Camel Race and the Erosion of the Bedouin Culture
A camel race in the Moroccan desert.
By Alex Weisler June 10, 2010
When Israeli filmmakers Ezry Keydar and Nadav Ben Israel began making a documentary about a Bedouin man hoping to repopularize camel races, they had no idea his cause would become their fight, too.
Now, Keydar reveals, in a wide-ranging Los Angeles Times interview, his view that camels, and the disappearance of the once widely beloved camel race, have implications for a larger vanishing act: the erosion of Bedouin culture.
“Our choice of topic is not accidental. We see these people as the last of the Mohicans — they represent a vanishing culture,” the filmmaker said. “Sadly, Israel is working systematically to push this culture and its symbols into extinction.”
The interview also delves into the directors’ connection to Arab culture, their reasons for making the film and the logistics of running an actual camel race.
Keydar is currently helping to stage a camel race on a shuttered desert airstrip. The film, “Hump,” does not have a distributor or release schedule yet.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
