by Shira Geffen
Who or what decides who we are? Michal is a well-known artist from Jerusalem. One morning she loses her memory after suffering a head injury. Nadine lives in a Palestinian refugee camp and crosses the Israeli border every day on her way to work in a cheap furniture store. When Michal purchases a new bed and later complains to the furniture company, when she discovers there’s a screw missing, Nadine is fired. Several days later, there’s a mix-up at border control, where the two women unwillingly exchange their identities – and their nationalities. Director Shira Geffen plays imaginatively with mistakes, situation comedy and absurd humour in this modern fairytale. SELF MADE broaches the issue of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict in a very idiosyncratic manner and cleverly questions the self-concept of identity.