Israeli director Keren Yedaya will shoot a big-screen version of the 1986 surrealist Israeli stage rock opera “Mami,” Screen Daily has reported.
The original musical “created political waves for its exploration of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories, discrimination against residents of southern Israel, and the country’s military aggression,” the site writes.
Rising singer Neta Elkayam will play the titular character Mami, “a downtrodden young woman from southern Israel who moves to Tel Aviv with her war-damaged husband and is propelled to a position of power after an eccentric inventor rewires her brain. The surreal story sees Mami, after she is elected to power, advocating for one final war that will free people from the affliction of love of life.”
“It is one of the most beautiful and significant anti-war texts that I have ever read or seen,” Yedaya said. “It’s so poetic, strong, and intelligent.”
Yedaya won the Camera D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2004 for her debut feature, “Or (My Treasure).”
Yedaya has titled the film “Red Fields” for now, and it is scheduled to start shooting in November. She hopes it will be finished in time for and be accepted into the Cannes Film Festival in 2017. That way, the premiere can coincide with the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Six-Day War between Israel and Palestine.
