In recent years I’ve been turning from coffee to tea. I still love coffee, but I think it interferes with my sleeping habits so I’ve decided to let it go. It took some time to find a new hot drink that will fill the gap. In our warm climate middle-eastern weather, drinking hot beverages might sound a little strange, but like the Bedouin are saying – there is nothing like a hot sweet tea in the middle of the desert to cool the body. It wasn’t love in first taste, but I’ve started drinking tea. After a few months I’ve got used to it, and by now I’m completely taken over. Good Earl-Gray tea in the morning, an herbal mix after lunch and a nice rooibos in the evening are just wonderful, tasty way of life.
When I’ve discovered that in the middle of Tel-Aviv we have Palais des Thés – a store that specializes in tea, I was surprised and thrilled. I didn’t realize how much there is to learn about the art of tea making, and how many different wonderful kind to tea and herbs are waiting for me to try them out. After meeting with the owner, Charles Peguine it was settled that a whole series of shorts how-to-commercials should be made and tell some of the secrets of the tea. I’m sorry that the videos are only in Hebrew, but the charm and magic of Charles and Sara can’t be denied even when you can’t understand what they say.
The words “trailer”, “festival” and “screening” are definitely good signs — the completion of my feature film project “Land of the Little People”. With more than 7 years in the making, I can’t even start to explain my excitement, which is enormous. So, here it is, the trailer for Land of the Little People:
I love coffee, I really do (Although I can’t drink too much of it..). Not only do they have a wonderful taste and smell, they also have this special quality of magnificent tasty look, which adds a lot to the overall experience. That’s why I was so happy to make commercial videos for CoffeeStation. They have great coffee, professional baristas and top-notch design made by Lee-ran Shlomi Gidron & Itay Gidron and special tailored aprons made by Anat Berman. Making these videos was a real celebration of all the right colors and flavors.
A new project of mine led me to be a tour guide to “Abandoned” Israeli sites. I offer these tours FREE of charge. Why? Because these rarely visited places should be seen by people who could appreciate them. So last Friday I led a little guided tour to one of my favorite places. On the way back, when walking on the dunes up the Hof Hasharon cliff, I’ve stumbled upon a completely hard-sand covered rifle casing. I know that not so far from this place there was a mandate British Police post, which task was to watch over the coast line and prevent illegal (Jewish) immigration in the 30th and the 40th of the 20th century. I was curious whether this casing could be that old.
After putting it in water and scratching the base of the casing, me and my friends could read the engraving in the metal: US 15 VII.
Searching for these signs over the internet, led us to a correspondent at the International Ammunition Association:
So… A Lewis automatic machine gun. And yes, it was used by the British army. I guess they had some field training, firing range to calibrate the gun or maybe even an actual warning shooting toward an immigration ship which tried to approach the beach. More then 70 years the casing was buried in the sand, and now it had some of its story told.
More interesting stories are waiting for us out there, and you are welcome to join me in revealing them. Check it out and sign in for a tour: derelictisraelfreetour
I had the privilege to document Ros Plazma when he volunteered to paint for the ‘Land of the Little People’ crowd funding campaign. He did a great job in imagining a shot we’ve produced on video half a year later. In this shot the children are standing on top of a well and looking inside. What are they seeing? That is yet to be discovered…
(Ros Plazma painting. February 2014)
(a frame from work in progress ‘Land of the Little People’. July 2014)
(Ros painting video)
A few days ago Ros called me and asked if I would like to come and document a ‘wall painting’ work he is doing. How could I refuse?
A year ago, while filming a movie at the Neve-Tzedek quarter in south Tel-Aviv, I “accidentally” picked through one of the house’s window. I know it’s not a very polite thing to do, but the next thing I did was even ruder: I knocked on the window and asked the interesting looking man inside the room if I could possibly take his picture. The man raised his head from the thing he was doing and luckily agreed. That was my first encounter with Anton Avramov. “What are you doing?” I asked him with growing curiosity, and he pointed his finger toward the hangers hanging over his head and said: “I create figures from metal wire”.
After that coincidental meeting I couldn’t just leave things for chance and scheduled a meeting with Anton where I was going to document him during his work. When we met again, Anton wanted to sculpture a whole band of musicians. He arranged his working tools on the floor of the workshop’s yard and started working with an amazing pace. While I was filming him working, the little figures started to round on the table: A pianist, a trumpeter, a drummer, a harmonica player and a guitarist. “How did you come up with working with a metal wire?” I’ve asked him, amazed. Anton kept his fingers working and told me his story.
Anton grew up in Bulgaria, and as a little child he liked playing at his uncle yard. He was especially drawn to the copper wires his uncle stacked at the back of the shed, but it was out of his reach, and his uncle forbade him from touching the material since it was very expensive. In 2002 Anton immigrated to Israel and lived in Kibbutz Ein-Hashofet. As a youth Anton worked at the Kibbutz factory where they manufactured chokes for light bulbs. Anton was very happy to discover that chokes are made from copper wires. The turning point was when his boss gave him a pliers as a present, and he started to play with the desired material. But the pliers had no cutter in it, so Anton had to work with the wire without cutting it. “I can’t really say, it’s very natural for me” Anton told me, “When I see objects I imagine them as one continuous line”.
