‘Golda’ director Nattiv draws parallel between protests in Iran, Israel

Israeli director Guy Nattiv says protests in Israel against the government’s plans to eat into the judiciary’s powers parallel demonstrations in Iran against oppressive morality laws following the death of a Kurdish woman arrested for not wearing a headscarf.

“Miraculously, you can see that in Israel and Iran the same kind of revolution is going on,” Nattiv tells AFP.

From ‘Tatami,’ the first Iranian-Israeli co-production, from ‘Golda’ director Guy Nattiv and Iranian-born director Zar Amir Ebrahimi, which will premiere at Venice Film Festival in September 2023. (Courtesy PR)

Nattiv makes the comments from the Venice film festival, where the film “Tatami,” jointly directed by him and exiled Iranian actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi was recently shown

“In Israel, it’s against what Benjamin Netanyahu is doing against democracy. Millions of people are demonstrating, and women’s rights are also being bashed again. The government is so extreme,” he says.

“We are kind of similar countries, going through the same process in a way,” adds Nattiv, who also directed the recently released “Golda,” about former prime minister Golda Meir.

“Tatami” recounts the story of an Iranian judo star who rejects her government’s rules about never facing an Israeli athlete in an international competition.