Yoav Shamir's film about antisemitism has drawn both praise and criticism. So what's it like being dubbed 'the Israeli Mel Gibson'?Having depicted modern Israeli life in his previous films, a run-in with several critics turned 39-year-old Tel Avivian film-maker Yoav Shamir on to the subject of antisemitism. In a quest to explore what the term means today he travelled from Israel to New York, Poland and Moscow and captured his startling discoveries in a Grierson Award-winning film, Defamation.
Why did you decide to make the film?
Some years ago I made Checkpoint, a film shot in checkpoints in the occupied territories where I'd been a soldier. It got alot of attention and I started noticing that I'd been referred to as "the Israeli Mel Gibson", antisemitic, mostly by American journalists. It got me thinking about what it means when somebody is called antisemitic. The word is used all around us, it's like a white noise.
Being Jewish, did you find that odd?
Of course! It's total nonsense and a very offensive term for me. Before Checkpoint I wasn't a political person, I was just portraying something important, being honest. I think if we're doing something wrong we should open up the debate and deal with it.
Why did you choose a playful, almost Louis Theroux style for your film?
I normally do strict cinéma vérité style films where the camera just observes. But everybody I talked to about this film said, "You can't make it, you'll never get away with it." The only way I thought I could tackle it was to do a very personal film. Humour is a great way to keep people interested – antisemitism isn't a very sexy subject so it's a way to make people watch and think.
What did you learn?
One striking thing I discovered was how many American Jews – not all of them obviously – are using antisemitism as a way of maintaining their identity. There's an [American] Jewish guy in the film who says "Israel is our insurance policy", and for me that's a very bad thing. When you need to insure your house or car you ask for the maximum security possible. But it doesn't make sense for the people living in this place to do that. There are other ways of providing security, of living peacefully; it doesn't have to be through these violent measures.
How representative was the class of schoolchildren that you follow to Auschwitz?
They were just your average, middle-class Israeli pupils. For many of them it was their first time abroad but they were being worked up so much before this trip. Eventually it's almost funny: two of the girls talk to three elderly Polish gentlemen on a bench and presume what they say is antisemitic. When you're 16 years old you're influenced very easily. We went to a pizza place which they didn't realise was self-service ,and when nobody took their order they got very upset. They thought: "They're doing it because we're Jewish, they're antisemites."
Did that worry you?
Yes, but it's not their fault. This tradition of hatred is being passed from one generation to another. A kid in the film says: "What makes us special is that nobody can stand us." Even the older people, I don't think they're coming from a conspiratorial, cynical point of view – they truly believe that. It's like taking away from people the feeling that they're hated is so offensive to them it's almost unacceptable. But these kids are about to join the army with all this luggage. (The Guardian 2010)
Ook van Yoav Shamir: Checkpoint (2003)
Winnaar van de Joris Ivens Award op het IDFA van 2003.
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