Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
AYael Melamede, who made the transition to filmmaking, shows us this clever, albeit not very beautiful, portrait of his mother, the Israeli actress Ada Karmi-Melamede. With his brother Ram Karmi, Karmi-Melamede formed the main court of Israel building in Jerusalem in the early 90s, then he did well on his own, creating Ben Gurion Airport.
Karmi-Melamede’s characteristic is to establish buildings that are anchored in the given space, “ground and sky architecture” – instead of the endless glass towers of the first cities in the world that can be placed anywhere. Another wise principle of his is: “The cheapest building material is light.” He wants to put an end to his brother’s brutality and concreteness, an argument that seems to have led to a lively discussion (or debate) within the Supreme Court itself.
Karmi-Melamede is a well-known person, strong in silence, answering questions from her daughter who touch (in terms of) on the painful division of the family: her family settled in New York in the 80s where she taught at Columbia University, but she left when she was not given the responsibility of education and the establishment of men and returned to the United States, leaving her husband and children in the United States.
This division of the family coincides with the division within Israel itself: Karmi-Melamede is clearly opposed to the Netanyahu government’s move three years ago to reduce the powers of the high court; they are shown next to the demonstrations, although they do not join them. The New York Times architecture journalist Paul Goldberger, who criticized the construction of his capital in 1992, now says that his words today make him sad, because “he evokes a time when one expects international leadership from Israel”. He says that this should happen to everyone associated with the symbolic house, but Melamede does not apply this point to Karmi-Melamede. A practical and informative lesson though.
