Interview with Dana International (Walla)
Deep into the first episode of "Dana Kama", the new docu-reality about Yes's Dana International, and the heroine of the series is gone.
It is only natural for us to think that here, once again, we are being manipulated to create drama, after all, this is not our first or our 300th reality show.
But as the minutes pass, it becomes clear that even the creators of the series - editor Yonatan Konyak and director Ilan Eboudi - have no idea where their star is.
Did you want to "home" the diva?
Good luck with that, first go find her.
To add more drama to the cauldron, it is worth noting that this is a few hours before a ceremony at the President's house that was more or less produced for her, making the episode a "24" style thriller with Jack Bower and a countdown clock.
Some of the most important characters in the singer's life who will appear later in the series are called to the search party: Shai Kerem, the personal manager who has been with her from the beginning;
Sparrow/Drorit/Dror - Dana's best friend;
And also her sister Limor (quite a diva in her own right) - a mosaic of extraordinary people with an inner language and queer humor that you simply can't take your eyes off of.
The answer to the question of where Dana was found and whether she arrived in time for the ceremony - we will leave it to you to find out for yourself.
But this uncertainty, already in the first episode of the series, teaches us something important: we are in unfamiliar territory, a place run by the biggest diva our small country has ever known.
When she wants - we will have answers, and if she doesn't want?
Well, we're welcome to explode.
A diva that is bigger than where she is.
International (photo: Pini Silok, courtesy of Yes)
Although never truly gone from the public scene, in recent years Dana International has been in a kind of slow but consistent comeback.
It is clear that the Israeli media is thirsty - not to mention desperate - for figures like her, those who put a spin on political correctness and are not afraid to get into conflicts.
But does she even like being famous?
really not sure.
"Dana Kama" aims to introduce us more to Dana and not to International.
But, and it's a big but - based on the first two episodes that were sent for review, the most interesting question that arises here is where the line between the character and real life even passes.
More in Walla!
Dana International: "I had many loves in my life and it didn't work out. So I decided to give up"
To the full article
This theme is more prominent in the second episode of the series, in which she is already a present rather than an absent protagonist.
When the singer and her manager are invited to the event where their series is announced, we see Dana talking about "Dana International", characterizing the diva's behavior in detail and drawing a clear but thin line between the private person and the larger-than-life figure, and even "practicing" arriving at the event.
What's more, from the moment the International came up, it seems impossible to take her down - even if without intending to she can be a tough and threatening diva.
To see, the publicists who go nuts for her in the hope that she won't get upset, but also won't hurt the other talents present at the event (wait for the scene with Noa Kirel).
Turn on a camera, and they'll take it away.
Dana International and Shay Kerem from "Dana Kama" (Photo: Pini Siluk, courtesy of Yes)
It is impossible to refer to "Dana Kama" without mentioning the historical importance of the woman behind it.
Especially today, when the State of Israel has a foot and a half on the time machine that will take us back 50 years, it is understandable that Dana was many decades ahead of her time: a transgender who becomes a pop star in a conservative Middle Eastern country, who becomes a Eurovision winner, who appears on every stage and does not apologize for a moment.
Both today and in the rest of the world, the success of transgenderism is still not a given anywhere, and the year is 2023 - 25 years after it brought thousands to the streets.
If so, it is possible that Dana is not angry, she simply has no patience for the slowness of all of us, and she has long since moved on to a future we do not yet know.
Even if "Dana Kama" introduces us to sides we didn't know about Dana, it won't succeed in turning her into an everyday character, "BozGloss" style.
This is not the failure of the series but the success of its star: even if she lives in a building on Ben Yehuda Street, right above the light rail works, this is a diva that is bigger than where she is and her aura is not something that can be cracked.
The result is a series that remains constantly unpredictable, that does not really depend on external events or scripted dramas - just open the camera and the rest will happen by itself.
Because of this "organized mess", even after watching two episodes it is very difficult to guess what the rest of the series will look like, but with boundless humor, a sense of chaos and the fear that everything might explode at any moment - it will not be boring.
"Dana Kama" is broadcast on Sundays and Tuesdays at 21:30 on yes and STINGTV.
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