"I was exposed to something unpleasant to be exposed to, but at least I harnessed another wheel in the Mi-To cart."

The attempted abduction at age 8, the assault at age 14 ("I was mentally scratched") - and the decision to expose Walla!

The harassment of Ivy that caused her to leave the game world for a few years ("had to stop him").

Dalit Kahn returns with the series "Children in the Forest" on yes and also receives an apology from the municipality of Linor.

Interview

Sagi Ben Nun

13/02/2022

Sunday, 13 February 2022, 00:00 Updated: 00:19

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"I am a total creator who is meticulous in the small details, where God dwells."

Dalit Kahn (Photo: Reuven Castro, Styling: Gamla, Vered Semin)

"At the age of 8 I had an abduction attempt on the way to the pool. At the age of 14 in a stairwell a man put a hand on my mouth from behind tightly, saying, 'If you shout I know where you live, and I will return.'

Nearly 30 years after the mythological film "The Siren Song", 20 years after the kicking "Turkish March" film and 15 years after the successful "When Will We Kiss" series, actress and creator Dalit Kahn returns in a big way with the suspense series "Children in the Forest" on yes .

Kahn has signed on for the series as lead actress, creator, writer, director (alongside Ilan Abodi) and co-producer.

In the series, she plays the homeless animal, who barely utters a word, and is recruited against her will to be an undercover agent in the war on international infant trafficking, alongside an Israeli researcher (Yiftach Klein) who tries to take her to a children's farm in a forest in Europe.

As they try to enter the dark places in humanity - they illuminate dark places in their psyche.

While this is a nerve-wracking suspense series with a crazy pace but also a series that inhabits colorful characters, who add an ironic layer and evoke bursts of laughter in unexpected places.

"A baby farm is a real and existing thing and shocking at the deepest levels there is," Kahn says in an interview with Walla!

Culture, "Babies sold in Darkent do not necessarily go to couples who want to adopt children. I do not know where these babies, which are traded for $ 1,000, go. At the beginning of the filming, when we were not sure we would be able to photograph real babies, It was horrible to find out that a baby doll costs more than a real baby sold online as well. Fresh for three little girls and it shook my world.I felt I had to put it in a series I started writing about homeless anyway, I put it all in and started over.I wanted all this cruelty to be under my control,

"When I started going into depth research into Darknet and the baby farm, I can not say I remained the same person. You read and see things that make you realize that the boundaries of the human patient are wider than anyone can imagine. Of course not all this evil enters, only part of it. Everything is very stylish and accessible for a fun viewing experience, for those who love his TV intensely and on the edge.I took from the things I was inspired by, like we found pictures of kids releasing such a gesture in a police raid, and all the kids were packed like little packages wrapped in white, so I took this image of the kids Packed for the series. "

"" When I began to delve into the investigations into the Darknet and the baby farm, I can not say that I remained the same person. "Dalit Kahn at the premiere of the series" Children in the Forest "(Photo: Rafi Daloia)

How do you identify with the homeless character you play?

"I identify with Chaya's great sense of detachment. I know this feeling well, I experienced it as a child, like I was born into it. Both because we went through countries, and because of such and such events. I identify with the lack of understanding of how the world is run, About the world, with the attempt to understand why people behave the way they do.Today I am already big, studying therapies, and understand quite well how this world functions and what drives it.Today I no longer have a sense of detachment but I remember what it is.I see and recognize detached people. "I think studying the game connected me a lot. In my life I went through a lot of incarnations, I was like a golem and every time something new came out of it, and I'm still waiting for the next incarnation."

The talented Kahn admits that she is both a perfectionist and a totalist and some would say obsessive.

"I do not think a perfectionist man should be said to be obsessive. I am just a total creator who is meticulous in the small details, where God resides."

This cocktail led to no less than nine years of work on the series, and repeated postponements of its launch (the series airs Thursdays at 10pm on yes action).

