FILMMAKER HECHT
TAKES ON THE
ISRAELI FLAG
Doris Strub Epstein
“What does the flag of Israel mean to
you?” It was a simple question asked by film-
maker Igal Hecht. He traveled the length and
breadth of Israel, from the south where Israel
borders on Egypt to the north - the Lebanese
border and asked this to all and sundry. The
responses will upset and startle. They range,
he said from the spiritual to the highly criti-
cal, from the political to the ridiculous. Titled,
My Flag, it is Hecht’s latest documentary, and
will be shown this week at the Jewish Film
Festival.
“I asked two guys on the beach in Tel
Aviv,” he said. “They said they could use it
as a blanket on the beach because they forgot
to bring a towel. They then asked me for a
joint.”
A man he encountered on the street wanted
to burn the flag. His wife had been killed
by a quassam rocket and the government did
nothing to help.
With the flag wrapped around him, Hecht
walked the streets of Mea Sharim and got
yelled at by some. A Satmar chasid wanted
to burn it.
But at a folk dancing class on a Kibbutz
outside of Hadera, there were only posi-
tive responses. Sarale Sharon, Israeli singer
spoke for many: “It expresses home to me
and – Israel is the greatest place.”
“I also wanted to show the beauty of
Israel,” said Hecht, “The people, the scenery.
I wanted to show how beautiful and amazing
this county is under the banner of the flag.”
And show it he did, taking us with him, to the
countryside, walking the streets, in the cafes,
talking to a melange of people. It’s the first
time Hecht 31, a tall, bearded man with dark
curly long hair and friendly brown eyes, has
ever appeared in one of his own movies. “It’s
thanks to my Israeli colleague Lior Cohen,”
he says.
Clearly, Hecht, an Israeli who came here as
a 10 year old child, growing up at Bathurst
and Steeles, “the heart of the Israeli ghetto”,
is in his own words, “obsessed with Israel.”
Of the 38 films he has made, 28 have been
about Israel. His documentaries about Israel
are invariably thought provoking – often dis-
turbing, deeply personal and never locked
into a particular ideology. “I don’t have a po-
litical stance,” he says. They challenge our
assumptions and shed new light to inform
us. You can see clips on his web site – www.
chutzpaproductions.com.
Gilad is still alive
23.4.2009 • ‫ תשס"ט‬,‫ כט בניסן‬,‫יום חמישי‬
He is extremely concerned that “Israel is teaching at the Seneca College
in the greatest danger since it came into exis- School of Communication Arts.
tence.” The danger is internal. “It lacks vi- But the “pinnacle” of his career,
sion and leadership.” he declares, is ‘Shield of Solomon’,
“Last year I was in Israel every six weeks. which aired at the Montreal film
It was a crazy year. I completed eight films, festival last week. Through four
which have all aired on television, and shot 14 refugees from Darfur, who fled
which we are working on. This is in addition from the Sudan by foot to Israel,
to his work as senior editor of Fraud Squad it tells the story of the 3,000 sur-
TV – “I’m on my 12th TV production” – and vivors of Darfur that Israel took in
and how they were treated there.
It all started when Hecht saw a program
on TV about Israel’s treatment of the refu-
gees that was negative and highly distorted.
He got so angry, he immediately called Lior
Cohen in Israel to say they would do it right.
He didn’t even wait for funding but used his
own money and ran with it.
The result? “It moved people to tears.
Best of all, we got the truth out there – that
Israel has done more for these refugees than
Canada, more than any Western country.
Certainly more than the Arab world who
couldn’t care less and allows the Sudanese
Government to continue their genocide.”
‘My Flag’, can be seen, as part of the
Jewish Film Festival at 2:30 p.m. on Friday,
April 24th, at the Al Green Theatre, Miles
Nadal JCC, 750 Spadina Ave.
depstein@rogers.com
Shalom Toronto Inc.
Publisher: Yossi Arbel, Senior Editor: Liat Arbel, Editor: Jonathan Dahoah Halevi,
Graphic Design: Mexley Marketing Inc.
Meital Netzer-Israel;
Sales and Marketing: Gershon Goldenberg
Contributors: Galya Sarner, Galit Yizchak, Orit Alon, David Kahn, Doris Strub
Epstein, Yossi Abadi, Jonathan Dahoah Halevi,
Photography: Newscom,Vidal Keslassy
Shalom Toronto Inc.
61 Alness St. Suite #201, M3J 2H2
Tel: (416) 744-1385; Fax: (416) 744-9068
www.shalomtoronto.ca, www.stnews.ca
shalomtoronto@bellnet.ca; shalomtoronto@gmail.com
© Copy Right Shalom Toronto inc. All rights reserved.
1033 days in
captivity
40
416-744-1385