Kibbutz (film)

Kibbutz
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Racheli Schwartz
Produced by	Gal Schwartz
Cinematography	Roni Katzanelson Eyal Zehav
Edited by	Yael Perlov
Distributed by	Seventh Art
Running time	54 minutes
Country	Israel
Language	Hebrew

Kibbutz (Hebrew: קיבוץ) is a 2005 Israeli documentary directed by Racheli Schwartz about Kibbutz Hulata, where she lived for 30 years.

Schwartz follows various members, including her own family, over the course of five years, tracing the stages of grieving and disillusionment that follow the kibbutz's economic collapse and disintegration as the community reduces its communal commitment to its members. Three older women from the founding generation become symbols of the kibbutz's lost ideals and abandoned history, as they die off, one by one.

For the director, the narrative is a very personal story and admits early on that “making the movie helped me to decide to stay.”

Synopsis

Five years of documenting the director's kibbutz during a severe crisis that shook its foundations and drove people to extreme actions. The film tells the story of the downfall of a single kibbutz through the perspectives of several characters, including three close friends, founding members of the kibbutz, who, at the end of their lives, are forced to witness its collapse. They roam the kibbutz grounds on motorized carts, venturing out into the beautiful, steadfast nature.

External links

• Kibbutz at the Israeli Film Center
• Look Back to Galilee: A Hundred Years of Communal Life (film review)
• Information and pictures