"yes they were very tolerant of me relatively, when they realized that in April 2020 there is no series, and then in September of that year there is no series, and also a year after that no, there were very difficult conversations but the reality is the reality, and I promised them I would bring them the best series I can. I did not have the ability to give them the series before I punished it to the maximum I can. I had to return the filmed material that was received and did not match my expectations, to the vision I had in mind. To pass on something that I am not ready to do.

I am a person who rushes forward for better or worse with all the energy I have.

I only released when I knew I had nothing more to give her and before she completely consumed me, and I was still in the editing rooms completing the final episodes. "

More on Walla!

The series "Children in the Forest" is content to be an excellent thriller

To the full article

Separated from her family for 3 months of filming abroad. Actress Dalit Kahn in the character of Chaya in the series "Children in the Forest" (Photo: Vered Adir, courtesy of yes)

"I identify with the great sense of detachment of the live homeless character. I experienced it as a child. I identify with the lack of understanding of how the world is run. Today I am already big, studying therapies, and understand quite well how this world functions and what drives it.

Her totality exceptionally in the industry she took on almost everything in production - Kahn also stars in the lead role, also created and wrote the series, also directed with Ilan Abodi, also co-produced and sat for many years in an editing room with her editors .

"I can not do otherwise. This is my work, and creators are more perfectionists in advance because they know what a utopian world they want to reach in their head. 'Unrealized potential.' Now I see that I can realize my potential in the physical world, but it's a big effort, like becoming something out of nothing.

"I worked very hard, the hardest possible, producing an Israeli series is not something easy, mainly because of budget issues. I died seven times during the production of 'Children in the Forest' and was resurrected because I was exhausted and busy. I could not believe I would see the horizon. There was a stage where I wanted to hang myself in an editing room because materials did not provide me, I took out the juice to my editor Boaz and in the end I got what I wanted but after that I swore I would not do any more series. .

But in the country I did not.

The whole production process, when it comes out of your head, and collides with reality, is a traumatic event for me. "

"I liken myself to a big ship that sailed safely, and I do not mean the Titanic," she laughs, "I'm not someone who gets too confused and I know what I want and especially what I do not want. The storms are very underground and are not reflected on the surface. I'm a strong person who knows what she wants and even if it's hard and sometimes it seems impossible to get what I want I still always try my best to get the thing especially when it comes to my work or my family. I will always try to cut, fulfill my vision, "Even if it seems unrealistic and illogical. 'No' is not an answer for me, even if it seems like I'm getting into a wall, I find quite a few times that walls are just extra heavy doors."

Yiftach Klein, who plays the main male role in the series, also confirms that he has complete control over the comma.

"Dalit knows everything," he told Walla!

culture.

"She sat at home for years writing the series. When we got to filming she knew exactly how she wanted it to look, sound and be done, and all I had to do was be heard and surrendered. I gave in and surrendered pretty quickly. My ego was not in the picture at all. I knew I was in safe hands. She "Perfectionist. And it paid off. Listen, I was sitting at home, I watched three episodes, and I flew."

The filming of the series was divided between Israel, Spain and Hungary, which led to a difficult confrontation for Kahan also because she is a mother of three daughters.

“I was abroad for three months without the family.

Once the girls came to me there.

"But I was not so available." Luckily for Kahn, filming in Europe ended about six months before the corona eruption. "But the completion filming was really complicated to do because of the plague," she says.

More on Walla!

"Many of my fellow artists have been vaccinated with no choice so they can work. I'm not mad at them."

To the full article

"What do I think of Ivgi's request for early release from prison? Absurd."

Moshe Ivgi (Photo: Reuven Castro)

Over the weekend, "Children in the Forest" garnered critical acclaim, and it was written about it, among other things, that it is sweeping, fascinating and one that will make Netflix enthusiastic.

The series shines an important spotlight on the exploitation of the weak in society: the infant trafficking farm that exploits women from particularly horrificly weakened backgrounds;

The character of the homeless animal who was raped in the past, and sexually assaulted in the present;

And the character of the policeman who exploits women who work in prostitution.

Kahn's connection to the issue of exploiting the weak stems from her identification with the issue.

"I've been through very scary cases in my life," Kahn says.

