Negev Debuts Cinemateque Negev Debuts Cinemateque / Israel Provides Seed Money For Film Archive In Desert Region

TEL AVIV, Israel -- The opening of a fourth Israeli Cinemateque -- this time in the Negev Desert -- came one step closer last week with government agency Partnership 2000's announcement that it would provide $40,000 in annual support.

"This is very good news," said Haim Bresheeth, who has sparked the new Cinemateque in the Negev town of Sderot. "But we need another $240,000 to operate fully, and we hope to find that money abroad."

Israel already has three Cinemateques, one each in the main cities of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa. But the south of the country, home to 600,000 people -- or 10% of the population -- has been neglected.

As well as offering a film archive, lectures and discussions on the history and art of cinema, and films that would not otherwise receive an Israeli screening, each Cinemateque stages an annual international film fest.

Bresheeth is already planning the Sderot Cinemateque's version, with inaugural edition slated for 2002. Called Cinema South, the festival is intended to display the work of filmmakers from the developing countries.

"There is only one festival of this kind in the world -- in Havana, Cuba. The world needs another one," said Bresheeth. "We will also show the work of Arab filmmakers, which doesn't happen much in this country. We hope that by 2002, opposition [to Israel] from Arab filmmakers will have eroded, and that we can show films from Egypt and Syria -- and certainly films from African countries."

The announcement of the planned opening of the Cinemateque by summer 2000 follows the decision two weeks ago to offer a filmmaking course at Sderot's Sapir Academic College. The two institutions together offer a center for filmmaking in the South, constituting a "radical change for the film production industry in the Negev," according to Bresheeth.

The Cinemateque will be housed in an already existing two-screen theater with a capacity of 420. It will attempt to serve the Negev's 125,000-strong Beduin population, whose cinematic needs have until now been generally ignored.

Lia Van Leer, of the Jerusalem Cinemateque, has already offered technical and program support. Now Bresheeth's team is searching for additional funds in the United States, France, Canada, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

"The Negev community comes mainly from North Africa. Many people from a similar background may want to help," said Bresheeth.