In order to make his documentary I ASKED HIM TO TAKE ME DANCING, filmmaker Hillel Rate carried his camera with him on first dates for six months. What ensues is a musing on what a person loses when they gain monogamous love.
Alongside being picked by Olha Raiter in our 2022 Lighthouse Selections, the film made the official selection for the Hot Docs festival in 2022.
Introduce yourself in a sentence or two
I graduated from the Ma’aleh Film School, where I directed four short films that screened in many film festivals around the world. Currently I am completing my MFA degree at Tel Aviv University, majoring in Documentary Cinema and working on my debut feature film.
How did you feel/react when you found out you had been selected for the T-Port Lighthouse?
I was very pleased and flattered to accept this news. I hope that the selection of my film will be a source of expose the film to decision makers in the film industry and film festivals circuit.
What was the inspiration behind your film?
For a long time I was occupied with this ‘Looking for love’ state of mind. In this film I wanted to capture this status from within. In the moment itself of the Looking and tell a small story of love and the heartache that goes along this search.
Tell us about how the filmmaking process went for you – did you enjoy it? and what did it teach you?
Exposing oneself is not an easy task, but I learned that in documentary filmmaking the revealing of the most intimate and delicate moments of human beings life is liberating and definitely worthwhile.
Having been through the process of making your short – what do you wish someone had told you in advance?
That when it comes to short films – forget all rules and just let yourself play with the form and content of the film.
What did you find (or still find) as especially lacking in the process of distributing and promoting your film? What was especially challenging?
Building the accurate strategy of the festival circuit.
What do feel young film talents lack the most today, after graduating from film school? Where are the gaps in the film industry?
It is true that there are many opportunities such as incubators that support filmmakers from their thesis film to the first feature film, but unfortunately in the territory in which I operate I think there is a lack of such incubators that offer artistic and financial support.
If you were to have infinite resources – walk us through your fantasy film project
A period film about World War 1, whose heroine is a female character who was ahead of her time and thus saved her six sisters and brothers.
What are your plans and dreams for the future?
To be able to tell my point of view on the world through diverse stories and cinematic expressions that are unique to me.
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