"When I was eight, I had a kidnapping attempt on the way to the pool. The attempt was unsuccessful because I rescued myself because of the strong survival instinct I had. , A very tall man, put a hand on my mouth from behind tightly, and said: 'Do not shout, if you shout I know where you live, and I will come back one more time'.

The significant, resounding and important voice that Kahn makes against the exploitation and harm of people was expressed not only in her work but in another inspiring way, when in February 2016 she was one of the main brave witnesses in the Walla!

A culture that exposed the Ivgi affair, and is signed by the author of these lines.

Kahn then testified anonymously that Ivy attacked her in a production she starred in in the late 1990s, on the set of the "Ivy Suissa Report" series that aired on Channel One, forced a kiss on her tongue with no intimate connection between them, and was fired shortly after. In a polygraph examination to which Kahn was sent, she was found to be one hundred percent truthful, a little over five years after she first testified at Walla!

A personal column written by Dalit Kahn anonymously about the Ivgi affair

"I am real - not a ghost": One of the women from the Ivgi affair answers all the questions

To the full article

"There are too many players over the age of 60 who have come looking for 'hugs' behind the scenes. Ivy is not the only one. He's just more aggressive."

Dalit Kahn (Photo: Reuven Castro, Styling: Gamla, Vered Semin)

When I was working on an Ivy study, the moment I realized I had achieved a breakthrough was when I came to Kahn's story.

To my amazement, she described to me a sickening and similar pattern of behavior that actress Anna Stefan had described to me earlier - sexual assault on the part of an actress who had no intimate relationship with him, forcing a kiss with a tongue to mouth, actress' resistance (slap in Kahn's case, slap in Stefan's case), and message On dismissals a few days after the incident.

Stefan was also found to be telling the truth on a polygraph examination.

When I called Kahan for the first time, after it turned out she had been harassed by Ivy, I was amazed at how quickly she told me "I'm totally with you."

The rare courage and immediate willingness to cooperate surprised me.

I was then after months of hard work on the investigation, and although I managed to reach many women who told me that Ivy had hurt them - some in great detail - but the overwhelming majority refused to testify even anonymously, out of great fear of the industry's strongest player, fear of revenge, and emotional difficulty.

Kahn immediately recruited but had a condition for publication - that she not be alone in the turret, that there be at least four women in the interrogation with her.

At the time, a year and a half before "Mi Tu" broke out and while Ivy was the most powerful man in the industry, this seemed like a very difficult task.

But the impossible happened - dozens of women testified to the media about Ivgi, 12 of them Walla!

A culture that exposed the affair.

"It's a story that should have been revealed a long time ago. It's not a one-time thing that happened in the past. It's something that kept happening even while you called me. It's the person's conduct. It should have been stopped, and I'm not afraid. "I do not know if I was that brave, it's the truth, so I can not judge others. I know very strong and very familiar women, if not the familiar ones, who are afraid to talk about it and are still afraid."

More on Walla!

Dalit told me how Ivgi attacked her.

Anna told the same story.

I realized that it should not be silenced anymore

To the full article

"Thank God there was no internet then, if there was - I do not know how I would have survived at all."

Dalit Kahn in the film "Singing the Siren" (Photo: Talisma Productions)

A few days after the publication of an Ivy study in Walla!

Where she was a key witness, Ivgi called all the women who testified against him anonymously "ghosts."

Kahn was upset by Ivgi's reaction, perhaps because she was expecting an apology.

Following Ivgi's response to the exposure, Dalit Kahn wrote an open letter that we published in Walla!

Culture under the title "I am real - not a ghost", still anonymous - and only after years and in light of my request, agreed to reveal that she is behind the powerful text.

The letter referred, among other things, to the criticism leveled at the complainants, the norms between women and men in Israel and the great difficulty of going to testify with the police.

And ended with a personal request to Ivgi: "And if possible, also a personal appeal from me - the ghost at the time was very tangible for you, Mr. Ivgi: maybe a truly humane and authentic human being will come out thank you and apologize and stop humiliating us?".

