SOUVENIRIM (SOUVENIRS)
Israel 2006 – Director: Shahar Cohen – Co-Director: Halil Efrat – Original language: English, Hebrew – Subtitles: English – Length: 75 min.
Exasperated by his filmmaker son's unemployment, 82-year-old Sleiman Cohen had an idea: "Why don't you make a film about my time in the Jewish Brigade in World War Two?" Uninspired, but hoping to appease his father, the 36-year-old Israeli film school graduate Shahar reluctantly attended a Jewish Brigade reunion and listened to his father's friends talk about training in Libya and fighting in Italy. His ears only pricked up when some of the veterans started talking about the "souvenirs" they had left behind with women in the Netherlands after the war.
Shahar had found the subject for his documentary. His father too might have left behind some of these souvenirs: Shahar might have half-brothers and sisters that he never even knew existed. This touching and amusing road movie charts the journey of Shahar and Sleiman from Israel, through Italy and Germany to Holland. Sleiman explores the glory days of the past, while Shahar secretly hopes to find long-lost siblings. It is a voyage full of twists and turns in which a close bond is formed between father and son and together they make some remarkable discoveries.
Awards: Second Prize – Audience Award – IDFA International Film Festival, 2006; Best Documentary Award – The Israeli Academy, 2006; First Prize – DocAviv International Film Festival, Israel , 2006; FIPRESCI-Award 2007
English/Original Title: Souvenirs. Writer: Shahar Cohen. Camera: Tomer Shani. Sound: Koby Izenman. Editing: Halil Efrat. Music: Shai Bachar. Production: Sirocco productions Ltd. Producer: Sharon Shamir. Co-Producers: Joodse Omroep. International Sales: Ruth Diskin Films Ltd.
