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From The Press
Jerusalem Post,
Entertainment Board, Monday, November 24
A WEAVE OF FAMILY AND HISTORY
Filmmaker/historian Yael Katzir and her son film the shiva mourning
period for her mother in real time.
Eight-and-a-half-years later, Katzir felt emotionally able to do edit
the intensely personal documentary, Shiva for my Mother.
Her mother, Ziona, a sabra scion of the famous Shertok (Sharett) family,
was as fiercely engaged to the national cause as her Russian Zionist
pioneer family, while Katzir's father was a refined, typically yekke
doctor from Germany. As she sits with her siblings, judging their mother
as they discuss their upbringing, Katzir finds her own mothering
challenged by her camera wielding son. The third generation Katzir has
since gone to acclaim for his films both here and in the US
(Today You are a Fountain Pen).
WOMAN - ISRAEL WEEKLY MAGAZINE
(04-19-04)
"Shivah for my Mother" Seven Days of Mourning, A Film by: Yael Katzir
Private and collective requiem for a period
By Bruria Avidan-Barir
"Shiva for my Mother", a film by Dr. Yael Katzir is a personal film
about her mother and is also about all of our mothers. It is a private
and collective requiem for a period.
Yael's father died years ago, and when her mother died she asked
permission of her brother and sister to film the "Shivah". Her son, Dan,
filmed 80 hours, and Yael needed several years before she could
edit it.
Her father escaped from Berlin in 1933 and in then, Palestine-Israel, he
fell in love with the Native –Sabra Ziona, whom he nicknamed
"My Bedouine"
As the "Shiva" goes on, skeletons come out of the closet. The children
are angry because none of Yael's father's friends came to console.
Yael goes to visit an old friend of her father's who tells her "Your
father loved your mother because she was wild, but I will not tell you
your father's secrets"
As the camera follows the mourners, Dan announces that he plans to stay
at his grandmother's apartment for a year and sleep in her bed. His
sister is shocked to hear that.
Yael says that "grandmother did not love us enough" and asks her son "do
you think I loved you enough?" Dan replies "You taught me to be a
soldier, and if you think that you are different I can tell you that you are
as tough as your mother…. His sister holds the same opinion. This is
painful for Yael.
Yael confesses that she gave her mother a hug just before her mother
died, a hug she herself had always longed for.
Watching the film, tears filled my eyes when Yael finds a letter her
mother never sent to her saying "My little daughter, How much do I want
to hug you and sit you on my lap, give you the warmth of my heart, but
you are tough…."
PRODUCTION POST
Shiva for My Mother Won Judges Award at Krakow Festival
Yael Katzir's Film Shiva for my Mother won the Judges Award at The
Krakow Short Film Festival .1300 movies were submitted to the festival
on its 44th year, out of which 150 where selected to be screened.
The movie will also participate in the biggest international film
festival in Asia which take place in Shanghai, China this month, and
later at the Jewish Festival in Berlin. The film documents the 'Shiva'
(which are the first seven days of mourning after someone's death) in
real time and follows the director who is sitting 'Shiva' on her mother.
The mourning goes through sharp changes as the seven days of mourning
pass. At first one finds consol in the nostalgic stories that are well
known and than criticism arises and anger gets released.
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