Won the Israeli Film Academy Award:
Best Art Direction: Avishay Avivi
Best Music: Adi Renart, Zuf Philosof
Best Picture: Dror Shaul,Sharon Shamir, Edgard Tenenbaum, Philippa Kowarsky.
Best Sound: Eli Yarkoni, Yoav Sarig
Won Berlin International Film Festival: Glass Bear
Miami Film Festival: Audience Award
Sundance Film Festival: Grand Jury Prize
A boy edging into his teens has to deal with his unstable mother and a commune full of eccentrics along with the typical dilemmas of growing up in this satirical comedy drama from Israel.
In 1974, Dvir (Tomer Steinhof) who will soon turn 13,lives with his mom Miri (Ronit Yudkevitch) at the Bet Gvurot Kibbutz, a progressive collective populated by people who take pride in their open-minded attitudes. However, they're not so easygoing when it comes to Miri, she's been sent to a mental hospital more than once, and her instability is more than most of the residents want to deal with, leaving Dvir to look after his mother with the help of his older brother Eyal (Pini Tabger).
Miri persuades her Swiss boyfriend Stephan (Henri Garcin) to join her at the kibbutz, even though he isn't Jewish, but he isn't welcomed by the other residents, and an unpleasant incident involving a neighbor's dog turns the couple into outcasts. In the midst of all this, Dvir is trying to prepare for his bar mitzvah, which at the kibbutz is combined with a severe regimen of survival training, he also gets a crash course in his ongoing maturity when he develops a crush on Maya (Danielle Kitzis), a cute girl his age.
Director: Dror Shaul
Writer: Dror Shaul
Cast:
Tomer Steinhof... Dvir
Ronit Yudkevitz... Miri
Shai Avivi... Avraham
Pini Tavger... Eyal
Gal Zaid... Shimshon
Henri Garcin... Stephan
Daniel Kitsis... Maya
Idit Tzur... Hanna
Joseph Korman... Zvi
Sharon Zuckerman... Etty
Rivka Neuman... Zila (as Rika Nueman)
Ami Weil... Uzi
Hila Ofer... Linda
Omer Berger... Ronen
Natan Sgan-Cohen... Avi