Kichka: Telling Myself (2026)

At 67, Michel Kichka had conquered the heights of illustration in Israel and around the globe—only to be pushed out of his position at the Bezalel Academy to make room for fresh talent. A cartoonist by trade, he once captured the Zionist dream in all its hopeful glory: a young, idealistic Belgian volunteer racing to the Yom Kippur War, only to evolve into a grim prophet of collapse. Over time, his satirical drawings traced a steep decline in Israeli values, politics, and how the Holocaust is remembered. Armed with sharp wit, he became a “tough Jerusalemite” wrapped in a Belgian accent—unafraid to speak hard truths to anyone’s face. To heal the emotional scars of being a second-generation survivor, Kichka poured his soul into a graphic novel that exposed his family’s secrets and his father’s painful silence, which led to a tragic unraveling. That deeply personal work later inspired an animated French feature film, created to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive for younger audiences.