Misafa Lesafa

Misafa Lesafa
Directed by	Nurith Aviv
Written by	Nurith Aviv
Release date(s)	July 2, 2004 (2004-07-02)
Running time	52 minutes
Language	Hebrew

Misafa Lesafa: From Language to Language is a 2004 Israeli documentary film that shares interviews with foreign-born Israeli artists and writers about the importance of language and asks how the struggle between their mother tongue and Hebrew has affected their art. The documentary shares interviews with some of Israel's more prominent thinkers and artists. The film won the Best Israeli Documentary award at the 2004 Docaviv Festival.^[1]

Plot

"It is not a language that flows out of you", an immigrant writer says of Hebrew, which he first learned when he moved to Israel. "It's more like shoveling gravel out of your mouth."

Hebrew might be Israel's national language, but the nation has always had a large number of immigrants who arrive speaking their own native tongues. According to Misafa Lesafa, these Israeli immigrants face a conflict between the reflexive language of their childhood and the new language that surrounds them, and no one feels this conflict more sharply than the artists whose passions rely on words.

Misafa Lesafa explores the inner workings of writers’ mind to reveal how each one handles their craft differently, and responds differently to the common linguistic conflict they face: How do you find your voice when two languages pull you in different directions? One Russian poet says he felt that being bilingual would threaten his writing because instead of using one language perfectly, he would rely on two watered-down, imperfect languages. He speaks violently when explaining how he had to force Russian out of his mind once he learned Hebrew. Although Russian words were eventually lost, he grew to realize that his poems borrowed their musical rhythm from Pushkin and Lermontov—the great Russian writers who had first impressed him.

Many of the poets share this intensity when they speak about language. One woman describes her relationship to her first language in terms of a primal, infantile love. Like a little girl crawling into her mother’s lap, she says, she sinks into her native tongue when she is emotionally strained. And when she hears it spoken, it feels like drinking motherly milk.

Cast

• Aharon Appelfeld ... Himself
• Jenya Dodina ... Herself / interviewee
• Daniel Epstein... Himself / interviewee
• Rabbi Daniel Epstein ... Himself
• Salman Masalaha ... Himself
• Agi Mishol ... Herself / interviewee
• Amal Murkus ... Herself
• Haviva Pedaya ... Herself / interviewee
• Haïm Ulliel ... Himself / interviewee
• Meir Wieseltier ... Himself

References

1. ^ "Winners of DocAviv announced". The Jerusalem Post. 31 March 2004. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-92997542.html. Retrieved 2008-11-27. 

• "Misafa Lesafa". The Jewish Channel. http://www.tjctv.com/movies/misafa-lesafa/. Retrieved 2008-10-28. 

See also

Other Israeli culture films:

• Film Fanatic
• Kosher Gefilte
• Columbia: The Tragic Loss
• Aviv: Screwed up Generation

External links

• The Jewish Channel's review
• Misafa Lesafa at the Internet Movie Database