Joseph the Dreamer (Hebrew: בעל החלומות, translit. Ba'al Hahalomot) is a 1962 stop-motion animated feature film, the first directed by Yoram Gross. It was the first animated film ever made in Israel, and it tells the story of Joseph from the Bible.[1]
| Joseph the Dreamer | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Yoram Gross |
| Written by | Natan Gross |
| Produced by | Yoram Gross |
Release date | 1962 |
Running time | 60 mins |
| Country | Israel |
| Language | English |
Production
The movie was made with home-made puppets from a script by Gross' brother. Part of the budget came from the Israel Film Commission. Gross later recalled:
We had a crew of five people. We receive permission from the municipality to use a storage room as a studio, but in those days the studio lights were so hot that we couldn't film during the day. It was so hot we could only shoot at night, with open windows and doors.[2]
Reception
The film screened at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival under the title Baal Ha Khalomot and competed for the Palme d'Or.[3][4][5]
The film was widely seen but was a box office bomb because the majority of the audience were schoolchildren, who only paid a quarter of the normal children's ticket price.[2]
Eleanor Mannikka from The New York Times wrote in her review, "Even with the advanced techniques of a major Hollywood studio -- absent here -- the concept of combining this mode of expression with religious heroes might have been too great a challenge to bring off well. Emphasis lies in the action here, which is still not enough to replace the value of human facial expressions, gestures, and subtle nuances in conveying a needed depth."[6]
It was re-released in Australia in 2002 with English narration.[7]
References
- ^ "Joseph the Dreamer". Yoram Gross Films. Archived from the original on 10 March 2021. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
- ^ a b Gonzalez, Miguel (2011-05-09). "Yoram Gross: A pioneer of three countries". Mumbrella. Archived from the original on 2018-12-10. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
- ^ "15ème Festival International du Film - Cannes". Le Cinema Francais (in French). Archived from the original on 20 September 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
- ^ "Official Selection 1962: All the Selection". Festival de Cannes. Archived from the original on 26 December 2013.
- ^ "BAAL HA KHALOMOT". Festival de Cannes. Archived from the original on 10 August 2019. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
- ^ Mannikka, Eleanor (2016). "Joseph the Dreamer (1962)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016.
- ^ "Ba'al Hahalomot (Yoram Gross Films)". The Big Cartoon DataBase. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
External links
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