A City Named Eilat (1963)

• 67%
• 1963
• Documentary
• Edgar Hirshbain

A documentary produced by Keren Hayesod to help United Israel Appeal's fundraising campaigns abroad. "With each new home on the horizon of Eilat, the desert retreats another step. Step by step, the desert's wastes are conquered." With 1,500 new immigrants settling in it every year, Eilat keeps growing. This film reviews various aspects of the unique development town on the beach of the Red Sea: its tourism and fishing industries, port, cultural life, city council, and adjoining Timna copper mines. The film portrays Eilat as fertile ground for the realization of Zionistic ideals: the conquest of the desert, the reviving of ancient history, and the development of the "New Jew" concept. However, the film does not conceal some of the problems the city faces: difficulties supplying water to its residents, scorching heat, and, as guests of the "End of the World Club" evince, a deficiency in the numbers of single women.