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Twenty years after first turning the camera at his father in Hugo (1989) – one of the first films to have explored the lives of children of Holocaust survivors – director Yair Lev returns to his paternal protagonist in the hopes of striking up a closer relationship, only the task at hand, this time, seems even more insurmountable than previously. Lev’s mother also reveals that the father has grown that much quieter of late – with old age having majorly impacted his mobility, not to mention making him that much more cantankerous.
The film presents two competing modes of masculinity, seeking to bridge the divide and communicate with one another: the stoic father, a former boxer, who wonders whether his sensitive and physically inferior son would have survived the Holocaust. In Lev’s voiceover narration, he recalls how he and his father would never hug and that the only thing they had in common was the Holocaust; with the camera being the sole reason they’ve managed to strike up something resembling a close relationship.
The film is bookended by white noise, symbolising all the damage and wear-and-tear inflicted on the original video copy of Hugo by the passage of time. It is also a potent reminder that Holocaust survivors’ video testimonials are also under existential threat. At a time when survivors’ numbers are steadily depleting, Lev seeks to preserve even a fraction more of his father on celluloid.
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For more information about the rights holders, please visit the relevant collection page, or contact the Jerusalem Cinematheque – Israeli Film Archive (RA) offices.
We have the utmost respect for all rights holders’ copyright and put great efforts to track down any and all intellectual property owners for the purpose of seeking and obtaining permission to use their materials featured on the website.
Any and all materials are used in accordance with clause 27a of the 2007 Copyright Act. If you believe that your rights as intellectual property and copyright owners of any material featured on this website have been compromised, then you may contact the Israeli Film Archive via email with a cease-and-desist notice, requesting that the material in alleged copyright infringement no longer be used. When contacting the archive, please state the merit to your copyright ownership claim, as well as your full name, email address, and telephone number, with a link to the relevant webpage.
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