The workshop taught by Dan Wolman, the internationally known 84-year-old Israeli filmmaker, was aptly titled “The Cinematic Limitation of Creativity: Thriving as an Independent Filmmaker.” With a lifetime of experience making films despite limited resources, Wolman spoke candidly about survival, resistance, and resilience in film.
Wolfman was in the Pune International Film Festival (PIFF) on January 19 for the screening of Murder Too Close – Love Too Far, an Indo-Israeli collaboration he did with Manju Borah. The film, Assam’s first international collaborative project, revolves around brutal murders, a CBI officer, an artist and the dynamics of mass psychology. Festival director Jabbar Patel described Wolman’s session as “one of the best at PIFF.”
A complex conflict
Addressing the audience, Wolman said: “War, violence and hatred are constant in the world, which can lead to despair. However, for me, to stay alive without falling into despair, it is necessary to constantly keep making films.”
After the session, budding filmmakers gathered around Wolman, swapping stories and seeking advice. While they avoided questions about the Israel-Palestine conflict, the topic remains deeply personal for the director.
Wolman described himself as Jewish, secular and atheist, torn between two opposing realities. Part of him opposes the occupation and supports a Palestinian state, while another is shaped by the history of Jewish persecution.
“Jews have been massacred, murdered and raped during the Crusades, pogroms, the Spanish Inquisition and the Holocaust. Jews have suffered,” he said. “Some of my friends tell me that I am naive to say that Palestinians should have a state because they want to destroy Israel,” he added.
Wolman called the conflict “terrible” and said he wishes wise people had been able to address it and put an end to it.
View from the margins
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Wolman is no stranger to India. Apart from receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa, in 2018, he has served on juries at various film festivals across the country, from Lucknow to Kochi to Calcutta.
“Sometimes I know India better than many Indians. I have been to more cities and not just the big ones,” he told the audience.
He kept the audience, which included Seema Biswas, who appears in Murder Too Close – Love Too Far, engrossed. “I don’t belong to Israel’s Bollywood, that is, to the mainstream of Israeli cinema. Normally the themes I take on don’t please the public,” he said.
His first feature film, The Dreamer, officially presented at Cannes, is set in a nursing home. Hide and Seek explores a gay love story between an Arab and an Israeli during Israel’s war of independence.
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“I’m trying to make movies where I don’t mind making people angry. I want people to focus on a certain issue,” he said. Recalling his film The Night Soldier, Wolman added: “Some people called me a traitor. Basically, it’s the story of a series of murders that take place in Israel. And the victims are soldiers.”
During the hour-long session, Wolman discussed practical aspects of independent filmmaking: balancing budgets, navigating film festivals and finding audiences for what he described as his “underground” cinema.
“My advice is to keep making movies. If you’ve made a movie that hasn’t found a distributor, lick the wounds, go on and make another one, another one. Maybe, you know, the next time I come here when I’m 91, you’ll have another movie,” he told a budding filmmaker.
Artificial or truly talented
Wolman also expressed concern about artificial intelligence in film. “There’s something very dangerous about the fact that you can no longer judge whether someone is really talented or whether they’re using AI,” he said.
“I’m competing now with the script. I’m going to submit a script to a contest. Someone used AI and said they wanted to write a Bergman script and he submitted his script and I submitted mine and maybe he’ll win a prize or get money to make his movie,” Wolman added.
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He remembers meeting a filmmaker who had used AI to create a commercial set in Romania. “He said that instead of going to Romania with his crew and filming, he decided to do it with AI. He said this is a fantastic commercial that I filmed. I thought he hadn’t gone to Romania, so his experience of the place wasn’t there. He didn’t use any actors. I don’t think they’ll call him next time. AI is going to direct,” Wolman said.