Souvenirs

Souvenirs

A Film by: Shahar Cohen & Halil Efrat
(Israel, 2006 ,75 Minutes, Color, Hebrew, English subtitles)

Winner of San Francisco Int'l 2007, Winner of DocAviv 2006, Israeli Academy Award for best documentary 2006, Second Audience Choice award of IDFA (Amsterdam) 2006.

Shahar is an unemployed filmmaker. His father, Sleiman, a strict 82 year old Yemenite, suggests that Shahar should make a film about the Jewish Brigade, in which he served during WW II.

Shahar becomes enthusiastic when he realizes that his father may have left some "souvenirs", by having impregnated two Dutch women. He decides to make the film hoping to find his father’s lost off - spring and maybe lessen some of the burden of his father’s criticism.

They set out together on the trail of the Jewish Brigade, beginning in Israel and continuing through Italy, Germany and ending in Holland with a surprising discovery. With humor and compassion the film exposes a complex father-son relationship and raises universal questions and thoughts about the tension between myths of bravery and reality and between memory and historical truth.


AWARDS, FESTIVALS & SCREENINGS
• San Francisco International Film Festival 2007, USA - 1st Prize
• SILVERDOCS - Feature Audience Award
• Israeli Academy Award - Best Documentary
• DocAviv, Israel - 1st Prize
• Thessaloniki International Documentary Film Festival, Greece - FIPRESCI Award
• Chicago International Documentary Festival - Grand Prix Special Jury Award
• International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) - 2nd Audience Choice Award
• Jewish Motifs Film Festival, Warsaw - Audience Choice Award
• Helsinki Documentary Film Festival (DocPoint), Finland
• True/False Documentary Film Festival, U.S.A
• MOMA (The Museum of Modern Art, N.Y) - Director's Fortnight
• EuroDoc Oslo, Norway
• Martha's Vineyard Independent Film Festival, U.S.A
• Molodist Kyiv International Film Festival, Ukraine
• HotDocs, Canada
• Munich IDFF, Germany
• Input Lugano Switzerland
• Krakow Film Festival, Poland
• Seoul Film Festival, Korea
• Chicago International Documentary Festival
• Israeli Film Festival, Los-Angeles
• Israel Film Festival, Miami & LA
• Israeli Film Festival, Paris
• Northeast Pennsylvania Jewish Film Festival
• San Jose Jewish Film Festival
• Boston Jewish film Festival
• Milwaukee Jewish Film Festival
• Fairfield County Jewish Film Festival
• VERZIO Documentary Film Festival, Budapest
• DOCSDF Festival of Mexico City
• Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, Czech
• Sao Paulo Jewish film Festival
• Cincinnati Jewish film Festival
• Jewish film Festival of Fairfield County
• San Francisco JCC
• Kimball Theater in Williamsburg
• JCC of Greater Washington
• Washington Jewish Film Festival
• UK Jewish Film Festival
• Southern States Jewish film Festival
• Contra Costa Jewish film Festival, USA
• Calgary Jewish Film Festival
• Desert Jewish Film Festival, USA
• Brooklyn Israeli Film Festival
• Tucson Jewish Film Festival
• Minneapolis Jewish Film Festival
• San Antonio Jewish Film Festival
• Long Beach Jewish Film Festival
• Durham Chappel Jewish Film Festival
• New Jersey Jewish Film Festival
• Sacramento Jewish Film Festival
• Sephardi Film Festival, NY
• Columbus Jewish Film Festival, USA
• Sarasota International Film Festival, USA
• Charlotte Jewish Film Festival, USA
• Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival, USA
• Burns Film Center, NY
• Rockland Jewish Film Festival, USA
• Maine Jewish Film Festival
• Bologna Italy Israeli FF
• San Joaquin Int'l FF
• Sid Jacobson JFF
• Jersey Shore Int'l FF
• Sonoma County Jewish Film Festival
• Allentown Jewish Film Series
• Chicago Israeli Film Festival
• Federation of Northern NJ
• Winnipeg Jewish Film Festival
• Ashland Jewish Community Center
• Rochester Jewish Film Festival
• Port Townsend, WA
• Yes Doco, Israel
• SVT, Sweden
• YLE, Finland
• NRK, Norway
• TV Catalunya, Spain
• Israeli FF, Rome 2015

• Dok Leipzig International Film Festival, Leipzig - Golden Dove Award for Best Documentary
• Shanghai Film Festival - The Magnolia Award for Best Asian Documentary
• One World – Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, Prague - Best Director Award
• International Women's Film Festival, Israel - Best Film Award
• Docaviv International Film Festival, Tel-Aviv - Promising Filmmaker Award & Best Photography Award
• HotDocs International Film Festival, Toronto - Official Competition
• Cannes International Film Festival
• International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) - Reflecting Images: Best of Fests
• Miami International FIlm Festival - Official Competition
• Washington Jewish Film Festival
• Sao Paulo Jewish Film Festival
• San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
• Boston Jewish Film Festival
• Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival
• JCC on the Palisades, USA
• Rome Israeli Film Festival
• NY Israeli Film Festival
• Tucson Jewish Film Festival
• Hartford Jewish Film Festival, USA
• Allentown Film Series, USA
• Staten Island Jewish Film Festival
• Portland Jewish Film Festival
• Brussles Jewish Film Festival
• Embassy of Israel in Tashkent 2014
• Embassy of Israel in Belarus 2014
 

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