3-10 Sep ‘23
 
Rus

The Offspring (2018)

The Offspring
12+
  • Country:

    Israel

  • Duration:

    19 min

  • Program:

    Competition, 5th MJFF

  • Type:

    Narrative, Short

  • Genre:

    comedy

  • Director:

    Shirly Sasson-Ezer, Dana Keidar-Levin

  • Producer:

    Dana Keidar-Levin, Shirly Sasson-Ezer

  • Cast:

    Hefsigul Usherova-Shmuelova, Rotem Zissman-Cohen, Dover Koshashvili

About film

A 32-year-old woman from an Israeli Sephardic community is childless but under constant pressure from her relatives demanding offsprings. She and her grandmother accidentally find themselves at the circumcision of a little child, and there someone tells her about a tradition quite strange to the outsiders: if a woman who cannot get pregnant eats the foreskin of a baby, life will take a turn for the better. 

Israeli director Shirley Sasson-Ezer shows intergenerational relationships that are full of love and are devoid of aggression and yet are still complicated by the insurmountable obstacles of differences in worldviews.

Rewards and nominations

  • Toronto Jewish Film Festival 2019 - Official Selection
  • ClujShorts International Short Film Festival 2019 - Best Script

Director

Shirly Sasson-Ezer, Dana Keidar-Levin
Shirly Sasson-Ezer was born in Tel Aviv. She is a graduate of the Film Department of Tel Aviv University. Sasson-Ezer has worked as a Researcher and a Content Editor of documentary and reality genre for television in Israel. She also works as a Journalist, Writer and an Editor and teaches Creative Writing at the Tel Aviv University’s Department of Communication. Sasson-Ezer is currently writing a new feacher film The Laundromat as well as a TV series for kids The Red Mailbox. Offspring is her first film. Dana Keidar-Levin was born in Jerusalem. She is a graduate of the Sam Spiegel Film & TV School in Jerusalem. In 2007 she directed the short film Insights, which received a first prize at The Jewish Film Festival in Jerusalem, the Young Audience Award at the Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival in 2008 and participated in numerous festivals around the world. In 2011 she directed the short film Stitches, which received Jerusalem Foundation Prize and won prizes in festivals in Hong Kong and India and the Prize for Editing at Sehsuchte Festival in Germany.

Trailer

Director

Shirly Sasson-Ezer, Dana Keidar-Levin
Shirly Sasson-Ezer was born in Tel Aviv. She is a graduate of the Film Department of Tel Aviv University. Sasson-Ezer has worked as a Researcher and a Content Editor of documentary and reality genre for television in Israel. She also works as a Journalist, Writer and an Editor and teaches Creative Writing at the Tel Aviv University’s Department of Communication. Sasson-Ezer is currently writing a new feacher film The Laundromat as well as a TV series for kids The Red Mailbox. Offspring is her first film. Dana Keidar-Levin was born in Jerusalem. She is a graduate of the Sam Spiegel Film & TV School in Jerusalem. In 2007 she directed the short film Insights, which received a first prize at The Jewish Film Festival in Jerusalem, the Young Audience Award at the Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival in 2008 and participated in numerous festivals around the world. In 2011 she directed the short film Stitches, which received Jerusalem Foundation Prize and won prizes in festivals in Hong Kong and India and the Prize for Editing at Sehsuchte Festival in Germany.