‘The First 54 Years’ Director Avi Mograbi on Danger, Irony and Exhausting Himself
Ben Croll Since 2004, Israeli documentary filmmaker Avi Mograbi has sat on the board of Breaking the Silence, a whistleblower organization that collects and publishes testimonies about life in the Occupied Territories, all while exploring similar subjects via oft-irreverent films. And as Mograbi’s still ongoing festival tour with his latest film, “The First 54 Years – An Abbreviated Manual for Military Occupation” – which began in Berlin and took him from Nyon to New York and now Turin – goes to show, Mograbi has no doubt hewed a more welcoming path following one pursuit than the other.“Breaking the Silence is probably the most hated organization in Israel,” Mograbi said this week at a Torino Film Festival masterclass.