To See If I'm Smiling
A film by Tamar Yarom
Six Israeli women give a personal account about their life in the Israeli Army, in the Occupied Territories. A female point of view on the drama of an unending war, on the moral challenges the soldiers faced at the encounter with the Palestinian population. The women look back critically at the way they handled the power that was placed in their hands at the young age of eighteen. Questions that were not dealt with during the service are raised today with great pain.
“Like a short, sharp blow to the solar plexus, Tamar Yarom's hour long docu stuns with raw, unfiltered emotion as six Israeli women recount the horrors they saw and perpetrated during their obligatory military service in the Occupied Territories. Behind its almost unbearable directness and unmistakable authenticity, the brilliantly edited docu is assembled with fugue-like precision, counterpointing trauma-laden memories with generic footage of an ongoing Palestinian surreality, the women's distinctive voices interweaving in complex harmonies.” — Ronnie Scheib, Variety
Awards:
· The Silver Wolf Award – IDFA International Documentary Film Festival, The Netherlands, 2007
· The Audience Award - IDFA International Documentary Festival, The Netherlands, 2007
· Best Documentary Award – Haifa International Film Festival, Israel, 2007
· Jacek Kuron Award for Best Short Documentary – Watch Docs Int'l Film Festival, Poland, 2008
· Best Documentary Award – Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival, France, 2008
· Special Jury Award - Sarasota Film Festival, Florida, USA, 2008
· Special Jury Award - Hot Docs International Documentary Festival, Toronto, Canada, 2008
· First Prize "The Magic Hour" Award - Planete Doc Review, Poland 2008
· Best Feature Documentary - Dokufest, Kosovo, 2008
· Best Documentary – The Annual Israeli Documentary Forum Awards, 2008
Festival Screenings:
· Zagreb Jewish Film Festival, Croatia, 2011
· Culturescapes Showcase, Switzerland, 2011
· Transylvania Int'l Film Festival, 2010
· Perspektive – Int'l Human Rights Film Festival, Neurnberg, Germany, 2009
· South Caucasus Documentary Film Festival of Peace and Human Rights, 2009
· Antiracist Filmdays, Malmo, Sweden, 2009
· Sao Paulo Israeli Film Festival, Brazil, 2009
· Olomouck Documentary Film Festival, Czech Republic, 2009
· African, Asian and Latin American Int'l Film Festival, Italy, 2009
· One World Human Rights Film Festival, Romania, 2009
· The Flying Broom Int'l Women Film Festival, Turkey, 2009
· Pitigliani Kolono'a Film Festival, Italy, 2008
· Watch Docs Int'l Human Rights Film Festival, Warsaw, Poland, 2008
· Parma University – Human Rights Conference, Italy, 2008
· Human Rights Conference, Lulea, Sweden, 2008
· Barcelona Human Rights Film Festival, Spain, 2008
· Verzio International Human Rights Film Festival, Hungary, 2008
· Israeli Film Festival in Rome, Italy, 2008
· IDFA, International Documentary Festival Amsterdam, 2007
· HotDocs Int'l Doc Festival, Canada, 2008
· FICCO – Cinemex Int'l Film Festival, Mexico, 2008
· ZagrebDox Int'l Doc Film Festival, Croatia, 2008
· One World Film Festival, Prague, Czech Republic, 2008
· KMD Int'l Film Festival, Belgrade, Serbia, 2008
· Full Frame, North Carolina Int'l Film Festival, USA, 2008
· San Francisco Int'l Film Festival, USA, 2008
· Sarasota Int'l Film Festival, USA, 2008
· Documenta Madrid, Spain, 2008
· TekFestival, Rome, Italy, 2008
· nput TV – Int'l TV Conference, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2008
· Planete Doc Film Festival, Poland, 2008
· Edinburgh Int'l Film Festival, UK, 2008
· Guth Gafa Doc Film Festival, Donegal, Ireland, 2008
· Sydney Int'l Film Festival, Australia, 2008
· Melbourne Int'l Film Festival, Australia, 2008
· Mediterranean Film Festival, Bosnia & Herzegovina, 2008
· Helsinki Int'l Film Festival, Finland, 2008
· Human Rights Watch USA & UK, 2008
· Educational Int'l Film Festival, Korea, 2008
· Nordisk Panorama Film Festival, Malmo, Sweden, 2008
· VIENNALE Vienna International Film Festival, Austria, 2008
· MOVE IT Film Festival, Dresden, Germany, 2008
· Taiwan International Documentary Festival, Taiwan, 2008
· UK Jewish Film Festival, UK, 2008
· Haifa Int'l Film Festival, Israel, 2007
Libraries:
Ninety university, college and public libraries in the USA & Canada, including the following: Brandeis, Sacramento, Carleton, Colby, Columbia NY, Dickenson, Duke,, Emory, George Mason, Georgetown, Gettysburg, Illinois, Indiana, Minnisota, New-York, Ohio, Purdue, Stanford, Buffalo, Seattle, Syracuse, Towson, Tulone, Naval Academy, Dayton, Delaware, Denver, Kentucky, Louisville, Maryland, Miami, Michigan, Nevada, North texas, San Diego, Virginia, Washington,western Carolina, Yale, Colgate, Harvard, Keene, Tennessee, York (Toronto) , McGill, Queens, Ottawa.
Reccomondations:
"The Special Jury Prize is given to a film that makes all of us face the question: could this be me? Would I behave this way? The director and protagonists share memories of a different and painful existence in a way that touches and challenges us and is relevant everywhere in the world." — Jury Statement, Hot Docs- Hot Docs, Toronto, Canada 2008
"A brave and powerful testimony to the corrosive effect of power." — Jury Statement, IDFA –International DocumentaryFilm Festival, The Netherlands, 2007
About the Film
Documentary, 59 Min., 2007, DVD/BETA, Color
Written, Directed & Produced: Tamar Yarom
Edited: Eyal Or
Photography: Itamar Mandes- Flor , Daniel Gal, Shiri Bar-On
World Sales: First Hand Films
Language: Hebrew with English subtitles / French subtitles
Sponsored by: Channel 8-Israel & The Makor Foundation for Israeli Cinema & TV
Screenings
To arrange for a public screening, contact Nahum Laufer below.
Contact
For more information please contact Nahum Laufer.
Email: laufern@netvision.net.il
Fax: 972-3-5291726
Mail: Shlomo Hamelech 93 #5, Tel-Aviv 6451228
$350 DVD and streaming rights with 3 year license from institution's own internal server.
$100 Streaming rights for institutions with 3 year license from institution's own internal server that already purchased the DVD with Public Screening rights.
$175 Streaming rights for institutions with 3 year license from institution's own internal server that already purchased the DVD with only Library use.
