"Kissufim" is a coming-of-age story of a group of Israeli soldiers volunteering on a kibbutz near Gaza in 1977, who after enduring a series of life-changing events, grapple with morality, sexual revelations, violence and love, culminating in the end of their childhood and the beginning of their adult lives.
Kissufim
Written and directed by: Keren Nechmad
(Israel 2024, 88 mins, Hebrew, with English subtitles)
Cast: Swell Ariel Or, Yehonatan Vilozny, Adam Gabay, Ofer Greeneberg, Mili Eshet, Paula Kroh, Erez Oved, Lir Katz, Tamir Ginsburg, Herzel Tobey
Synopsis:
Based on true events, and set between the tragic aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, and the 1977 visit by the Egyptian President to Israel, a group of 20-year-old Israelis, heads into the final stage of their army service where they volunteer on a Kibbutz, adjacent to the Gaza border. Grappling with love, lust, morality, and their evolving identities, they struggle to come to terms with what it means to be young Israelis in the late seventies.
Upon their arrival to the kibbutz, YOAV (20) a charismatic pacifist soldier, tries to manipulate his best friend RON (20) shy, hasty, sensitive, to stay away from ELI (20) a strong, independent woman, whom they’re both secretly in love with. The free-spirited group clash with the political tensions of the time when they meet ELDAR (24) a militant paratroop officer. MICHAELA (20) witty and sexually liberated, falls for Eldar’s charms and cheats on her sensitive boyfriend, UDI (20), with Eldar.
Yoav and Eli grow closer, causing Ron’s jealousy to mount when a group of German volunteers arrives, including ANKA (20), who befriends Eli and encourages her to explore her womanhood beyond Israeli conservatism. Ron confronts Yoav about Eli and the two best friends grow apart.
After witnessing the historic visit by Anwar El Sadat to Jerusalem, with the hopes it encompassed, the friends take a spontaneous trip to Gaza. On their way, a grenade is tossed into their vehicle and and the free-spirited, cheerful, and awfully optimistic part of their life shatters and comes to a close.
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