Olga Gershenson (University of Massachusetts, Amherst)

New Israeli Horror: Local Cinema, Global Genre

Leve Book Talk series

Moderated by Lilya Kaganovsky (UCLA)

Before 2010, there were no Israeli horror films. The next decade saw a blossoming of the genre by young Israeli filmmakers. New Israeli Horror is the first book to tell their story and analyze their films, from inception to reception. What triggered this sudden development? Why did Israeli filmmakers turn to horror? How do their films portray Israel? What kind of horror scenarios do they depict and how? This presentation will grapple with these questions, which are particularly poignant now, in light of the attack on October 7 and the ensuing wars, which pitted the real-life horrors against the fictional ones.

Olga Gershenson is Professor of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies and of Film Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. A multi-disciplinary scholar, her interests lie at the intersection of culture, history, and film. She is the author of New Israeli Horror: Local Cinema, Global Genre (2024), The Phantom Holocaust: Soviet Cinema and Jewish Catastrophe (2013), Gesher: Russian Theater in Israel (2005), as well as editor of Ladies and Gents: Public Toilets and Gender (2009). She is currently working on a volume titled The Oxford Handbook of Judaism and Film.

Book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArsCRkm1OOU

Book website: https://blogs.umass.edu/newisraelihorror/

For more information, please visit the event website here.