The War of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness

Film of the opening theatrical event of the 55th exhibition of the Visual Arts Biennale in Venice, June 1993.

The performance was based on the same sources as Metamorfosi di una Melodia, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Flavius Josephus’ “War of the Jews.”

“In the play I wanted to put question marks into the main text without mixing them into Josephus’ text. The play establishes a kind of dialogue between blocks of texts. This is rather different from the usual form of dialogue where one character puts forward a fragment of discourse to which a second character then responds. Our method requires a more complex reading of the geometry of these texts, carried by several narrators simultaneously. Geometry is a way of connecting fragments while allowing them to retain their own coherence, without mashing them into one ‘coherent’ story. This also gives me an opportunity to present the tensions between a variety of languages and their historical contexts in a contemporary formation. In our modern interpretations of the text of Flavius Josephus, we keep a variety of languages, accents, intonations and so on, and we present the tensions between them. These tensions are a sign of twentieth century culture: people migrate across the face of the earth and when they settle somewhere they express themselves in an often broken but unique manner.” 
Amos Gitai, in Yann Lardeau, Les Films d’Amos Gitai, unpublished

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Cast Hanna Schygulla, Samuel Fuller, Enrico Lo Verso, Masha Itkina, Jerome Koening, Ophrah Shemesh,
Alain Maratrat, Ronit Elkavetz, Sula Rand
Director Amos Gitai Assistant director Antoine Beau Music Simon Stockhausen, Markus Stockhausen Set design Isika & Gal Gaon, Davide Barbini Metallurgical work Renato Bonaccin, Luigino Bosello, Augusto Garbato Cinematography Hudi Aloni

Producer Agav Productions Production Gaia Dona, Eléonore Feneux In association with Laurent Truchot,
Simona Vidori, Shuki Friedman, Bartolomeo Suppiej

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FESTIVAL

• Venice: Biennale di Venezia/Mostra d’arte cinematografica 1993 – Opening