a screaming.
