“Shikun”, interview with director Amos Gitai

July 17, 2024

Amos Gitai: “as a Shikun is a collective housing of different people and languages, my film is about humanity which should be inclusive and in dialogue”

“Shikun”, interview with director Amos Gitai Chiara Nicoletti

Podcast | Download

Israeli director Amos Gitai is back at the Taormina Film Fest after 25 years, with his new work “Shikun“.

At the 70th edition of the festival, directed from this year on by Marco Müller, Amos Gitai is introducing his film, which premiered last February at the Berlinale, to the italian audience.

Conceived and shot in Tel Aviv a while before the events of October 7th, 2024, “Shikun” in hebrew means collective housing as the film is set there, a sort of refugee building giving shelter to anyone asking for help: Israelis, Palestinians, Ukrainians

The inspiration for the film comes from Eugène Ionesco’s play “Rhinoceros“, an anti-totalitarian fable the Romanian author wrote at the end of the 50’s.

Ionesco’s words felt so contemporary to address what’s happening in his country but also in the world that Gitai asked Irene Jacob who, at the time was busy in Paris in a play based on Gitai’s own work, to come back to Tel Aviv and shot the film.

Plot

A diverse cross-section of Israeli society converges in a single multi-use building, the Shikun. As people of different languages, origins, and generations come together in highly theatrical encounters, they grapple with the current state of affairs. In a poignant metaphor inspired from Eugene Ionesco’s famous play Rhinoceros, some begin to turn into rhinoceroses, while others resist.

Written by: Chiara Nicoletti

Guest

Amos Gitai

Film

Shikun

Festival

Taormina Film Fest

Rate it

Channel posts

Interview

Alice nella Città - Roma

“A Second Life”, interview with the director Laurent Slama

October 22, 2025

In “A Second Life”, director Laurent Slama captures silence, hope, and rebirth in Olympic Paris — a story of connection beyond sound and sight.

Interview

Alice nella Città - Roma

“Romería”, interview with the director Carla Simón

October 22, 2025

In “Romería”, Carla Simón transforms absence into presence, weaving together imagination and memory to reclaim a lost past.

Interview

Festa del Cinema di Roma

“Good Boy”, interview with actors Stephen Graham and Anson Boon

October 21, 2025

"Good Boy" main actors Stephen Graham and Anson Boon on society, youth and culture’s role in shaping identity

Interview

BFI London Film Fest

“Straight Circle”, interview with director Oscar Hudson and actors Luke Tittensor and Elliott Tittensor

October 20, 2025

"Straight Circle" explores identity, borders, and conflict through the eyes of director Oscar Hudson and actors Luke and Elliott Tittensor at BFI London Film Festival 2025.

LISTEN TO ALL OUR RADIO CHANNELS

“Shikun”, interview with director Amos Gitai

Amos Gitai: “as a Shikun is a collective housing of different people and languages, my film is about humanity which should be inclusive and in dialogue”

Plot

Channel posts

“A Second Life”, interview with the director Laurent Slama

“Romería”, interview with the director Carla Simón

“Good Boy”, interview with actors Stephen Graham and Anson Boon

“Straight Circle”, interview with director Oscar Hudson and actors Luke Tittensor and Elliott Tittensor

Top popular

“Eddington”, interview with director Ari Aster

Diane Keaton, an icon of wit and intelligence on screen, dies at 79

“Tre Ciotole”, intervista all’attore Elio Germano

“The President’s Cake”, interview with director Hasan Hadi

Juliette Binoche al 43° Torino Film Festival: debutto alla regia e premio “Stella della Mole”

Recent Posts