Jerusalem festival won’t screen film on Rabin’s killer

The Jerusalem International Film Festival on Tuesday decided not to publicly screen a film based on the life of Yigal Amir, the assassin of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, after Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev threatened to pull its funding. It will still be screened for judges as an entrant in the festival’s documentary competition, however, organizers said.

“Beyond the Fear,” an Israeli-Russian-Latvian co-production that humanizes Amir — depicts the development of his relationship with Larissa Trimbobler (the couple married in prison a decade ago) and the bedtime stories he shares with their son over the phone. It was set to be screened for the public, but will now only compete in the Israeli documentaries category during the July festival in the Cinematheque theater.

According to the Ynet news website, Regev on Tuesday issued an ultimatum to the festival organizers, warning them not to screen the film for the public or the Culture Ministry would withdraw its financial support. She said later she was gratified by the organizers’ decision.

“I welcome the decision of the festival management to accept my suggestion not to screen the film about Yigal Amir during the festival. With that, I urge the public to stay away from watching the film even when it’s screened outside the festival,” she said.

The film was created by Latvian-Israeli director Herz Frank, who died during its production. It was completed by his wife, Maria Kravchenko. According to the description on the Canadian film festival’s website, the film “pushes past the sensational headlines to probe the human motivations behind the ultimate act of sin. Frank’s final film is an achievement in storytelling that shows not only one man’s capacity for good and evil, but mankind’s.”

Rabin was shot dead on November 4, 1995, by Amir, at the end of a mass peace rally in Tel Aviv. The square where the rally was held was renamed “Rabin Square” following the assassination.

Amir, now 45, is serving a life sentence for the murder and remains in solitary confinement.

Earlier Tuesday, Regev froze state funding for an Arabic-language theater that has become embroiled in controversy over its production of a play based on the life of a killer of an Israeli soldier.

Regev’s decision to shut the spigot for the Al-Midan theater cited a recommendation by the Israel Arts and Culture Council that alleged the theater had questionable sources of funding.

The Haifa theater has been at the center of controversy for months for its play “A Parallel Time,” which documents a day in the life of a Palestinian prisoner.

The Palestinian prisoner is a fictionalized version of terrorist Walid Daka, an Arab-Israeli man who received a life sentence for abducting and murdering Israeli soldier Moshe Tamam in 1984.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.