“Illuminating Explorations” – This series of digital exhibits is designed to promote and celebrate UT Libraries collections in small-scale form. The exhibits will highlight unique materials to elevate awareness of a broad range of content. “Illuminating Explorations” will be created and released over time, with the intent of encouraging use of featured and related items, both digital and analog, in support of new inquiries, discoveries, enjoyment and further exploration.
The Israeli Cinema in the 20th Century exhibition provides a concise survey of Israeli cinema from its beginnings up until the end of the 20th century, while highlighting the UT Libraries Israeli Cinema & Film Collection. Teaching and learning through filmic content provide valuable insights into historical events, cultural contexts, social issues, and artistic expressions. Textual content documents the evolution of film theory, criticism, and production. By preserving this body of knowledge and the intellectual heritage of filmmakers, critics, and scholars, the collection supports the research of Israeli society through cinema and film.
The exhibition starts with a short overview of the filmic production in Israel from its beginnings in pre-1948 Palestine until the end of the 1990s. It then divides into five sections: the first describes early beginnings through the 1950s, while the remaining four sections are organized by decades (60’s, 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s). Each section describes cinematic trends or phenomena, and shows how historical events were analyzed through films in that period of time. From early beginnings (as early as 1911) the filmic production promoted the Zionist project, and later on, well into the early 1960’s, it was utilized to support and promote the heroic Israeli ethos of ‘a few against many.’ During the years, the Israeli cinema has matured; from the 1960’s and on, it moved away from the national narrative, and developed a more critical treatment of societal processes, while venturing into genres such as satire, comedy, experimental, and personal cinema. As the young state developed and experienced major military conflicts, political shifts, and social and demographic changes, filmmakers reacted to those events in their work, dealing with topics such as the Israeli-Arab conflict, ethnic tensions, and queer life experiences from a personal point of view.
While the exhibit highlights images of DVD covers from the Israeli Cinema & Film Collection, the broader collection includes many other items that could tell the story of Israeli cinema. UT Libraries collects everything that is or about Israeli cinema and film, including pre-1948 items, in all languages and in all formats. As would be expected, the collection is comprised of Audio-Visual content in various genres (features, documentaries, shorts, TV series) and on various media (VHS, DVD, streaming), but it also includes textual materials, either in print or digital, such as books, periodicals, film festival catalogs & programs, film screening programs, film school publications, original scripts, exhibition catalogs, promotional/commercial publications, theses and dissertations, instructional materials, film industry documentation, governmental reports, and ephemera. The entire collection is discoverable through the UT Libraries catalog.
