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Films@IIJS: Kishon

  • Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies 1140 Amsterdam Avenue New York, NY, 10027 United States (map)

Israeli satirist Ephraim Kishon sold millions of books, was a founding member of Israel's comedy establishment, and won two Golden Globes (for Sallah Shabati and The Policeman), yet he struggled with writing an autobiography. At the age of 70, he invited journalist Yaron London to assist him. Kishon uses animation and other engaging storytelling tricks to bring their dialogue to life and to tell Kishon's amazing story, from his youth in Hungary to his harrowing escape from a Nazi concentration camp to the many high and low points of his writing career and personal life. (87 min).

KISHON קישון Dir. Eliav Lilti, 87 min, Documentary Hungarian immigrant Ephraim Kishon was one of the great writers who defined the Israeli experience. But through his 50-year career of award-winning writing, Kishon could never write his own biography. At 70, he enlists a journalist to help his own story unfold.