Life According to Agfa

Life According to Agfa (Hebrew: החיים על פי אגפא) is a 1993 Israeli drama film directed by Assi Dayan. The film was selected as the Israeli entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 65th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.[1][2]

Life According to Agfa
Film poster
Directed byAssi Dayan
Produced byRafi Bukai
Yoram Kislev
Written byAssi Dayan
StarringGila Almagor
Music byNaftali Alter
CinematographyYoav Kosh
Edited byZohar Sela
Release date
  • 10 September 1993 (1993-09-10) (TIFF)
Running time
100 minutes
CountryIsrael
LanguageHebrew

Plot

The plot revolves around one night in a small Tel Aviv pub whose employees and patrons represent a microcosm of Israeli society – men and women, Jews and Arabs, Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews, kibbutzniks[3] and city-dwellers. When an aggressive group of chauvinistic army soldiers is thrown out of the pub for provoking a waitress and one of the kitchen workers, they return and spray the indifferent group of party-goers with bullets.

Cast
  • Gila Almagor as Daliah
  • Akram Tillawi as Samir
  • Smadar Kilchinsky as Daniela
  • Sharon Alexander as Nimi
  • Shmil Ben Ari as Levi
  • Avital Dicker as Ricky
  • Irit Frank as Liora
  • Ezra Kafri as Eli
  • Dani Litani as Czerniak
  • Barak Negbi as Sammy
  • Rivka Neuman as Malka
  • Shuli Rand as Benny

Critical reception

Life According to Agfa received near-unanimous critical acclaim, winning an Ophir Award for Best Film, and did moderately well at the box office.[4] The film also received Honourable Mentions at the Jerusalem and Berlin Film Festivals,[5] and was entered for the film festivals in Toronto, Montpellier, Calcutta and Singapore.

Dubbed by one writer a "stylized nightmare of self-annihilation",[4] it has since become one of Israeli cinema's most important films.[6]

See also

References
  1. Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
  2. "Foreign Oscar entries submitted". Variety. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  3. For a discussion of the theme of the kibbutz and its "mythology" in Life According to Agfa, see Eldad Kedem, The Kibbutz and Israeli Cinema: Deterritorializing Representation and Ideology (PhD, University of Amsterdam, 2007), pp. 133-37 (retrieved 13 November 2012).
  4. Judd Ne'eman, "Israeli Cinema," in O. Leaman, ed., Companion Encyclopedia of Middle Eastern and North African Film (Routledge, 2001), p. 268.
  5. "Berlinale: 1993 Prize Winners". berlinale.de. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
  6. "Agfa according to those who lived it", Haaretz (23 December 2011) (retrieved 13 November 2012).
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