New Israeli Horror: Local Cinema, Global Genre

Summary of the lecture:

Before 2010, there were no Israeli horror films. Then distinctly Israeli serial killers, zombies, vampires, and ghosts invaded local screens. The next decade saw a blossoming of the genre by young Israeli filmmakers. New Israeli Horror is the first book to tell their story. Through in-depth analysis, engaging storytelling, and interviews with the filmmakers, Olga Gershenson explores their films from inception to reception. She shows how these films challenge traditional representations of Israel and its people, while also appealing to audiences worldwide.

Gershenson introduces an innovative conceptual framework of adaptation, which explains how filmmakers adapt global genre tropes to local reality. It illuminates how Israeli horror borrows and diverges from its international models. New Israeli Horror offers an exciting and original contribution to our understanding of Israeli cinema and the horror genre.

For the book trailer:  https://youtu.be/ArsCRkm1OOU?si=-YPFLLalXVLzIfQe
 

A companion website to this book is available at https://websites.umass.edu/newisraelihorror/
 

 About the lecturer: Prof. Olga Gershenson  

Professor of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies and Film Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. A multidisciplinary scholar, specializing in the intersection of culture, history, and film. Author of New Israeli Horror: Local Cinema, Global Genre (2023), The Phantom Holocaust: Soviet Cinema and Jewish Catastrophe (2013), and Gesher: Russian Theater in Israel (2005). Also the editor of Ladies and Gents: Public Toilets and Gender (2009). Currently working on The Oxford Handbook of Judaism and Film.

*האירוע יתקיים באנגלית ובהשתתפות דוברים אורחים נוספים.
 

June 9, 2025, from 6:15 PM to 7:45 PM.