Waiting
by Anna Faroqhi
The film essay documents a week in Israel right after the outbreak of the Iraq war in 2003. The camera leads through the streets of Tel Aviv and shows normality of everyday life on the eve of the tangible thread of the war. At the same time, a narrator reads from personal travel diaries and talks about friends, her partner and the ongoing threat.
“The film Waiting was shot in Tel Aviv during a week in the spring of 2003, while the world was awaiting the war against Iraq led by the so-called 'coalition of the willing.' At this time, no one knew to what extent this war would spread and affect the world outside Iraq. The film portrays everyday life in the streets of Tel Aviv during this period of waiting. There are images of workers waiting in the street for a car to arrive with offers of employment for a few days or even a few hours, of kids who walk to kindergarten carrying their gas masks, and of people queuing outside the Ukrainian embassy hoping for entry visas for their old homelands. What they want is to get out of a country unable to fulfill its promise of a new home. With the images comes a text narrated in the form of a diary. The text does not give a direct commentary on the documentary footage but is a narration of a non-Israeli woman waiting for her Israeli boyfriend to join her in Tel Aviv. While she is waiting for him, the world is waiting for the war to begin. The narrator observes everyday life in the city, meets friends and acquaintances, and tries to understand how Israelis cope with the tension. She wants to find out how to live in a country in a permanent state of emergency.” (Faroqhi)
Links
Original Title Warten Director Anna Faroqhi Cinematography Ron Rotem Narrator Cynthia Beatt Music Yshai Kalmanovitch Editing Anna Faroqhi Production Anna Faroqhi Filmproduction, Berlin Year of Production 2003 Format mini DV 1:1,33 Length 52 Min.