Jen Shen Gur studio

18/09/2021

"Nest".

09/09/2021

"Pieta", "Bath", "Tribute to A.Tarkovsky".

29/08/2021

"The Pipe", "The game", The Ball", "Asleep".

21/08/2021

“Good Time” & "Trees"
photo series at the Art’s department
“Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design” 2002
Jerusalem, Israel

04/08/2021

"VEILS"
photo - video art 2002

A metaphorical fairy tale about how the whole civilisation loses the paradise and its quest to find happiness.

“The following phrase is written in the visitor’s book of Jen - Shen Gur: ”A fragrance of distant worlds/silence/purity/depth”. The story is told with Siberian aesthetics, whiteness is split into microscopic flakes - total escape towards the end of the world, between dream and fear”./"Haaretz" newspaper.

photo - video art 2002 by Jen - Shen Gur director, script, art, photography, editor. A metaphorical fairy tale about how the whole civilisation loses the paradise…

02/08/2021

“VEILS”
a text fragment from the photo - video art film 2002:

The sun is the center of our world.
The light covers us all around.
Warms us.
And it makes us happy.
Then, something happens;
something is being changed inside of us.
It’s getting cold.
Day by day, the sun is going away further.
The world slightly gets different shapes.
But at the same time, its sense is getting distorted.
We find new thoughts and wishes.
We always want something new, something is always not enough.
And we feel bad.
Each one of us is by himself – alone...

31/07/2021

“The Veils” triptych - part of my diploma project in 2002 at the Art’s department exhibition at “Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design”, Jerusalem, Israel.

Exhibited at “White on white” exhibition, at “Skizza” Gallery, Jerusalem, Israel.

30/07/2021

“The Cake”, 2004


Zen interpretation on a piece of Hanoh Levin’s play “Hefetz”. The central question in the film is whether the Boy is really eating a cake and enjoying it.

Watch the whole "The Cake" film online:

Home work in classic animation lesson which grew into a diploma film at "Bezalel" Academy of Arts & Design. By Jen- Shen Gur, 2004 Synopsis: Zen…

29/07/2021

"Milim" ("Words" in Hebrew), 2004

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him, as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the carriage.

All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts; it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him”.

/Buddha. “Dhammapada”.

Watch the whole "Milim" film online:

Home work in flash animation lesson which grew into a diploma film at "Bezalel" Academy of Arts & Design By Jen- Shen Gur, 2004 Synopsis: Words create…

27/07/2021

"Peremena", 2008
A story of a new girl at the short school's break.

Watch full "Peremena" film online:

#ШАР

Peremena (a “break”, also a “change” in Russian) By Jen - Shen Gur Israel, Russia, Germany 2008 The film was made within the International…

24/07/2021

“Peremena”, 2008

Graduating the art’s school and two departments at the Academy of Arts and Design "Bezalel" in Jerusalem, I continued my animation and directing studying at School-Studio “SHAR in Moscow. And one snowy day, I saw competition "All human beings are born free and equal in rights" on the website of Goethe Institute. I sent an entry there at the last moment - an hour before the deadline, without any expectations. And how great my joy was when I received a grant - support for the creation of the film!

The word "Peremena" - in Russian has two meanings. It’s a school break (during which the action takes place in the film) and a change, transformation. In some sense, this story is biographical, and in another it’s universal, because despite the fact that it occurred to me in Israel, the same thing happened and continues to happen everywhere.

Unfortunately, both children and adults do not need a reason for hatred. Some people may not like someone's strong accent, unusual name or strange clothes. It’s enough to build a wall inside the mind and by doing so, to create a separation yourself from the other aliens. We can decide that we are - the good ones, and the other – are bad (or our blood is unique, and others is second class, our worldview is the only correct one and other’s is wrong etc). The target can be just anything, and the reason for it is almost always the same: ignorance.

I decided to transfer the story (which disturbed me) of the harassment of the "other" at school to the screen, in as simple as ABC language way, using symbols and signs, sticks and balls. My main inspiration for the visual range was the album of J.Miro that our master A.Khrzhanovsky brought to one of the directing classes.

The film was coming to me not in an easy way. I had been studying, earning for living and continuing to animate at the same time for several years, but I was supported by my friends and teachers from “SHAR”, and I am very grateful for it. And when everything was finally over, I went out to travel with film to different countries. It received awards at festivals: "ReAnimania" (Yerevan, Armenia) - Diploma in graduation films category and "Tricky Women" (Vienna, Austria) - Special Mention of the International Jury. "Peremena" was screened at the forums for Human Rights (Russian Federation), exposed at the Research’s Centre for the History of Minorities (Austria).

#ШАР

19/07/2021

"Milim" ("Words" in Hebrew), 2004

This is my first and a half movie in life. You may ask how can it be? Almost simultaneously with Milim, I started to make a different film - "The Cake" and despite the fact that both were my very first experiences in animation, still, if to follow the chronology, I started it half a month later.

At that time several dramatic events happened in my life and fully demonstrated how important it was to be responsible to all kinds of words: when speaking, writing or even thinking. And what then worried me the most formed the basis of the script of “Milim".

I was interested in telling the story of the words impact on the reality they created. Also, I was repelling the Plato's cave myth, where the shadows in front of watching people, as well as their view of reality – were just an illusion. And here, monochrome ancient Ecuador vase ornaments suited me the most.

Our sound course teacher at the Animation unit at "Bezalel" came up with a great idea to introduce us to his students from the “Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance” - for a fruitful cooperation. But as paradoxically it is, checking out dozens of music compositions, I stopped on Meredith Monk - her vocal experiments inspired me not to have music in the film at all.

Sabrina Lastman from the Academy of Music supported my idea. We went home to the musician Anton Kucher, where we recorded several improvisation takes of main characters’ voices. My friend Eugine Bogoodlov who helped me with a sound work in all my Israeli student films, shared audio recordings of his newly born child.

It's hard for me to watch my old works because I always see them with "today's" point of view, starting to improve or correct them in my mind. But here, it seems to me that all the guys worked great on the soundtrack.


#אנימה

14/07/2021

“The Cake”, 2004

My very first animation project which grew into a diploma film, started as a home work at “Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design”. Prof.Hanan Kaminsky - our teacher at the animation unit asked us to make a short lip-sink exercise on a piece from Hanoh Levin’s play “Hefetz”.

At the period I was graduating from the Academy, I was full of idealism and determination not to waste a "precious human life" for a formal work. Starting any project, I strove to finish it in the most sincere and honest way, 100% way, which I was at that time capable of. Taking the ordinary homework, I wanted to prove to myself that even a simple exercise could be turned into a movie with a meaning.