Ilan Ziv Movies
- 2008
Thirty five years after emigrating to American due to Israel's disturbing penchant for mixing religion and politics, Yom Kippur War veteran Ilan Ziv begins to suspect that the United States is headed down that same dangerous path and sets out on a cross-country mission to speak with religious activists who support both the Democratic and Republican candidates. By traveling from the Iowa Caucus to the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries and ultimately Super Tuesday in Oklahoma, Ziv attempts to better understand while people from all forms of the Christian faith believe that their candidate is the one and only choice. Interviews with such outspoken public figures as Moral Majority cofounder Paul Weyrich and theology historian Randall Balmer (God in the White House) combine with archival footage to provide a comprehensive overview of religion in American politics from the Great Awakening revivals of the 18th and 19th centuries straight through rise of the Religious New Right, and how the latter has taken to wielding moral issues as a political weapon and using biblical interpretation to validate their political beliefs. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 2008
Filmmaker Tanaz Eshaghian explores the proliferation of gender reassignment surgery in a society where homosexuality is punishable by death in this documentary that ponders the extreme measures taken by gay Iranians who risk execution if the truth about their sexuality is uncovered. In Iran, to be homosexual is to live in fear. Yet despite the fact that homosexual men and women in Iran risk their lives simply by revealing their sexual preferences, the fact that prominent sex-change surgeon Dr. Bahram Mir-Jalali performs more gender reassignment surgeries in one year than the entire country of France does in one decade offers telling insight into a culture that accepts both genders though refuses to acknowledge any gray area in between. For an emerging generation of men and women who are forced by theocracy to deny their true selves, this drastic transformation provides the only hope for survival. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tanaz Eshaghian
- 2007
On the fortieth anniversary of the Six Day War, filmmaker Ilan Ziv travels back in time to explore the events leading up to the deceptively abbreviated conflict, as well as the manner in which it forever altered the course of history in the Middle East. Though the exchange of gunfire only lasted for a mere one-hundred-and-forty-four hours, some historians would argue that the Six Day War is still being fought at the dawn of the 21st Century. Now history buffs looking to gain a new perspective on this compelling subject can explore the events leading up to the Six Day War as director Ziv begins by studying the decisive actions of Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol and Egyptian President Jamal Adel Nasser, moves on to the actual conflict, and then shifts focus to the war with Jordan, the occupation of the West Bank, and the subsequent unification of Jerusalem. By speaking directly with soldiers on both sides, Ziv attempts to reveal how the Six Day War reshaped the political landscape of the Middle East while simultaneously obliterating the old ways and clearing the path for new, more powerful forces to emerge. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
The contrasts between an event that changed the face of terrorism and an act of terrorism that changed the face of the world are explored in director Ilan Ziv's documentary detailing the September 1970 hijacking of five commercial airliners by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Unlike the hijackers of September, 11, 2001, the PFLP was not a religious extremist group, but a group of secular Marxist Leninists looking to call attention to a plight that they felt was being ignored by the masses. Though in the end three of the airliners were spectacularly blown up by the militant Palestinian organization, none of the nearly 600 passengers taken hostage were actually killed. Now, more than three decades after the tense events that braced a nation, award-winning producer Ziv conducts interviews with the PFLP, the masterminds behind the attacks, as well as journalists who covered the events, and passengers and crew members of the flights to offer a compelling snapshot of a time in history when innocent civilians became unwilling pawns in the global game of terror. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 2004
While Israel is a modern nation that's part of the 21st century, in many respects it is still a country bound by religious orthodoxy, and there are few areas in which this is more evident than in Israeli's laws regarding divorce. In Israel, a woman is unable to obtain a divorce without the consent of her husband, regardless of mitigating factors such as spousal abuse or criminal behavior. Until a man gives his consent, a separation cannot become a divorce, leaving many Israeli women in a legal and moral limbo where they cannot remarry, establish their own financial arrangements, or even date until their often-missing spouses deign to agree. Filmmaker Anat Zuria profiles three woman trapped by Israel's Draconian divorce laws in this documentary. Tamara left her husband, who frequently beat her, and before she left he took her savings; now she struggles to support herself with her limited resources. Rachel is a radio producer specializing in religious programming who is struggling to negotiate the Byzantine Israeli divorce court system. And Michelle is trying to feed and care for her three children after her husband left her; paradoxically, while he's living with another woman who has given him children, he is still unwilling to grant Michelle a divorce. Zuria also interviews Reut Giat, a female rabbi who helps women struggling with the divorce system and is also an activist for changes in Israeli family law. Mekudeshet (aka Sentenced to Marriage) received its North American premiere as part of the 2005 Los Angeles Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 2003
