Strangers [2007]

Love and desire don’t always line up neatly with one’s politics or religion. But one thing is for sure: when you want someone so badly it aches, you can kiss goodbye all that early training about finding a suitable mate. When handsome Eyal (Liron Levo) and knockout Rana (Lubna Azabel) are seated across from each other on the subway in Berlin, their backpacks are mixed up, leading to a chance meeting. He’s Israeli and she’s Palestinian, but they both came to Berlin for the World Cup and are immediately swept up in the dual frenzies of soccer mania and desire. Something about being out of the Middle East allows them to transcend the deep gap between Israelis and Palestinians. After the tealights have burned out in their rented Berlin love nest, they realize that the fact that she is from Ramallah and he is from the north of Israel means they have different views of the world, especially in 2006 during the Israel-Lebanon war. Tensions arise—can they work them out? What will their parents say? Why is she fleeing to Paris? Erez Tadmor and Guy Nattiv, two extremely talented Israeli directors, have created a crisply written, top-notch love story that crosses international borders and explores the boundaries of nationality, culture and the heart. Tadmor and Nattiv adopted a risky and fascinating shooting style, sketching out scenes but asking their talented cast essentially to improvise the script on location. The edge and energy generated are palpable. The premise of the film is expanded from the directors’ short film Strangers (SFJFF 2004), which won best short at the Sundance Film Festival. Their next short, Offside (2006), also won numerous awards. This is their first feature.

Tadmor & Guy Nattiv are 2 young Writers Directors from Tel-aviv Israel. Graduated together from "Camera Obscurs Film School Tel-Aviv". They recently Made "Strangers" A 7 minutes drama for 20th century Fox Serachlight. "Strangers" was accepted to the short competition at Sundance f.f 2004 and to Berlin film festival panorama competition. From the "Guardian" review: "mesmerising short fiction.Crackling with tension, conveyed through deft cutting and beautifully smeary, subterranean close-ups, this mini-thriller eschews dialogue in favour of eloquent, heart-thumping images. Worth the price of admission all on its own, frankly" They just finished writing their first personal feature script "The son of god". A story about a 78 y.o holocoast surviver that goes on a "roots journey" with his religiouse jewish son to snowy Poland to search after a magician . Their 2 short movies Moosh & Mabul won over then 40 international film festivals awards including : Berlin Film Festival - "Crystal Bear" award ,"World fest" in Houston , Palm springs , Mexico, Dawson City in Canada , Durango Colorado , Santiago de Chile and many more. From 2008 Festival:Director, Israel Biography: Erez Tadmor & Guy Nattiv are two young Writers Directors from Tel-Aviv, Israel. They graduated together from "Camera Obscurs Film School Tel –Aviv". They recently Made "Strangers" A 7 minutes drama for 20th century Fox Serachlight. "Strangers" was accepted to the short competition at Sundance film festival 2004 and won for best short. It also went to the Berlin film festival panorama competition. Another of their shorts, "Offside" won for best short film in the Manhattan international short film festival in 2006. They just finished writing their personal feature script The Son of God. It is a story about a 78 V.O Holocaust survivor that goes on a "roots journey" with his religious Jewish son to snowy Poland to search for a magician. Their two short movies Moosh & Mabul won over then 40 international film festivals awards including: Berlin Film Festival – “Crystal Bear”award ,“World fest” in Houston, Palm springs , Mexico, Dawson City in Canada , Durango Colorado , Santiago de Chile and many more . Filmography: Moosh (2001)(short film) The Little Prince (2001) (short documentary) Mabul (2002) (short film) Strangers (2003) (short film) All well by me (2005) (feature documentary) Offside (2006) (short film) Strangers (2007) (feature film), Tadmor & Guy Nattiv are 2 young Writers Directors from Tel-aviv Israel. Graduated together from "Camera Obscurs Film School Tel-Aviv". They recently Made "Strangers" A 7 minutes drama for 20th century Fox Serachlight. "Strangers" was accepted to the short competition at Sundance f.f 2004 and to Berlin film festival panorama competition. From the "Guardian" review: "mesmerising short fiction.Crackling with tension, conveyed through deft cutting and beautifully smeary, subterranean close-ups, this mini-thriller eschews dialogue in favour of eloquent, heart-thumping images. Worth the price of admission all on its own, frankly" They just finished writing their first personal feature script "The son of god". A story about a 78 y.o holocoast surviver that goes on a "roots journey" with his religiouse jewish son to snowy Poland to search after a magician . Their 2 short movies Moosh & Mabul won over then 40 international film festivals awards including : Berlin Film Festival - "Crystal Bear" award ,"World fest" in Houston , Palm springs , Mexico, Dawson City in Canada , Durango Colorado , Santiago de Chile and many more. From 2008 Festival: Director, Israel Biography: Erez Tadmor & Guy Nattiv are two young Writers Directors from Tel-Aviv, Israel. They graduated together from "Camera Obscurs Film School Tel –Aviv". They recently Made "Strangers" A 7 minutes drama for 20th century Fox Serachlight. "Strangers" was accepted to the short competition at Sundance film festival 2004 and won for best short. It also went to the Berlin film festival panorama competition. Another of their shorts, "Offside" won for best short film in the Manhattan international short film festival in 2006. They just finished writing their personal feature script The Son of God. It is a story about a 78 V.O Holocaust survivor that goes on a "roots journey" with his religious Jewish son to snowy Poland to search for a magician. Their two short movies Moosh & Mabul won over then 40 international film festivals awards including: Berlin Film Festival – “Crystal Bear”award ,“World fest” in Houston, Palm springs , Mexico, Dawson City in Canada , Durango Colorado , Santiago de Chile and many more . Filmography: Moosh (2001)(short film) The Little Prince (2001) (short documentary) Mabul (2002) (short film) Strangers (2003) (short film) All well by me (2005) (feature documentary) Offside (2006) (short film) Strangers (2007) (feature film)