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Israel, 2008 | Fiction, 81 min., 76 min
Director: Avi Levi
Producers: Avi Levi, Efrat Ben Ya`akov
Sponsors: Gesher Multicultural Film Fund, Snunit Fund- The Second Authority for Television and Radio, The America-Israel Foundation |
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24 hours in the lives of eleven people living in Sderot and Gaza, whose fates have been bound together by a day in Israel.
Boaz, an army officer is longing for a wife and family. Miriam, his mother, is half blind, a powerful woman dealing with the loss of her husband. Miriam is finding it difficult to forgive Shalom, the postman who has left her to deal with his traumatic memory of a road accident he was involved in. Yuval, Boaz’s younger brother, wants to succeed in the music world as his way out of the Shderot circle of life. Keren, a single mom, is raising her nine year old daughter Aviv and wants to find a partner, a father for Aviv. Hassan is a former Palestinian journalist photographer from Gaza. He was forced to cooperate with the IDF so that he could save Rallia his daughter and treat her for her illness. Nadra is Hassan’s wife, she keeps in close touch with Hassan’s sister, Annan, who is married to Asraf a wanted terrorist from Gaza.
This culturally heterogeneous assortment of characters comes to terms with issues of forgiveness; longing; the fear of loneliness; the power of faith and feelings of powerlessness. This narrative film attempts to portray a reality in which forgiveness is difficult, conflict is pervasive, and the need for communication between people is paramount.
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Awards:
Production and Soundtrack design award, Cinema South Festival, Sderot, Israel
Festivals:
Cinema South Festival, Sderot 208
Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival, 2008
Cinema Tout Ecran, Geneve Select Market, 2008
Washington Jewish Film Festival, 2009
Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival, 2009
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Script: Avi Levi
Co-Production Company: Avi Levi
Camera: Ron Mena
Editor: Efrat Ben Ya`akov
Original Music: Yonatan Azar
Cast: Merav Osofsky (Keren), Jamil Huri (Hasan), Oren Habut (Boaz), Halima Abu Agva (Hanan), Shmil Ben Ari (Shalom), Shifra Milshtein (Miriam), Ido Bason (Yuval), Ayat Ayuti (Nadra), Raz Bomfeld (Aviv), Miryam Abu Agava (Ralia)
Original Language: Hebrew, Arabic, Persian, Moroccan
Subtitles: Hebrew, English
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The judges’ reasons for prizes Production award:
"18 KM is a sweeping movie that tells the story of a number of characters living in Sderot. This is a movie that deals almost brutally with Israeli reality. The director contrives to keep control over a wide diversity of stories and voices and to build, out of them all, a pluralistic human tapestry and to sweep the viewer surprisingly and unexpectedly toward the very deepest, almost shocking, emotional identification. A pretentious, courageous and highly estimable production!”
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