Directed by Ilan Ziv, The Junction refers to the Netzarim Junction in the Gaza Strip, a crossroads between the Israeli settlement of Netzarim and the Palestinian refugee camp of Nusseirat. Though the junction was, at one time, peaceful, it has since become one of the most dangerous areas in the region. This documentary chronicles the sequence of events that led to the death of David Biri and Fahmi Abuu Ammouneh, the first Israeli soldier and the first resident of Nusseirat to lose their lives in a conflict that would become one of the bloodiest in world history. The film utilizes video footage of David and Fahmi's friends and family to illustrate the effect their deaths still have on the ones they left behind, as well as interviews with loved ones and members of the surrounding communities. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- 2002
The history, rationales, and long-term effects of suicide missions are explored in this documentary by Tel Aviv-native and New York-based filmmaker Ilan Ziv. Ziv suggests that the widespread, self-inflicted terrorist acts that came to the fore in the early 21st century found their roots in two significant places: the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s and Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers. But Ziv is quick to draw a lineage between those movements, the Kamikaze pilots of World War II, and other war-casualty operations. Throughout, the filmmaker analyzes the far-reaching consequences of treating suicidal terrorist as an act of martyrdom, paying particular attention to the Mid-East conflict. In addition to his work as a documentarian, Ziv is also the founder of the well-reputed indie production company Icarus Films. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- 1995
The daily lives of three American teens are chronicled in this documentary. Each subject was each given a Hi-8 camera, brief instructions, and one year to record their daily lives. Co-producer and editor Peter Kinoy took the resulting footage and used it to create this examination of modern youth. The three subjects are Frank Cardon, an African-American who was raised in the violent streets of North Philadelphia. Hatred and bitterness are as natural to him as breathing. On film he talks about the night his friend shot another youngster and how that changed his life. Adwana and her sister Gloria came from an Anglo blue collar home. Life at home became so abusive they ran away to live on the harsh streets of L.A. Edwin La Traun Parker was a high-school senior living in Harlem when he began filming his video journal, which chronicles his quest for his estranged dad. The father currently lives in south Carolina. Edwin is desperate to escape the mean Harlem streets so he goes to college. When he discovers his father he encounters great surprises. One benefit of the film is that it's making positively changed the lives of two subjects. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1994
Directed and produced by Ilan Ziv in an effort to give his two daughters an accurate portrayal of the Holocaust and its effect on their family history, Tango of Slaves chronicles the journey of Ziv's father back to his former home in Warsaw. The journey itself was an exercise in the intertwining of history, memory, photographs, and dreams, but the artifacts unearthed after their arrival do not present the images that they had intended. Quite the opposite, in fact, as the material consists solely of leftover Nazi propaganda. In alternating between his father's story and their futile search for physical proof of it, the film raises an important issue concerning one generation's ability to accurately pass its history on to the next. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- 1990
This video profiles the 1989 massacre at the Jesuit quarters of Central American University in El Salvador which saw the deaths of 6 priests, their cook and her daughter. ~ All Movie Guide
These "six days in June" have nothing to do with the famous six-day Arab-Israeli conflict in June of 1967, but rather a six-day personal transformation that takes place against a backdrop of student riots in 1968. Raijko is a young soldier passing his time by chasing women, riding bikes or listening to The Beatles. When his university friends come home, they bring news of the student unrest with them, but Raijko pays little attention. He and his buddies have their romantic sights set on Vesna, though Raijko's crude attempts at seduction leave her cold. Just before he has to leave for Army service again, Raijko goes off the deep end and suffers the consequences.
~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cintija Asperger, Mladen Nelevic, (more)
- 1983
Ilan Ziv's 1983 documentary on the strife in the West Bank is separated into two parts: the invasion of Lebanon and Israeli policy thereof, and what Ziv perceives to be the effects of these policies -- namely, the rise of violent factions fighting for annexation. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
