About
Chronicling the changing kibbutz through the eyes of some of its most devoted members, Keeping the Kibbutz is a feature length documentary (54 min) that examines the challenges faced by a community in transition. While some members faced heartbreak, others found new opportunities, and the kibbutz marched toward an inevitable end. A story about nostalgia, the effects of communal living and the hope for what lies ahead, Keeping the Kibbutz captures the lingering ghost of a movement left behind.
Electronic Press Kit (1.3 MB, PDF)
Electronic Press Kit w/stills (21.3 MB, ZIP)
Keeping the Kibbutz was filmed during the summer of 2007 in Kfar Giladi, Israel, the birthplace of director Ben Crosbie. After moving to the US at age 3, Ben had only visited the kibbutz during summer breaks. The rest of his understanding of the kibbutz movement came from his Israeli mother, born and raised in the kibbutz and his Welsh father, who came to the kibbutz as a volunteer in the 70′s . Their memory of the kibbutz was of a utopia, of a community that thrived on the shared experience, resilience and hard work of its people. This understanding of kibbutz life ran counter to what Ben and co-director Tessa Moran discovered while living on the kibbutz.
Just 4 years prior, the kibbutz underwent a massive transition from the socialist model it had thrived under to the capitalist model that the modern economic climate of Israel demanded. All kibbutz members would now receive a salary for their labor instead of equally allocated compensation in the form of shelter, food and necessities. The kibbutz member who works as a dish-washer would now earn a market-determined salary likely less than his neighbor the kibbutz manager. Outside day laborers filled in to tend the fields and even competed for jobs within the kibbutz management.
What was formerly measured in terms of commitment and sacrifice was now only measured in money. Privatization meant that kibbutniks would have to embrace a new notion of entrepreneurship and self-reliance, concepts that weren’t so easily understood. And while the changes resulted in a handful of success stories, they also bred discontent. Keeping the Kibbutz captures this struggle as well as the lingering memory of a way of life now left behind.
