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I chose to write my graduating film on the subject of young Holocaust survivors because this period has always interested me, and since I am a granddaughter of Holocaust survivors it has also always been close to my heart. My grandfather left behind the handwritten story of his survival - his childhood in a town in Poland, his survival in the war, his joining the underground and then - the IDF. The story of his parents and siblings will always be engraved in my mind. They hid in an underground bunker, but the baby cried, and they were found, and were taken to the forest, where they were killed in the shooting pits. Eliav's story is just an example of what happened to many of our people - the young people who survived the Holocaust suffered from concentration camp syndrome (nightmares, post trauma, emotional numbness, sanctification of suffering). But despite the fact that they were the last remnant of their families, they chose to join the underground to take an active part in the establishment of the state of Israel. The challenge in recreating the period revolved around the word ‘balance’-- between what can really be achieved in a student film, versus what really was. What the audience can understand, and what needs to be explained. What will look too modern, and how can it all look aesthetically beautiful. It was important to me to give the film an atmosphere of the period, but I did not want the characters to speak in old and theatrical Hebrew. Every such decision came after much research, and consultation with museums and books. Another technical challenge we faced was Covid. We filmed the movie while in lockdown. We had rehearsals and location scouts before there was an option to be vaccinated. Staff members went into quarantine, and we had to figure out alternatives. All preparations were made through Zoom, including most of the rehearsals and auditions.
Country: Israel
T-Port Partner: Maaleh Film School
Avital Simckes emigrated to Israel at the age of 8 from Kansas, USA, and studied music for 16 years. In the IDF she served as a non-commissioned education officer at a tactical training center and a combat hummer operations unit. In 2023 Avital graduated the four-year, full-time program at Maaleh Film School, where she specialized in directing, sound, photography and editing. "Remnant" is her graduating film. Today she works as an editor and cinematographer for private clients, and is currently working on the pre-production of her first feature.
In Palestine in 1946, a young Jewish Holocaust survivor who has taken a new identity...
