Israeli Director Dedicates Cannes Prize To Palestinians


"I want to create a different cinema that criticizes the Israeli politics and the occupation of the Palestinian territories," Yedaya said


Additional Reporting By Hadi Yahmid, IOL Correspondent

CANNES, France, May 23 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Famed Israeli director Keren Yedaya, who was awarded Saturday, May 22, the Golden Camera of the Cannes Film Festival, dedicated her prestigious award to the Palestinian people and other peoples who struggle under the yoke of slavery.

U.S. writer and director Michael Moore was also basking in the glow of winning the festival’s top prize for his virulently anti-Bush documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11".

Yedaya used her award acceptance speech to lash out at the Israeli occupation troops, saying they humiliatingly enslave three million Palestinians.

The talented filmmaker also dedicated the honor to all world peoples, who have not been emancipated from slavery.

Her "Mon Tresor" film was jointly produced by a French and Israeli company, and was financed by the Film Project of the Rabinowitz Tel Aviv Fund and the cable companies' "Films From Here" project.

She told France’s Le Monde newspaper on Saturday that she had frequently refused to cooperate with the state-run Israeli television, saying it introduces cinema "dressed in a military suit".

"I want to create a different cinema that criticizes the Israeli politics and the occupation of the Palestinian territories," she said.

The focus of Yedaya’ film is 17-year-old Or, the daughter of Ruthie, a prostitute, who provided for her only daughter in a merciless life before falling victim to a mental illness.

The two live together in a small Tel Aviv apartment, and most of the film describes their routine, in which Or cares for her ailing mother and works as a dishwasher in a restaurant, and cleans the stairwell of the building where they live to earn enough money to pay rent.

But hard times forced her to follow the lead of her mother to make a living, though she had tried in vain to help mother out of the callous and dirty career.

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