Jerusalem Cinematheque plans Independence Day singalongs, trivia quiz
City’s arthouse theater offers archival footage of early Independence Day parades, with screenings of ‘The Sound of Music’ and ‘The Troupe’
Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
With Passover drawing to an end, Israelis are gearing up for their national ‘days,’ beginning with Holocaust Remembrance Day on May 6 and moving into Memorial Day and Independence Day on May 12 through May 14, marking Israel’s 76th birthday during a painful, complicated year.
As both the government and local authorities attempt to navigate this year’s national days of mourning and celebration, Jerusalem’s Cinematheque theater announced it will continue its cinematic tradition of singalongs and an Israeli cinema quiz on the afternoon of May 14, Independence Day, an event co-sponsored by the municipality.
The afternoon begins with a 4 p.m. singalong screening of the classic film “The Sound of Music,” alongside screenings of black-and-white archival films of early Independence Day celebrations, starting in 1947.
The local arthouse theater will also host a quiz about Israeli film trivia, moderated by director Alon Gur Aryeh and written by film critic Avner Shavit.
Gur Aryeh said the trivia quiz is the appropriate “Zionist response” to the annual Bible quiz broadcast on Israeli television on Independence Day, reinforced by the fact that “most people are better able to quote the sermon from the 1986 film ‘Alex is Lovesick,’ about a bar mitzvah boy, than their own bar mitzvah sermon,” he said.
Following the quiz, the Cinematheque will screen Avi Nesher’s classic 1978 film “The Troupe,” starring Gidi Gov and Meir Suissa, with the audience invited to sing along throughout the entire film.
