A Film by Noa Ben Hagai
(Israel, 2009, 75 Minutes, Color, Hebrew/Arabic, English subtitles)
"At 14, my grandmother's sister disappeared from her home in Israel.
Years later, she started sending my family letters with desperate pleas for contact, written from a refugee camp where she lived as an Arab.
My family chose to turn their backs.
I discovered her letters after my grandmother died and set out on an emotional quest to uncover the past and to reveal the story of my torn family."
Noa Ben Hagai, Director.
AWARDS & FESTIVALS
AmnestyInternational Human Rights Film Award - 12th Documentary Film Festival (Slovenia, March 2010)
Best Documentary Award – The International Women's Film Festival (Israel, September 2010)
Best Asian Documentary Award - Shanghai TV Festival -Magnolia Award for Best Asian Documentary (China, June 2010)
Awarded Second Place for Best Documentary – DocAviv, Documentary FF (Israel, May 2010)
Official Selection - Documentary Filmfestival Vera -Åland
(Finland, March 2010)
Official Selection - BELDOCS 2010 International Documentary Film Festival (Serbia, April 2010)
Official Selection - ETHNOCINECA - Ethnographic & Documentary Filmfest Vienna (Austria, May 2010)
Official Selection – Krakow Film Festival – Focus on Israel (Poland, May 2010)
Official Selection - Film Festival "One World Slovakia" 2010 - People in Peril Association, NGO (Slovakia, November 2010)
Official Selection – DOCUMENTARIST - Istanbul Documentary Days (Turkey, June 2010 )
Official Selection – Magnolia International Documentary Awards - MIDA Panorama showcase – STVF (China, June 2010)
Official Selection – UKJFF (UK, November 2010)
Official Selection - Boston Jewish Film Festival (USA, November 2010)
Official Selection - Sardinia International Ethnographic Film Festival (Italy, September 2010)
Of
ficial Selection - Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival (USA, December 2010)
Official Selection - Jewish Film Festival Amsterdam (The Netherlands, October 2010)
Official Selection - RIDM - Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal (Canada, November 2010)
Nominee - Best Documentary Film, Israeli Film Academy Awards 2010
In Competition - Feature-Length Documentary, IDFA (The Netherlands, November 2009)
In Competition - PLANETE DOC REVIEW FF (Poland, May 2010)
In Competition - One World (Prague) – Int. Human Rights Documentary FF - Right to Know Competition (Czech Republic, March 2010)
In Competition – MAKEDOX Film Festival (Macedonia, June 2010)
In Competition - Seattle International FF (USA, May 2010)
In Competition - 32nd International Mediterranean FF in Montpellie (France, October 2010)
TV SCREENINGS The Second Authority for T.V & Radio - Channel 2, Israel
QUOTES
"Blood Relationis a miracle that takes place on rare occasions in documentary film making. The magic and strength of the film resides in its removing the "conflict" and the occupation from the domain of the political-topical and placing it within the realms of the familial and the personal, which are familiar to every person whoever he may be. Compassionate and modest in its outlook, it presents an unexpected point of view and succeeds in offering its viewers new insights about reality and themselves. It is like gazing intimately into a mirror. An uncommon experience of looking at things as they are."Yael Gvirtz, Yediot Ahronot.
