Viewed The 2007 Jewish Film Festival in Seattle at the massive CINERAMA Theater down town, as part of a slam-dunk opening gala double-header, (films from USA and Israel). "The Belly Dancer", (LIRKOD) director and producer, Marek Rosenbaum, Israel, 2006 (90 Minutes) was an eye-opening discovery starring blonde bombshell Meital Dohan. This is a partially tongue-in-cheek Jewish gangster film, with a very cute young gun moll who is a passionate devotee of Turkish belly dancing, and is the femme fatale of the title, around whom this surprise-a-minute comedic thriller revolves. Except for the fact that the main guys were all talking Hebrew this could, for all intents and purposes, have been a French "polar" (with echos of Godard) or even, a recent American job. This film takes you on a ride with so many unexpected twists and turns that you'll come out saying "This TOO is Israel???" --"Belly Dancer" looks to me like a sharp new turn for Israeli film - one that may signal the kind of New Direction caused by "Diva" in French film at the beginning of the eighties. Hope it gets around, because "Dancer" is really a winner and introduces a whole new mini- pantheon of Israeli movie actors. by Alex Deleon, Seattle Friday, March 17, 2007