Price : NIS15
The Israel Film Fund Collection

Lena

91 Minutes, 1981
Genre:
Feature

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Directed by: Eitan Green
Cast: Dov Glickman, Fira Kantor, Boris Svidensky, Ruth Geller
Production:Nissim Dayan, Michael Sharfstein
Photographer: Yachin Hirsh
Original Music: Itzhak Klepter
Language: Hebrew
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Subtitles: Hebrew

Eitan Green’s directorial debut is an understated drama set in the early 1980s about Soviet Jewish immigrants’ struggle to integrate and assimilate into Israeli society. The film follows the story of Lena, a new immigrant whose husband, Dr. Mischa Geller, is a political prisoner (aka Prisoner of Zion) who is serving a lengthy prison sentence for Zionist activity in the then-USSR. Whilst fighting for his release, Lena also dreams of taking up again her old profession from the Soviet Union as a women’s basketball coach. Meanwhile, she lives in a flatshare with her sister and her saxophone player husband. Lena starts an affair with Benny, her teacher at the Hebrew language school (aka Ulpan) she attends, who is in the middle of a divorce. When her husband, Dr. Geller, is unexpectedly released from prison and moves to Israel, all hopes and dreams are upended. Now, the couple must now reevaluate their relationship.
The film’s soundtrack was scored by veteran singer-songwriter Itzhak Klepter who even has a singing cameo in a scene shot at Tzavta – a well-known Tel Aviv music and theatre venue.

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