"Look, I did not really sit at home waiting for his apology. I personally do not need his apology. This man is not a function in my world for the sake of examination. Sin, confess, thank you for everything without rubbish, and apologize to Kibinimt, just apologize. "

Walla!

Which revealed the Ivgi affair in which Dalit Kahn testified

Six women testify: The actor Moshe Ivgi harassed us

To the full article

"It was a cinematic kiss."

Dalit Kahn and Yair Lapid in the film "The Song of the Siren" (Photo: screenshot, from the film "The Song of the Movie")

"At the time Ivy did everything, there was no considered production without him, consensus. As soon as I got home after the event, I got a big token, I really realized I could say hello for at least a few years to the game and go look for another job. That's the price of the slap I gave him. I would do it again "

To what extent do you link the harassment on the part of Ivgi and the dismissals you suffered because of it - to your relegation from the "Olympus" of the game?

"From the way I saw things, I immediately realized that this injury would affect my career. At the time Ivy did everything, was everywhere, was the favorite person on screen, there would be no considered production without him, consensus. As soon as I got home after the event, I got a big token, I really realized I could say hello to at least a few years into the game and go look for another job for myself. I wasted no time, in a few weeks I started working as a copywriter in an advertising agency. Always when doing things - they have a response and a price. And yes, I would do that again. "

Laughs.

"What is 'undermining trust in the industry'? I was born yesterday? Come on, there are too many players over the age of 60 who came looking for 'hugs' behind the scenes. Ivy is not the only one.

"It made me feel like I was dressing all the women in the world in a protective layer. True, I was exposed to something that is not the most pleasant to be exposed to, and whoever thinks someone is exposed for publicity is a piece of immobility. Just an idiot. It's the scariest and most unpleasant thing that can be. .

"What was I thinking? Absurd."

Historical sulha: The municipality of Linor apologized - via Walla!

Culture - for harming Dalit Kahn (Photo: Reuven Castro)

"I became famous overnight and everyone was on top of me. It was not pleasant. A bit like walking with Cain's sign. I once came back from my grandfather's funeral all in tears, in my blue battered beetle, and then someone stops next to me at a traffic light and says to me, 'Say, what, all So famous and you do not have money for a better car ?! '"

In recent months, a wave of "Mi Tu" of the proud community in Israel has erupted, which included testimonies alleging harassment and sexual assault by Gal Ochowski (published here 11), Itai Pinkas-Arad (published in Yedioth Ahronoth), and the brave testimony of actor Yehuda Nahari who claimed that Ezer sexually harassed him and took an indecent act, which I published in Walla!

culture.

What do you think about this?

"Any such exposure, any 'who's', is a blessed thing. And it does not matter where it rolls. I believe you or you, female or male - because I know in my flesh how scary it is to be in the place of opening and confessing such a thing, and I "I think this is just the beginning of the beginning. It's not really a process yet, these are initial buds."

Dalit Kahn was born 53 years ago in Tel Aviv, to Argentine parents, and grew up in Ramat Aviv.

For four years from her childhood she lived with her family in Costa Rita and Nicaragua, so directing part of the series "Children in the Forest" in Spain, with Spanish-speaking actors, is an exciting closing circle for her.

"Directing in Spanish was the most delightful moment for me, the language came back to me, my mother tongue, and it closed a lot of things for me, not to mention that no matter how great the Israeli players are, the discipline and professionalism of the Spanish players was like coaching Real Madrid for a few months. "Spaniards are fine, led by the Spanish actress, Nausica Bonin, who I saw a few years ago in a series of yes in a supporting role and cast her without even auditioning for her, she captivated me completely. She is in the lead role but she appears from episode 2."

After returning to Israel, Dalit went through a rather intense adolescence: she was part of the "Young Tel Aviv" band even before its television breakthrough, and later also served as the lead singer of the punk band "Indirect Speech" which performed at the Penguin Club.

In 11th grade, she was expelled from Alliance School.

"After I got back from the penguin at four or five in the morning, I would go to school and act accordingly."

