About Us
The Indian cultural festival “Celebrating India in Israel”, which was first held in 2011, brings a variety of Indian visual and performing arts to Israeli audiences. It showcases the richness and diversity of both contemporary and traditional of Indian culture.
In its third edition this year, the festival has an added dimension – collaboration between Indian and Israeli artists. We used the Sari exhibition to bring together the works of several prominent Indian and Israeli painters and sculptors, who have depicted the sari in all its elegance, beauty and colour. The national tour of Shye Ben Tzur and Rajasthani musicians and the literature festival, in which Indian writers will be in-conversation with Israeli authors, are other joint collaborations that we hope will stimulate artistic and creative interest in each others’ art forms.
I would like to thank the producers, Teamwork productions, as well as our partners and sponsors in India and Israel who have made this festival possible. With their constant support, we hope to continue to present to our audience in Israel the wonder that is INDIA.
I wish you all a very enjoyable festival.
Jaideep Sarkar
Ambassador of India
Tel Aviv
TEAMWORK PRODUCTIONS
The Embassy of India in Israel and Teamwork Productions India, are proud to present the 3rd edition of Celebrating India in Israel, a festival of visual and performing arts.The Festival is a unique endeavor plat forming the wealth of India’s classical and contemporary cultural heritage including dance, theatre, music, film, and visual arts.
For Festival 2013 we present Shye Ben Tzur & The Rajasthan Gypsies. Shye Ben Tzur popular composer and musician will perform multiple concerts across Israel, collaborating with Chugge Khan, Zaki Nizami, Zakir Ali & Nihal Khan. A selection of popular films from Bollywood will be screened at the Haifa , Jerusalem and Tel Aviv Cinemathiques.
India and Israel share a common national psyche which makes them natural allies as robust democracies. The Founder of Israel, Ben Gurion had immense regard for three world figures: Moses, Socrates and Gandhi. Similarly, prominent Indians like Nehru, Tagore, and R. K. Narayan are well known in Israel, and some streets have also been named after them.
A large number of Israeli youth take a break in India after completing rigorous mandatory military training. Goa, Himachal Pradesh and Mumbai, are popular tourist destinations for Israelis as havens of peace and tranquility and above all spirituality!
Sari – Timeless Tradition - An Exhibition of Indian Saris will be on display at the The Patti and Ernest Worth Gallery, Shenkar and is curated curated by Doron Polak. Key highlights of the festival include Sriyah an Odissi classical dance performance by the Nrityagram Dance Company in association with the Suzanne Dellal center.
Words on Water, the Literary Festival of Indian & Israeli Writers, attempts to mainstream the ideas of contemporary India & Indian writing in English for an Israeli audience. Book readings, book signings, ‘meet-the-author’ opportunities, as well as talks and discussions between Israeli & Indian writers will bring together two diverse cultures. We have been privileged by the participation of eminent speakers including Tarun Tejpal, Eli Amir and A.B. Yehoshua, David Shulman, Meir Shalev, Devdutt Pattanaik and Arshia Sattar in the earlier 2 editions of the festival in 2011 and 2012.
In year 2013 we feature Prof Mushir ul Hasan, Namita Gokhale and Amish Tripathi from India
The Festival of India attempts to provide audiences in Israel an occasion to engage with the cultural diversity of India’s heritage.
website: www.teamworkproductions.in