Run since 1960 by Mordechai Kopp and his wife with the assistance of a Moslem cook and handyman, Jerusalem’s most famous café has seen activists meet to discuss everything from the occupation to Greater Israel and, more recently, the Olmert corruption scandal. Talk is what made this café famous, so if Teutsch’s ode to this gemütliche crucible of disputation suffers slightly from the talking heads scourge of documentary filmmaking, that’s not even a bad thing.
Café Ta’amon, King-George-Street, Jerusalem | Directed by Michael Teutsch (Israel, Germany 2013) documentary with Mordechai Kopp. Starts May 21.