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NEW YORK, NY, USA - Thirty-two year old Israeli director Keren Yedaya speaks from her convictions with such a passion that you can't but be intrigued about her debut feature "Or [My Treasure]." As a result of this powerful story of a mother who is a prostitute and her daughter's struggle to save her from herself, Yedaya was awarded with a featured spot at Cannes and was introduced to the United States through the 42nd New York Film Festival. Now the film comes to screens here this summer.
G21: A film like "Broken Wings" [which also stars Dana Ivgi as Ruthie's daughter Or] was embraced critically and accepted by many festivals; it grapples with a complicated living situation not unlike your film ... but not the obvious politics of Israel.
KY: My film is a very political film but not in a stupid way and it's not pornographic either, even though it deals with sex and prostitution. In a way I don't think "Broken Wings" is political but my film definitely is.
G21: Where did your film's story come from?
KY: I worked for many years with women who tried to get out of prostitution so I felt these stories [had] never been told and, since many of these women have died, I felt I had to make this film so they could tell what their lives were like. So I felt obliged to tell this story for them.
G21: What made you decide to make this as a fiction feature rather than a documentary?
KY: I only do features -- it's my passion that I have ... for crews, for actors, for writing. It's what I love. I don't think I can do the same thing with a documentary. To show from the inside; some people who love documentaries can probably tell the story as well but I've seen so many that were full of lies. Making a documentary doesn't mean you're telling the truth.
G21: How did you consolidate these stories [you'd known in]to this one?
KY: It's one of the reasons to do fiction -- to tell the reasons why women go into prostitution. One reason is abuse; another is extreme poverty or incest -- all forms of it. Or when you were a child and if your mother was a prostitute, a lot of young daughters get into the [business the] same way. She tries to save or replace her mother, who, after 20 years can't take it anymore; she's wounded or bleeding terribly so her 16-year-old daughter struggles against it and then she replaces her mother. She tries to save her but the way you grow up and see it in your house, you can only fight against it so long. All her young life, she has seen it so she breaks down and does not have energy to fight her mother's ways anymore. It's a big conflict and not easy to be a child and not easy to think that a parent is doing something wrong so in a way she has to think that her mother is okay and then it becomes okay for her to be a prostitute.
G21: Was this film hard to get made in Israel?
KY: At times it seemed so hard and other times, so easy. It's so hard to do films in general but especially in Israel where there is so little money to do cinema. It took me 10 years to finally get my first feature made. After 10 years, after almost to death, I made three short films though it was really hard for me. I was so sure I would do it.
G21: You were that confident?
KY: I made a date for shooting the film with my producer even before I got the money. He said "Are you so sure?" And I said yeah I was sure ... Half the money came from a foundation and half came from Israeli TV. It will run on TV but won't go on it yet because it was not long ago only in the Israeli cinemas. A lot of films get made for TV in Israel. All the films that went out this year started in the cinema.
G21: You've had some good years and some not so good for films?
KY: We had many years where there was not money for the Israeli film industry. About five to eight were made every year until recently when the law was changed. The cinema law was made in the last two or three years so 24 films were made last year. There was a big fight from some local cineaste who protested the lack of funding.
G21: Is the government more passionate about films that portray Israel?
KY: A lot of Israelis are excited ... I'm not sure excited about it is the right way to say it but it's very simple. A few people from Israel -- mainly filmmakers -- made a long hard fight and maybe convinced the government that it was important though I don't think people in government need cinema to make the image of Israel better. I do know they fought for years to get money and those who struggled got it. My film indirectly has to do with politics but it's more about [how] hard life can be in Israel if you are poor.
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