Estranged from his wife, and still reeling from a recent suicide attempt, Ori (Yona Rozenkier) shuttles his elderly mother to a Tel Aviv courthouse to testify against a suspected Nazi war criminal. In the gallery, he locks eyes with French writer Anna (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi), eagerly following the trial in preparation for her own father’s testimony later in the week. Ori is certain that Anna is the same woman with whom he had an intense love affair in Turin twenty years earlier, yet she is equally adamant in her disavowal. As the trial intensifies, Ori and Anna share several discomfiting moments, as we attempt to deduce the true nature of their relationship. In a desperate bid, Ori drives Anna deep into the desert.
Anchored by the finely calibrated performances of Bruni Tedeschi and Rozenkier, what begins as a courtroom drama unfolds unexpectedly into an emotionally ambiguous profile of a relationship that teems with discovery and obfuscation. Utilizing rotoscope animation to creatively depict Anna’s novels and Ori’s writings that correspond on their present drama, No Shade in the Desert is an expressive work on generational trauma, loss, and love.
North American Premiere
Yossi Aviram is an Israeli writer and director. He has graduated with honour from Sam Spiegel Film School in Jerusalem. In 1998 he participated in a cultural exchange with the French school “La metallis”. His first feature The Dune won Best First Feature Film Award at Haifa Film Festival; it has also been selected for San Sebastian, San Francisco and other film festivals.