Father inspired ‘Restless’ film

Amos Kollek said his difficult relationship with his famous father, Teddy Kollek, an important figure in Israeli history and long-time mayor of Jerusalem, was the inspiration for his film “Restless.”

After Thursday’s premiere of the drama about the bitter estrangement of a father and his son at the Berlin Film Festival, the Israeli director said he felt cheated out of having a father even though it seemed everyone else envied him.

“I had feelings of anger towards my father,” the 60-year-old filmmaker said. “It’s because I didn’t see him that much. I was a little short-changed.

“People always told me I was so lucky to have him as a father. I always wanted to reply, ‘I don’t really have him as a father that much.’ He’d work till midnight and come home and fall asleep. My father’s priority was clearly Israel. I think he was a good, responsible man. But his family was not his priority.”