Anton discovered his art by chance, after looking for it in architecture and acting studies. From the acting he probably got his unique and dramatic appearance and his love for inventing characters. Since he began sculpturing with metal wire he made a large variety of artifacts: little delicate figures, portraits and even gigantic objects made with vice, welder and metal chain cutter.
Anton finished his band of musicians and set them on the table. Suddenly, it seemed as if they were coming to life and started playing music. You are welcome to watch the clip and judge for yourself:
‘Land of the Little People’ is a work in progress project about four young kids who live in a village of professional soldiers. Not so far away, in the wild fields that surround the village, there is an old abandoned army base. The kids build their stronghold in one of the only standing structures in the camp – a stone shed with an ancient dry well inside. When a war breaks out the fathers go to war and the mothers sit in front of the television and listen to the never-ending news reports. The kids, with no one to supervise them, go back to their camp. To their amazement, they find two soldiers, who deserted their units, hiding in the secret shed. The kids decide to do whatever they can in order to make the soldiers go away. In their struggle, they use all means necessary known to them.
It’s great fun to work with music and talented musicians. After my work with Joca Perpignan who gave me a wonderful Brazilian joyride I jumped on the wagon of Liat & Yogev. I met them through a good friend called Eyal Atzmon who play with them in a band called Ha’rochvim (The Riders). Liat plays the violin and Yogev plays the guitar. They decided to join forces and work together on a show. They’ve named themselves – Musicouple. I had the honor to produce a few videos for them while they were recording wonderful covers in Nir Averbuch’s studio.
After they’ve accomplished forming a musical repertoire, I was called to make a commercial video introducing them at work – playing in several different situations – from a studio recording to performing in front of audiences. We shot the video in Tel-Aviv in one day, jumping from one location to another.
And here is another clip:
Liat & Yogev, I wish you all the luck in the world and I can’t wait to watch you on your premiere!
(Drinking Arak from left to righ: Yogev Cohen, my hand, Nir Averbuch & Liat Rozenberg)
I always thought that most of Israel’s wineries are situated in the Golan Heights, so you could imagine my surprise when I discovered that I have a boutique winery just under my nose in Ramat-HaSharon, adjacent to Tel-Aviv north border. I was amazed to realize that I pass right next to the place twice a week when I jog by the road leading from the city noise to the grapefruit orchards of Kibbutz Glil-Yam. So what can one do with a winery by the house? The first thing to do is to knock on the door and ask to have a taste.
BenHaim Winery is a small family business with an interesting history. Itay BenHaim is a big man that rides a Harley, and he’s got a large smile and loud laughter of a man that’s got wine in his soul. Those qualities, most likely, led him to be the vintner. Itay doesn’t waste much time on talking and opens a bottle of a 2007 Cabernet-Sauvignon. Deep into our drinking he starts telling about his great grand-father who built wine barrels in Romania. The oak wine barrel have a very important role in making the wine. It gives the wine the right amount of oxygen that it needs during the maturation process. When the BenHaim family came to Israel in the early 40th, they kept their Wine Barrel production tradition. In those days their barrels were bought by Carmel Mizrahi famous winery, but also by Assis company that used the barrels for their juices.
(BenHaim Wine Barrel Factory. Haifa, 1951)
Many years later, when the wine barrel factory wasn’t profitable anymore, the BenHaim family decided not to surrender and to continue their heritage in the wine industry. They acquired their vineyard on the biblical mount Meron at the Upper Galilee. After the grape harvest the fruits are being broken and chilled next to the vineyard, and only then sent to the winery in Ramat-HaSharon, in order to preserve its qualities. Itay BenHaim emphasizes the fact that they make the wine by the ancient methods and tradition. It means that the wine is being aged in the barrel for 24 to 30 months before it goes for another aging period in the bottles.
Drinking makes you heavy, so Itay makes us stand on our feet, and leads us to the barrel room, where he do most of the work, monitoring the aging process of the wine. Like a good Romanian, Itay has a weak spot for Port Wine. He proudly introduces the barrel where he’s slowly aging a 9 years Port Wine. By the end of 2013 the Port will grow up to be 10, and then it will be launched to the market in a special edition. He gives me a taste of the Port and I’m in heaven. Well, I’m also part Romanian…
We head back to the welcoming parlor. BenHaim Winery is not a big place, but it has a lot of character in the interior design, with outdated wine barrels stacked together from wall to wall, among them all kind of wine bottles from the rich history of the winery. For the main course Itay frees the liquid from a 2005 Merlot. When I ask Itay about the many awards that his winery won, he humbly suggest that that’s not what counts, but by the evening of that very same day the members of the jury of Terra Vino 2012 gave BenHaim winery 6 awards, among them the very prestigious award for the best Boutique Winery in Israel. And so, with the wine filling our body and soul, Itay sits before the piano and start playing a merry/light headed tune. “I’ve also got a Saxophone hiding somewhere” he says, but with all that drinking he couldn’t find it. By the end of the visit my head is light. But no worries – after all I’m not so far away from home…
