Deep-lomacy #8

Hybrid Diplomacy; The role of Informal Diplomacy in shaping cultural diplomacy / Sharona Shir Zablodovsky - Project Manager/ Social-Biz Entrepreneur / External relations

In the last years we have witnessed a number of interesting phenomena that express diplomacy in the informal sense. The technological leap has changed the rules of the game and hybridized some aspects of diplomacy due to the necessity of adjusting it to the new reality.

Governments and individuals from different fields have understood that informality can be advantageous. In this way, a new and at times unmediated channel of communication has opened. Using this channel, messages from spokespersons can easily reach a range of populations all over the world.

Informal Diplomacy has also developed among representatives of culture and the arts. Over the years, Israeli cinema has seen complicated periods of creation and attempts to break into global markets.

In the last two decades, this branch, whose leaders have worked tirelessly throughout the years, has blossomed and achieved recognition on an international level. It has become a central and informal tool for conveying messages, and one of the leading Israeli “ambassadors”. Today, Israeli cinema is a bridge for indirectly building relationships with many other countries.

A clear example of the immense success of Israeli cinema is through Ari Fullman’s film, “Waltz with Bashir”, which broke boundaries and won praise. The film competed in 2009 in two of the most highly regarded awards in the world: the “Oscars” and “Golden Globes”. In “Golden Globes”, it was the first documentary film that participated in the competition and even won the prestigious prize - an amazing achievement by all accounts for a country of 9 million residents, which is constantly dealing with issues of an emerging society, combined with existential uncertainty, as expressed in this film.

Cinema is an expressive tool that is becoming increasingly sophisticated and is changing in the rush of time, adapting itself, like the phoenix, to the zeitgeist. It can be said that if it weren’t for these creators and films, the state of Israel wouldn’t have managed to be in communication with nations with which we are not in diplomatic relations; to establish its unique cultural cornerstones abroad; to use culture to create a direct dialogue that wouldn’t have been able to take place otherwise; and most of all, to touch the hearts of the viewers and, if only for a few moments, bring them into our world to get a taste of the unique texture that is Israel and share our story with them.