Press Conference,
Ari Folman, Director, "WALTZ WITH BASHIR"

The speech and Q& A will be in English with Japanese simultaneous interpretaion.

The Arab-Israeli conflict remains one of the world's most intractable. Headlines describing yet another outbreak of violence in that strife-torn part of the world are all too common, and there's a tendency to become immune to the very real human suffering experienced by both Arabs and Israelis.

That is why "Waltz With Bashir" is such an important film. It tells the human stories behind the Arab-Israeli conflict, with the kind of visceral impact that's lacking from dry reportage.

"Waltz With Bashir" is an animated film by Israeli film maker Ari Folman, who was born in Haifa in 1962 to Polish Jews who survived the Holocaust. It's racked up an impressive array of awards, including Best Animation honors from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the Best Picture Prize at Japan's Filmex Festival in November 2008.

The film tells the story of an Israeli who took part in his country's 1982 invasion of Lebanon and who can't remember anything about that period of his life. He decides to meet and interview old friends and comrades to discover the truth about that time, and about himself. As he and director Folman delve deeper into the past, his memory begins to return through a series of surreal images.

"Waltz With Bashir" is available on DVD in the FCCJ library.

Ari Folman, Director, "WALTZ WITH BASHIR"