Jaffa - La mécanique de l'orange
Eyal Sivan
Israel, France, Belgium, Germany | 2009 | 88 min
Languages : Hebrew, Arabic
Subtitle : English
The Jaffa brand has always been a symbol of Israel itself. Juicy oranges from a land that had begun to flourish again after the Jews got back. But what is the real story behind the sunny images of orchards with trees full of fruit? Eyal Sivan traces the story of Jaffa back to the birth of photography itself in 1839 and explores how the image of the so-called holy land became a Western myth.
The Jaffa brand has always been a symbol of Israel itself. Tasty and juicy oranges from a land that had begun to flourish again after the Jews went back to their land. But what is the real story behind the sunny images of orchards with trees full of fruits that only need to be plucked by smiling workers? Eyal Sivan traces the story of Jaffa back to the birth of photography itself in 1839, and explores how the image of the so-called holy land became a Western myth. But behind the myth there is also a story of Jewish and Arab coexistence. Arabs working for Jews, Jews working for Arabs. Even before 1948, the oranges from the Yaffo harbour would be shipped out to the whole world. It is only with the creation of the port in Tel-Aviv that the separation between Arab and Jews becomes an issue that would shape the politics and the economy in the Middle East. Reflecting on the images from the archives of the advertising strategies of Jaffa as well as the Zionist propaganda, Sivan creates a counter narrative ridden with a deep feeling of loss and grief for what once was a land and now is no more.
