ABSTRACT

The roots of animation do not run deep in Israel because the country itself is so young, but an Israeli filmmaker, Ari Folman, is producing some of the most provocative feature animation in the world. His first film, Waltz with Bashir (2008), is a very personal animated documentary set against the 1982 massacre of Palestinian refugees in the Lebanese Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. My analysis of Waltz with Bashir, which is one of the most powerful antiwar films, is included in this book. The film’s budget was a mere US$2 million; it has won numerous awards and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2008. Folman’s second film, The Congress (2013), is half animation and half live action and takes on the subject of depersonalization in an overdigitized age. Starring Robin Wright, who plays both a live-action and digitized version of herself, this intense and smart film is further evidence that Ari Folman is determined to use animation as an art form for adults. He is reported to be working on a film based on Anne Frank’s diary.