Hole in the Moon

Hole in the Moon (Hebrew: ??? ?????; Hor BLevana) is an 1964 Israeli avant-garde-satiric movie directed by Uri Zohar.

The film was heavily influenced by the French New Wave, particularly the films of Jean-Luc Godard. It was a response to the Zionist dramas of the 1950s, and satirizes the form by showing the production of one of these films. Hole in the Moon is an avant-garde film, incorporating elements of metacinema and direct commentary on narrative cinema itself.

A comic and episodic satire, the film uses improvisation to illustrate the clash between fantasy and reality in real life. Although conceived in the style of Mekas’ “Hallelujah the hills” (1962), it’s an authentically Israeli satire, an openly rebellious and individualistic expression that poked fun at the sacred myths of earlier zionist films. The technique of film within the film is used to portray cinema as reflection of the imagination, a miracle based on dreams and fantasies that take on concrete characteristics – parallel to the miracle of Israel, the dream that has become reality. Although not a commercial success, its importance is beyond any measure, though it remains a unique experiment, boldly uncommercial and subversive, out of any context in that patriotic, ideological epoch.