Less than a mile from the Gaza border lies Sderot, a small Israeli city of about 36,000 people and one of the first targets in the Hamas surprise attack on Israel last October. One of the places affected was Sapir College, home to Israel’s leading film school, which was shut down just as the School of Audio and Visual Arts’ students were wrapping up their submissions for the annual film festival.
To show their solidarity with the Israeli filmmaking community, our own local annual St. Louis Jewish Film Festival will open this year’s edition with a showcase featuring recent short films from Sapir College students. A mix of narrative and documentary shorts, the five films on display offer an eye-opening look at life in one of the most contentious regions in the world.
On the lighter side, director Linoy Sason’s Elinor (from 2022, 20 minutes in length) was created as a TV pilot but works well as a self-contained short film. The titular Elinor has just moved into a kibbutz (a small, self-contained community) to concentrate on writing (we see snippets throughout of her one-woman show, which punctuate the action much like the standup bits in Seinfeld, even though they’re not similar at all tonally). While she may wakeup wearing a “Don’t Give Up Your Daydream” t-shirt, Elinor quickly finds the dream isn’t matching reality, from the mouse in her new apartment to the noise to the nosy neighbors to the masseur whose rugged good looks don’t portend as wonderful a hookup as Elinor envisioned. Elinor features the kind of dry dramedic humor one might expect in a prestige cringe comedy, with some sexy content that might not make it on network TV but is tame compared to what you might encounter on its Hulu or Max equivalent. Joining the opening night festivities is Yasmin Hoffman, one of Elinor’s student producers, to discuss both the film and her experiences as a student at Sapir.
Pepchook (2022, 9 minutes) is a short and sweet snapshot of a budding relationship. Pepchook (voiced by Tamar Chetzroni, who also directed, wrote, and animated the film) is traveling to Samoa to meet up with Leafa, whom she fell in love with while the two worked together on a cruise ship. But removed from that unique experience, will their spark still burn? Beautifully and bittersweetly told and well-acted with animation that is simple yet evocative, this is the highlight of the showcase.
If Pepchook is the most emotional of the night, the documentary short Shelters (Rachel Albert, Maciej Jankowski, 2019, 15 minutes) is the most fascinating and educational. Something most Americans would never consider (Lord knows I didn’t) is that when you live in a country that suffers a lot of attacks from its neighbors, there are going to be a lot of bomb shelters—literally tens of thousands of them. This short doc explores the shelters and how they have been integrated into everyday Israeli life. Not all of the stories connect, but the bulk of its run time highlights a farmer with a big personality and a quick wit who has converted the 1960s shelter on his property into a wine- and brandy-making operation.
For Unwell Mind (2020, 38 minutes), Danna Levy filmed her interactions with Yaeli, a slightly older, intellectually disabled woman that she cares for. Once a week, Danna takes Yaeli on excursions to places like petting zoos and bowling alleys, experiences that Yaeli greets with genuine curiosity and a huge grin. Yaeli’s favorite thing to do, though, is spend time with her boyfriend Shai. As Danna starts having relationship troubles with her boyfriend, it starts to dawn on Yaeli that Shai may not share the same powerful feelings that she does for him, and Danna finds herself having to teach Yaeli one of the most important life lessons of all. This short starts a little slow, but by the end it’s the one that will tug the most at the heartstrings.
The subject of the documentary short People Asleep and the Water as Well (2023, 19 minutes) is Lahcen, a Muslim man who works as gravedigger and caretaker at a historic Jewish cemetery in Marrakesh, Morocco. While many in town scoff at him for associating with Jews, the hardworking Lahcen seeks only to serve the community that has been so welcoming to him his whole life. Director Rotem Elkayam lets the scenery illustrate the culture clash between Moroccan and Jewish traditions and Lahcen as the steady, calm, unwavering bridge between the two.
The Israeli student shorts program kicks off the St. Louis Jewish Film Festival on Sunday, April 7th, at 4:00pm at B&B Theatres’ West Olive 10 in Creve Coeur (12657 Olive Blvd.). Pepchook and portions of Shelters are in English, while the remaining films have English subtitles. Tickets for the showcase are $20 and can be purchased here. | Jason Green
The St. Louis Jewish Film Festival runs from April 7-18. For more details, visit jccstl.com. Look for more coverage of films exhibiting at the festival in the coming days.
