Savoy

“It is clear to me that I’ll die here tonight in this shabby hotel.” In Tel Aviv, 1975, 31-year-old housewife and mother Kochava Levy is taken as one of eight hostages when members of the Palestine Liberation Organization storm the Savoy Hotel, demanding the release of Palestinian prisoners and a secure transport to Damascus. Of Yemeni origin, Levy, able to speak both Hebrew and Arabic fluently, becomes a mediator between the PLO and the Israeli Defense Forces team of negotiators, even helping to arrange the release of a severely wounded hostage. Though eight civilians, three policemen and seven Palestinians would lose their lives, Levy’s fearlessness likely saved countless others. Following the end of the siege, her heroism was largely overshadowed when the tabloids discovered she checked into the Savoy Hotel with her married lover and was subsequently mislabeled a prostitute. Nearly 50 years later, Zohar Wagner’s film serves to set the record straight, ensuring that Levy is no longer a footnote. Utilizing a synchronistic blend of archival footage, audio recordings, news reports, journal entries and reenactments, this engrossing film reframes the fateful night in 1975 from the perspective of its forgotten heroine.

Bay Area Premiere