"It's something that has become easier in recent years. I live with ADHD. I think that although it has made it difficult for me for most of my life - it is my blessing, at least in the creative world. I think ADHD is a kind of personality and not a problem. I think ADHD gives me Creativity and the high ability on the extreme border to contain a lot of balls in the air at a level that another person might have panicked from the quantity and intensity, but my ability to jump from place to place frantically, because it's my personality structure, allows me things people without this disorder can not. Neat and come, without the evil eye, I do not lack bugs. But it is a character line, a character line that I recognize in many of my fellow authors who also have attention deficit disorders. Today everything is defined as a disease or a disorder. I think there are kind of people, for example like me, "For a school. I think there should be a school for people like me, who are interested in other things."

More on Walla!

Sherlock's Brain in Schwarzenegger's Body: "Richer" is big, bloody fun

To the full article

Lior Raz: "Dalit and the team of 'When Will We Kiss' were the first to believe in me as an actor."

Raz, Kahan and Yael Sharoni in the series "When will we kiss?" (Photo: screenshot, Channel Ten)

Irit Linor apologizes historically: "I did Dalit a great injustice when I objected to her casting. I'm sorry I gave it a public expression. I was overwhelmed. I personally hurt her, and I'm very sorry. Dalit is charming and very talented."

Kahn: "Obviously I accept the apology"

After military service in Unit 8200 she studied acting at Nissan Nativ's studio.

And shortly after graduating, she broke into the film "The Siren Song" directed by Ethan Fox based on the book by the Municipality of Linor.

In the film, she played the character of Talila Katz, the yuppie and blunt bachelorette, alongside Yair Lapid as ex, Boaz Gur-Arieh and Orly Zilbershtz.

Kahn was cast while anonymous, shortly after graduating from acting school, and this was her first major role, after defeating well-known and esteemed candidates like Keren Moore and Ayelet Zorrer.

The many praises and insane publicity she received were accompanied by jarring voices as well.

In an interview with "7 Days" in October 1994, Irit Linor said she was furious about Kahn's casting, adding that she actually preferred a more mature woman to the role with a preference for Edith Tapperson or Daphne Rechter.

"But Ethan Fox terribly wanted Dalit. I couldn't really impress her," she noted.

"The municipality of Linor then sent me a bouquet of flowers home with a greeting. We were also reading together. After a few months, in the middle of a photo day, I learned that there was an article of hers against me," says Kahn.

"I did not understand where it was coming from all of a sudden. I was told on Thursday: 'Do not panic, tomorrow you will see your name smeared in a cover story in the weekend supplement.' I was the most available cannon fodder. She dropped ammunition on me. "I was pleasant. There was such a commotion around me from every direction, and it was another loud background noise."

Ahead of the interview with Kahn we spoke to Irit Linor this week, and surprisingly she apologized through us: "I think I did Dalit a great injustice when I objected to her casting. Sorry I gave it a public expression. Artists are people who overflow. I guess Dalit today knows the emotional storm better. That floods you when you create and anxiety. It's foam on the water. I overflowed. I personally hurt her, and I'm very sorry about that. Dalit is charming and very talented. 'When we kiss' was great, I'm glad she's not only an actress but also creates things, it I'm even patronizing that I say that. "

(Kahn: "Obviously I accept the apology").

1/14 Dalit Kahn and Yiftach Klein in the series "Children in the Forest" by yes (Photo:, Vered Adir, courtesy of yes)

כשכיכבת לצד יאיר לפיד, יכולת להעלות על דעתך שהבחור יהיה שר החוץ וראש הממשלה החליפי?

"מההיכרות הקצרה שהייתה לי איתו זה לא נראה לי משונה. למה משונה? הוא אדם רציני וסימפטי ונוסיף לזה שאבא שלו היה דמות פוליטית".

מה את זוכרת מצילומי סצנת הנשיקה עם לפיד?

"מה אני זוכרת לפני עשרים וחמש שנה? הגזמת, וזו הייתה גם נשיקה קולנועית".

