TAU's short films to open International Film Festival in Venice

The Critics' Week portion of the 69th Venice Film Festival will open with the screening of several short films made by Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers under the auspices of TAU's Department of Film and Television.

The "Water" project, which was initiated and overseen by Yael Perlov, received 120 proposals for fictional as well as nonfictional films, out of which seven were chosen for production. The movies were filmed, edited and produced by joint teams of Palestinians, Jewish Israelis and Arab Israelis. All the artists involved received financial backing and complete creative freedom.

The purpose of "Water" was to establish a "laboratory" for joint Israeli-Palestinian productions with mixed crews. The process of the participants meeting and collaborating during filming was also documented and is part of the same "experiment".

Yael Perlov, the project's artistic director, said: "It was important to me that the films have genuine artistic value. I wanted them to have a poetic quality – which isn't easy when one is dealing with politics. I tried to create films that weren't just political statements, but ones that transcended slogans and propaganda. I wanted them to reflect – bravely, honestly, emotionally – the reality we live in."

The project was supported by the Tel Aviv University Department of Film and Television, the Rabinovich Foundation for the Arts, the Embassy of the United States in Israel and the Gesher Multicultural Film Fund.