Monday, March 26, 2012

Interview with Joseph Cedar's father

PROF. HAYIM CEDAR—renowned geneticist and also father of Joseph Cedar, the director of Footnote—is interviewed by Nir Hasson in Haaretz:
The apple doesn't fall far from the Cedar tree

Prof. Haim Cedar explains his field of genetic research by means of terms used by the Talmud researchers portrayed in the Academy Award-nominated film made by his son, Joseph Cedar: text and footnotes.
Guess what? Prof. Cedar is nothing like Eliezer Shkolnik.

Excerpt:
Another important difference is that Cedar, like the younger scholar in “Footnote,” Uriel Shkolnik, invests great effort in bringing his research to the general public. In recent years he has been teaching a course in molecular biology for humanities students at Hebrew University. He is also currently participating in a university project designed to bring academia and the public closer, called “Professor in Slippers.” Furthermore, in his own home, Cedar hosts a not-for-credit course, entitled “Life’s Footnote.” In this lecture series he tries to explain his scientific work by means of terms used by the Talmud researchers in the film directed by his son: “text” and “footnotes.”
Background on Footnote is here with many links.