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Jaffa - The Orange Clockwork (2008)

52/90min  |   Documentary  | 

Hebrew, English, French and Arabic

Jaffa - The Orange's Clockwork, narrates the visual history of the famous citrus fruit originated from Palestine and known worldwide for centuries as "Jaffa oranges". The history of the orange is the history of this land. Through photography, cinema, poetry, paintings, workers of the citruses' industry and historians and past and present mythologies, Palestinian and Israeli culture cross and combines. The close reading of the Jaffa brand's visual representation is a reflection on western orientalist phantasms surrounding the 'holy land' and the 'State of Israel' and a tool to reveal the untold story of what was once a commune industry and symbol to Arabs and Jews in Palestine. Jaffa - The Orange's Clockwork is a political essay unfolding the story of the invention and the visual history of the world's most famous citrus fruit which originated in Palestine and is known around the world as "Jaffa" oranges. While the orange become the symbol of the Zionist enterprise and of the state of Israel, for Palestinians it symbolizes the lost of their homeland and its destruction. Through a careful reading of the visual representation of the brand, the film reflects on western phantasms related to the 'Orient' the 'holy land' and the State of Israel and unveils the untold story of what was once a communal symbol and industry to both Arabs and Jews in Palestine. The oranges of Jaffa, the fruits, the orchards, the brand name and the city that gave the fruit its name, is the backdrop of the communal Jewish-Arab life in Palestine before the establishment of Israel. the colonial covetousness, the account of obliteration, nationalization, then repudiation in order to propose a joint historical narrative, and a brand of hope for the future

CREW

Written & Directed: Eyal Sivan

Assistant Director: Erez Miller

Producers: Osnat Trabelsi, Arik Bernstein and Frank Eshkenazi

Director of Photography: David Zarif, Vincent Fooy, Remi Laine and Shafir Sarusi

Editor: Audrey Maurion

Line Producer: Hortense Quitard

Sound by: Jean-Jacques Quinet, Oren Raviv, Asher Saraga

Mix Sound: Studio 5 SUR 5

Researchers: Marie Nicole Feret, Tamar Katz and Yodeat Getz

Broadcasters: Channel 8, Noga communication Israel, WDR Germany, France 5 France, RTBF Belgium, Radio-Canada, TSR

Supported by: CNC, Procirep

World Sales: CAT & DOCS, Catherine Le Clef

Festivals 

Awards

First prize for best documentary Filmmaker, Doc Film Festival, Milano, Italy, 2009 First prize for Editing, Solelune, Palermo, Italy 2010

IDFA, Amsterdam Holland, 2009 Bergamo Film Meeting, Bergamo, Italy, 2010 BAIFICI, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2010 Views of the World- International Film Festival Nicosia, Nicosia, Cyprus, 2010 Visions Du Reel, Neon, Switzerland, 2010 Full Frame, North Carolina, USA, 2010 Documenta, Madrid, Spain, 2010 Beldocs, Belgrada, Serbia, 2010 London Palestine Film Festival, London, England 2010 Planete Doc Review Film Festival, Warsaw, Poland, 2010 Globale Film Festival, Berlin, Germany 2010 Documentarist, Istanbul, Turkey, 2010 Sarajevo Film Festival, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina 2010 Dokufest, Prizon, Republic of Kosovo 2010 Boston Palestine film festival, USA 2010 Toronto Palestine film festival, Canada, 2010 Memorimage festival, Barcelona Spain 2010 Verzio Documentary Film Festival, Hungary, 2010

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