Although not an Israeli production per-se, the Hollywood blockbuster Exodus (Otto Preminger, 1960) was filmed in Israel (and Cyprus), and is considered a milestone in the development of the young Israeli film industry. It was followed by local productions, such as They were ten (Baruch Dienar, 1961) – a seminal film in the history of Israeli cinema, depicting the life of Russian immigrants in Palestine at the turn of the 19th century in a ‘Western-like’ setting. During the 1960’s, Israeli directors explored a myriad of cinematic forms, genres, and topics, from war and adventure movies, to comedies, dramas, crime films, thrillers, animation, and experimental film. Avant-garde films such as In Jerusalem (David Perlov, 1963), A hole in the moon (Uri Zohar, 1965), and Three days and a child (Uri Zohar, 1967) were the first ‘arthouse’ films that challenged the conservative national ideology. These films mark the beginning of the ‘New Sensitivity’ movement -- a local adaptation of the French New Wave -- that changed the cinematic landscape in Israel. They were low-budget, non-conformist artistic films that dealt with existential deliberations and ignored any financial considerations.[1]

The most successful feature in the 1960s, and one of the pillars of Israeli cinema to date, was Sallah Shabati (Ephraim Kishon, 1964), a social satire that dealt with the chaos of Israeli immigration and the tension between Mizrahi and Ashkenazi ethnic groups at that time. It was the harbinger of a new genre of Bourekas films – a "peculiarly Israeli genre of comic melodramas or tearjerkers... based on ethnic stereotypes”[2] which were popular until the mid-70s (see further on under the 1970s section). The Israeli society of the early 1960s was experiencing a few years of ‘normalcy,’ with a relatively quiet borders and improving economy. Menahem Golan’s Dalia and the sailors (1964) – a comedy dealing with a female protagonist and her relations with men, and Petr Freistadt’s Motive to murder (1966) – the first ever Israeli thriller – satisfied the public demand for such light hearted content that steered away from ‘serious,’ national topics.

The 1967 Six-Day War, with its swift victory over neighboring Arab countries, and the overnight change of Israel’s international status, brought with it a nationalistic, euphoric wave of films about war, bravery, and the heroic image of the Israeli soldier. While its plot is situated in 1946, with Israel on the verge of statehood, He walked through the fields (Yosef Milo, 1967) -- a combination of “melodrama, western, and a war movie”[3] -- presents the mythological Sabra[4] as a patriotic young man who is committed to the national narrative and finds his death in a military operation against the British army. Unbeknownst to him, he leaves behind a pregnant lover; twenty years later, it’s 1967, and their child is an officer in the victorious Israeli army.

[1] Yaʻel Munḳ, Nurit Gerts. Be-mabaṭ le-aḥor : ḳeriʼah ḥozeret ba-ḳolnoʻa ha-Yiśreʼeli 1948-1990. ha-Universiṭah ha-Petuḥah, Raʻananah, 2015, 66.

[2] Sabra is a Jewish person born in Israel, either before or after 1948. The term alludes to Tsabar (prickly pear) – “a tenacious, thorny desert plant, with a thick skin that conceals a sweet, softer interior. The cactus is compared to Israeli Jews, who are supposedly tough on the outside, but delicate and sweet on the inside.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabra_(person)

[3] Yaʻel Munḳ, Nurit Gerts. Be-mabaṭ le-aḥor : ḳeriʼah ḥozeret ba-ḳolnoʻa ha-Yiśreʼeli 1948-1990. ha-Universiṭah ha-Petuḥah, Raʻananah, 2015, 66.

[4] Sabra is a Jewish person born in Israel, either before or after 1948. The term alludes to Tsabar (prickly pear) – “a tenacious, thorny desert plant, with a thick skin that conceals a sweet, softer interior. The cactus is compared to Israeli Jews, who are supposedly tough on the outside, but delicate and sweet on the inside.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabra_(person)