לקהן לא היה קל עם התדמית ועם הפרסום. "רק סיימתי בית ספר למשחק, התפרסמתי בן לילה וכולם היו בעליהום עליי. לי, כנראה בגלל מבנה האישיות שלי, זה לא היה נעים. זה קצת כמו ללכת עם אות קין, כשכולם מצביעים ומסתכלים עלייך כל הזמן. סתם דוגמה קיצונית אחת, חזרתי מהלוויה של סבא שלי כולי בדמעות, בחיפושית החבוטה התכלת שלי, ואז מישהו עוצר לידי ברמזור ואומר לי: 'תגידי, מה, את כל כך מפורסמת ואין לך כסף לאוטו יותר טוב?!'. תודה לאל לא היה אז אינטרנט, אם היה - לא יודעת איך הייתי שורדת בכלל. זה הוביל אותי לאיזו השתבללות".

אחרי פרשת ההטרדה והפיטורים שגרם לה איבגי בסדרה ששיחקה לצדו, קהן אמנם המשיכה לשחק אבל במינון מופחת - בלט במיוחד תפקידה בסרט "מרס תורכי" בבימוי עודד דוידוף שיצא ב-2001 ועל תפקידה בו זכתה בפרס אופיר בקטגוריית שחקנית המשנה. אבל הסיפור עם איבגי היה המנוע שהוביל אותה להתמקד ביצירה. את התסריט הראשון שלה כתבה לסרט "ריקי ריקי" בו גם כיכבה ואיתן ענר ביים (2005), והיא בלטה במיוחד כיוצרת מוכשרת בסדרה "מתי נתנשק" בערוץ עשר (2007) שגם עליה היא חתומה ככותבת וכוכבת. הסדרה זכתה להצלחה רבה, נמכרה ל-HBO אירופה והופקה ושודרה בצ'כיה, סלובקיה, הונגריה, רומניה, רוסיה ואוקראינה וגרסאות נמכרו גם ל-HBO ארצות הברית.

עוד בוואלה!

מירי מסיקה: "לקח לי 20 שנה לומר על עצמי שאני מוזיקאית"

לכתבה המלאה

"מה שהכי הייתי רוצה שיקרה עכשיו עם הסדרה 'ילדים ביער' - שהיא תשפיע". דלית קהן(צילום: ראובן קסטרו, סטיילינג: גמלא, ורד סמין)

רצה הגורל, ובזמן הריאיון עם קהן בבית קפה בתל אביב, עבר במקום השחקן והיוצר ליאור רז ("פאודה"). הוא שמח מאוד לראות את דלית, אשר ליהקה אותו לשחק מולה ונתנה לו את תפקידו הגדול הראשון בסדרה "מתי נתנשק" שיצרה וכתבה. אני מנצל את ההזדמנות של הפגישה המקרית ומבקש מרז לתת טיפ לקהן איך למכור את הסדרה שלה בעולם. "דלית לא צריכה שום עצה ממני, שמעתי שיש לה סדרה מדהימה, אומרים עליה דברים נהדרים ואני בטוח שהסדרה תימכר מעצמה. דלית והצוות של 'מתי נתנשק' היו הראשונים שהאמינו בי כשחקן ובחרו בי לגלם את מיקי, התפקיד הגדול הראשון שלי בטלוויזיה, ועל כך אני מודה לה ממש. דלית יוצרת מדהימה שהיה תענוג לעבוד איתה".

דלית, מכיוון שבעברך כתבת וראיינת לעיתון "תל אביב", אולי לקינוח תשאלי את עצמך שאלה - ותעני לעצמך.

"Wow, now you're complicated me with myself, well, I would ask two questions. Question: What's this wig? Answer: It's not a wig, what do we do, it's my hair, I have full hair without proportion to anything. And a second question, what are you? "Would you most like it to happen now with the series 'Children in the Forest'? And I would answer - that it will have an effect."

• culture

• TV

• Israeli television

Tags

• Dalit Kahn

• Children in the forest

• Moshe Ivgi

• The siren sang

• Yair Lapid

• Sexual harassment

• Linor Municipality