The upcoming Israeli Film Festival 2003 will see the screening of eight films that deal with topical issues, including tensions and difficulties faced by recent immigrants, conflict between Jews and Muslims and differences between the Sephardim and Ashkenazim.
The festival, which runs from tomorrow to May 23, is being organised by the Consulate-General of Israel and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department.
The premiere will screen at the City Hall, while the other films will screen at the Hong Kong Space Museum Lecture Hall in Tsim Sha Tsui.
The consulate has decided to go ahead with the film festival, despite concerns over atypical pneumonia.
'Life must go on in Hong Kong and this is our token of support for Hong Kong to get back to normal,' says Consul-General Eli Avidar.
The eight films will offer local audiences the opportunity of a 'glimpse of the history, tradition, culture as well as the issues concerning the people of Israel'.
Early Israeli cinema, beginning in the 1950s, often dealt with issues rooted in the Israeli/Jewish experience, such as that of Holocaust survivors and new immigrants. More recent offerings provide a snapshot of existence in the modern state of Israel, where its people face conflict on an almost daily basis.
