T-Port Blog

Doron Neeman is still in the early part of his career and is still studying at film school – this hasn’t stopped the student film that he directed being picked up by Guest curator Kasia Karwan as part of the T-Port Lighthouse Selections 2025. 

We chatted to the actor-turned-filmmaker about creating harmony in life as well as on the film set, and how Martin Scorsese and Marilyn Monroe influenced his film FORBIDDEN HOLINESS. 

Hi Doron! Could you introduce yourself?

Hi, my name is Doron, and I live in Jerusalem, Israel. I started out as an actor, and after a play I wrote was accepted and won first place at a festival in Tel Aviv, I decided to study film. 

This film is actually one I directed in my first year of studies (it was produced and directed independently, outside of the school framework, with funding and support from the Jerusalem Film Fund).

If you could watch one film forever on a loop – what would it be?

“Joker”, without a doubt.

How many films have you made before this one, and what did each new film teach you?

Before this film, I directed a short 5-minute film even before I started studying cinema. I think that with each film, I learn two things:

1. A film is a collaborative creation, and the more harmony and space there is for everyone behind the scenes, the better and more complete the final piece will be.
2. The more films you watch from different genres and countries, the more references and creative ideas you have stored in your mind—things you can draw from to make your next film even more interesting and original. For example, in my film, there are references I took both from the legendary Marilyn Monroe and from Scorsese’s Babylon.

Do you affiliate yourself with any cinematic or artistic movements, or see yourself as fitting in with any? If so, could you tell us about this?

I mentioned this in my previous answer, but I’ll expand a bit. There’s something about classic cinema that really draws me in. And honestly? A great film is often built on the foundations of old cinema (case in point: “Joker”). 

I try to learn from filmmakers all over the world, so I don’t associate myself with any one specific style of cinema. That being said—I’ll probably always write drama, because every time I try to add funny lines to my script, either the script editor, the actors, or the film editor ends up cutting them out. I guess I’m only funny to myself!

How did you first start working on this film? What was the process like and what first sparked the idea to make it?

Oh wow! I originally wrote this script as a play back in 2016, around the time Donald Trump was running for office. I remember one press conference where Trump must have said something that upset a journalist, and the journalist responded: “A person should be responsible not only for what comes out of their mouth, but also for whose ears their words fall upon!”

At that exact time, I was leaving the Orthodox community I had grown up in. In one of the last lessons I attended, the rabbi said that we should strive to be ascetic and holy, like Moses. And I found myself wondering—whose ears did his words fall upon? That’s where the idea for the script was born.

What would you like people to take away from your film?

To be a human being first and foremost, even before being a devoted follower of God. And also to understand that sometimes, facing important people can be incredibly difficult—because even if they are only important in their own eyes and in the eyes of a few who crowned them, it can still feel like a lost battle from the start. But our victory lies in the fact that we fight.

Once you had the idea – how did you go about the production process?

As I mentioned, I originally wrote it as a play. When I decided to turn it into a screenplay, I went wild with locations, characters, scenes, and extras. But once I realized we were working with a limited budget, I focused on the film’s logline and made sure it was present in every scene. Anything unnecessary was cut out.

What were the biggest challenges you encountered during making your film?

There’s the alley scene with the red light – I saw that scene in a movie with Marilyn Monroe at a train station with a red backlight. When we did the location scout with the director, I saw an alley from a dream, and I really wanted to shoot there. 

The day before the shoot, the neighbors changed their minds and refused to let us film there. The producer and assistant director didn’t know how to tell me, and when they did, I wasn’t willing to back down. There were many hours of persuasion from their side, until eventually, I reluctantly agreed. In the end, I’m really happy with how it turned out, because the scene ended up being even more beautiful than I had imagined.

Tell us about the sound choices in your film – what type of score did you use and why? What other types of sounds did you use (if any)?

The cinematographer of the film is my good friend, Nati Avital, and since then, we’ve worked together on five more projects. We know each other so well that we don’t even need to exchange a word on set.

Lir, the lead actress, was simply wonderful—she gave her all to the role, and we’ve stayed in touch, of course. Yigal, the actor who played the rabbi, is a theater actor in Israel, and I was actually embarrassed to ask him to be in my film. He read the script, we set up a meeting, and he asked me to do rehearsals and asked a lot of questions about the character. I really enjoyed working with him; he’s a person of exceptional caliber.

Tell us about the visual choices in your film. What were your main goals and techniques in creating the visual style of your film?

Several cinematic greats inspire me, one being Martin Scorsese. So, for the inciting event where Shahar tells Reut he’s decided to live in celibacy, I shot it in a single take, inspired by a scene in Babylon, where a character is tragically shot in a single take that captures the moment of physical death. 

I chose to capture Reut’s spiritual and tragic death in a similar way, shooting from the shoulder to convey the protagonist’s crumbling world. We started the film with static shots to show Reut and Shahar’s routine, but the inciting event is shot from the shoulder to reflect her world’s upheaval. 

The film’s world was filmed somewhat in a noir style, resonating with the community’s traditional world. For Shahar, following his rabbi with blind faith, Reut becomes a kind of “femme fatale” and sexual temptation. 

I developed the visual storytelling with my talented cinematographer, Nati Avital, who’s shot all four of my films. With a cinematographer you communicate with almost without words, that’s a sure path to creating well-honed work.

What would you do differently if you could go back and do it again?

Nothing.

Did you have a specific strategy for promoting your film? If so, please tell us about it.

In the meantime, I wrote it as an eight-episode series, so I’m submitting the short film to as many festivals as possible to reach as many audiences around the world. It’s a privilege that filmmakers have – to sit on the couch at home and tell their story to people around the world.

What did you find (or still find) as especially lacking in the process of distributing and promoting your film? What was especially challenging?

I don’t have social media or money, two things that are essential in our world, especially for promoting and marketing a film and yourself.

What do feel young film talents lack the most today, after graduating from film school? Where are the gaps in the film industry?

I’ve had many conversations with young filmmakers about their scripts, and from the start, many write with the goal of getting their film into festivals because they see pictures of directors on the red carpet, and it seems cool. But the most important thing is missing from the story: writing a universal tale about people. Once that’s in the story, everything else will fall into place naturally.

What are your expectations from T-Port? Did T-Port already help your film in any way?

I think that the fact that Kasia chose my film is already a huge help, because once you know that someone who has done a thing or two in her life appreciates your work, it automatically gives you the strength to prepare and continue creating on your own.

If you were to have infinite resources – walk us through your fantasy film project

I have a short film I directed called “The Tragedy of The Lady,” which is actually available on your platform. When I pitched it as a script to producers, they told me I was trying to make Hollywood in Israel and that I should give up! But since the film is on your platform, I guess I didn’t give up. What’s more, I wrote it as a feature called “All About Hanna,” and that’s my next goal and dream – to tell the story of an actress who wants the coveted role of Lady Macbeth.

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