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Last night of the Israeli high-school Heritage Tour in Poland. A group of students are working on a plan. When it spins beyond control the violent nature of their present lives erupts.

synopsis

For the two high-school couples forming the elite group of their class, the last night of their mandatory Heritage Tour in Poland is the final chance to ‘set things right’ with the class reject, Elijah, before flying back home to finish their studies and enlist to active military service. When Michal seduces Elijah to her room after lights out, he is unprepared for what is waiting for him there. But the private reeducation crash course the group is executing - in which brutality, sexuality and smartphones are mixed up in a series of ‘trust’ and grim intimidation games - quickly goes completely out of hand. While the group members try to settle the score with Elijah - who didn’t cooperate with the ‘togetherness’ mindset of the tour - their aggressive unity is fracturing in face of his unexpected resistance. Failing to fall for the victim’s role, Elijah is causing the group members to confront their own hidden agendas and inner doubts. As Michal is starting to have a change of heart, she finds herself isolated into greater danger. Through the accelerating extremities of this escalating night, she has to decide whether to save herself, Elijah or the group. Because the only thing that might save the group now from disintegration is forcing Elijah to confess that he is not just a mere victim, but was justifiably chosen for his transgressions against them. Cross-haired between their conflicting relationships and deflected desires, Elijah has to find a way to survive this severe initiation ceremony throughout the night.

Director’statement

In this condensed and compact cinematic challenge, I deal directly with the bases of the militant state of mind. The collective trauma upon which contemporary societies, such as the Israeli one, are founded and formed, is creating a binary perspective containing only victims and perpetrators, especially among the younger generation. The Heritage Tour - an integral part of the Israeli education system - is an extreme exploration ground for this theme. The tour, like the military draft it precedes, is an initiation ceremony that teenagers are demanded to pass in order to be accepted openly to society as adults. It acts as an essential missing link for understanding the Middle Eastern conflict. It is rather impossible to conduct nowadays any productive discussion on the condition of occupation in Palestine without relating to Auschwitz. For deeply inflicted societies, there is no clear separation between past, future and present. The former constantly exists within the latter. Therefore those teenagers who are schooled constantly to fear the future because of catastrophic collective history are embodying that missing link which perpetrates the situation of occupation in the solidified state of mind. The events this film is based upon are rooted deep in my autobiography. It all happened in my high school, in my class, with the people I studied with. Although I was not participating in that tour, I remember what happened when they returned. I remember the justifications and excuses - and after the original shock, the understanding and acceptance by teachers, parents and students alike. I dropped out from that high school soon afterwards. I decided to dedicate my time to finding ways to deal with such deep inherited cultural conflicts. Living and working in Europe in the last couple of years, I learned that this film is the way to successfully recreate this essential missing link between the painful past and the impenetrable political present, while projecting a possibility of hope for the future.

TFL PROGRAMME:
FeatureLab 2015
Discover more details here:
Download
PDF
TFL Catalogue 2015
TFL AWARDS:

TFL Production Award (€ 50,000)

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