Dan Katzir and Ravit Markus: Out for Love, Be Back Shortly
In 1997, at Tel Aviv University, Dan Katzir directed and released Out for Love, Be Back Shortly which documents his quest for love while showing the tumultuous times of 1990s Israel. In his search for love, Katzir found Iris, a young Israeli getting ready to serve in the IDF, and in doing so he showed how the war interfered with Israeli daily life as well as his desire for love. Also, Katzir showed not just the foreboding fear of more Palestinian terrorist attacks, but also the divide among Israelis between the left and right. This all culminated with the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 by right-wing Jewish extremists.
With his family being among the founders of Israel, Katzir leaves a markedly personal tinge on the documentary, drawing particular comparisons throughout the film. For example, in the beginning of the film, Katzir shows his grandfather’s bloodied passport, which Aharon Katzir had on him when Japanese terrorists murdered him at the 1972 Lod Airport massacre. Viewers cannot help but draw a comparison between Aharon Katzir’s passport and the lyrics to Shir LaShalom (A Song for Peace) that Rabin had in his breast pocket the day he was assassinated. Both are bloodied and serve as visual representations of the violence that occurred in Israel. Katzir made this film after his service in the IDF and while he still lived in Israel. In showing the political climate and violence that permeated Israeli society in the 1990s, one can see that the documentary is uniquely connected to Israeli society and politics. Yet, Katzir also makes the documentary personal by connecting his own family story to demonstrate the violence present in Israel.
