FILMS/
SOUVENIRS
Suvenirim
Documentaries
Israel, 2006, 75 minutes
SHOWTIMES
Sun, Apr 29 / 03:30 / PFA / SOUV29P
Mon, May 7 / 03:15 / Kabuki / SOUV07K
Wed, May 9 / 09:15 / Kabuki / SOUV09K
CREDITS
- dir
-
Halil Efrat, Shahar Cohen
- prod
-
Sharon Shamir
- scr
-
Shahar Cohen
- cam
-
Tomer Shani
- editor
-
Halil Efrat
- mus
-
Shai Bachar
- source
-
Sirocco Productions, 12 Tiomkin Street, 65783 Tel Aviv, Israel FAX: +972-3-566-1481 EMAIL: sirocco1@zahav.net.il
Shahar Cohen's father had a proposal for his unmarried, unemployed filmmaker son with no prospects: Make a film about the legendary Jewish Brigade of World War II. Sleiman Cohen served with the brigade throughout Europe, and at a reunion of brigade veterans his son is intrigued by jokes that his Yemeni father may have left behind flesh-and-blood "souvenirs" with two Dutch girls in postwar Amsterdam. Crammed together in a tiny, retooled Autobianchi Junior, father and son follow Sleiman’s wartime route from the Italian countryside all the way to the Netherlands. While Shahar was raised by his father, the elder Cohen was a strict, private man and they were never close. On the road, their complex relationship develops as the film’s compelling focus. By turns comic and touching, the pair bickers, laughs and engages in girl watching, showing us what it means to become what Sleiman terms "close like soldiers." Simultaneously, Shahar pursues the possibility of having siblings. His search uncovers the many faces of children left behind in wartime and leads to a surprising payoff. Scenes in which Sleiman returns to former battle sites are skillfully interspersed with archival footage. Although Shahar hastened his own military discharge, he still cherishes the idea that his father was a war hero and a great lover. Along the way, a succession of revelations tells a different story, and Shahar wonders, Who am I to write the role of the father for Sleiman? This touching road film explores the tug between myth, reality, memory and truth.
—Kathleen Denny
West Coast Premiere. This film is competing for a Golden Gate Award. Sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and Wells Fargo. Presented in association with the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival with support from the Consulate General of Israel, San Francisco.