Published: 6 November 2017
Last updated: 5 March 2024
“The fact that they were not Israeli or Jewish and didn’t seem to know a lot about Israel before shooting made their perspective much more original,” said Keret. “It wasn’t as if they didn’t get things; they just sometimes got them in a different way, which would actually make me see them differently too.”
Kaas and Lemm had been thinking about Keret for years. Kaas became a documentary filmmaker and Lemm, a writer who happened to interview Keret for a Dutch magazine.
The two friends had a vague plan to make a short film out of one of Keret’s stories. But after the interview, they decided that Keret’s life was so interesting that a documentary about him and his method of telling stories would be a better idea.
That’s what they have done in Etgar Keret: Based on a True Story, a gently teasing title for a 67-minute documentary that brings Keret’s family, friends and colleagues to the screen.
FULL STORY A hunt for the kernel of truth behind Etgar Keret’s stories (Times of Israel)
Etgar Keret: Based on a True Story will screen at JIFF in Sydney and Melbourne at 6.30pm on November 9. For more details, go to jiff.com.au
