A Matter of Size

Poor Herzl is a big fish out of water. A 340-pound chef living with his mother, he’s been gamely diving into a sea of perpetual diet groups and fitness regimes, and belly flopping. He’s fired from a restaurant salad bar because of his “unpresentable” image; then his rigid weight-loss class dumps him because he keeps gaining pounds instead of shedding them. The relentless pursuit of slim is frustrating for him and for his three seriously overweight buddies in the working-class town of Ramle, Israel. But all that starts to change when Herzl discovers the one place where fat guys can be rock stars: the world of sumo wrestling. In this endearing and poignant comedy, co-directors Sharon Maymon and Erez Tadmor (co-director of SFJFF 2008’s Opening Night film Strangers) find both wit and soul in their four big guys’ efforts to master an ancient sport and accept themselves for the (large) people they are. With echoes of The Full Monty in both its blue-collar setting and its themes, A Matter of Size follows its own tender and funny (and Jewish) path from body shame to body celebration, and from loneliness to love. The unlikely sport Herzl encourages his skeptical friends to take up (“two fatsos in diapers with girly hairdos,” snorts one) turns out to have life lessons far beyond the ring and is rich fodder for visual antics: you won’t soon forget veteran cinematographer David Gurfinkel’s gorgeous long shot of the men pounding through green fields clad only in bright red loincloths. But the humor of the film is never at the expense of these likeable, flawed guys and the women who put up with (and feed) them. Inside this funny movie beats a plus-size heart.

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)