Director: David Kreiner \ Writer: Shlomi Elkabetz, Michal Vinik and David Kreiner\ Producer: Avi Bohbot\ Languages: French, English, Hebrew, Arabic\ Production Status: In Production and Fund Raising
Following professional and familial crisis filmmaker Yaron Barlev moves from Tel Aviv to the city of Sderot to teach high school students. The encounter between Yaron and his students inspires hope among them but is shattered upon the arrival of The Gaza War.
For the past twelve years, Sderot has been the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The endless barrage of Qassam missiles falling upon Sderot intensifies feelings of helplessness, suffocation, and frustration. A city that once had a warm sense of community is now a death trap of despair. City residents are forced to work in dwindling factories and school children grow up in a shadow of fear. Some go outside in defiance of the danger while others stay at home, yet all of them dream of leaving.
Amalia Elbaz, the principle, asks Yaron to involve his students in “The Zionist Dream”, a short film competition. His troubled students have absolutely no desire to participate in anything patriotic. Yaron is accidentally exposed to real life in Sderot as well as his students’ potential and he assigns them to film their lives.
Ohad’s father, a policeman, disappeared two years ago and has abandoned him and his mother Yaffa, a popular hair dresser. Yossi, his father’s partner in the police force, spends a lot of time with Yaffa to help her cope and ends up falling in love with her. After winning Ohad’s approval, Yossi finally gets together with Yaffa and they all move on.
Libi is a cynical Caucasian girl who is rebellious against her traditional parents who want to marry her off in order to prevent her from going into the army. Music is her only escape, she desperately dreams of being a singer. She films her older sister, Caro, and her turbulent relationship with her fiancé, Herzel Kenizo, who has just gambled away their wedding money.
Erez, the “Fellini” of the class, focuses on writing a comedic script entitled, “The Road to Basel”. Starring Herzl, Caro’s fiancé, it describes the journey of Theodore Herzl, Israel’s founder, to the World Zionist Congress accompanied by a Bedouin. Their story provides comic relief as well as background and perspective to the present political situation.
Tal struggles with his hidden homosexuality while his abusive father is in a coma after being hit by a missile. Doctors try to persuade Etti, Tal’s grieving mother, to donate his father’s organs, while Tal tries to convince her to sell them to get out of Sderot.
When Amalia, the mayor, and potential school sponsors see Tal’s footage in class, they are shocked and appalled. She demands that they shoot more appropriate material for the competition but the students are reluctant to give up their films that bear the truth. They present Erez’s script to Amalia and receive her approval while they discreetly continue to work on their own projects at Yaron’s home.
A massive attack draws international media to the city and Yaron runs into his old friend, a producer who agrees to show the students’ videos on primetime television. The students and their families congregate at Yaron’s apartment to watch the premiere which is interrupted by news coverage of an approaching war and the students are devastated. Shortly after, Yaron is offered a job in Tel Aviv and leaves the city. Once again, the students of Sderot are left behind with nothing but each other and the sound of sirens.
