In 2008, an opportunity came knocking on my door to join the acclaimed Oscar-nominated production entourage of 'Waltz With Bashir', collaborating with international production companies, including 'The Match Factory' from Germany. Neta was one of the key animators in this amazing project, and I got to be the plus one :-). We had the chance to meet some very interesting people, and it was my first informal Holocaust-related encounter with Germans. I had hoped to effortlessly connect with this nonchalant, breezy individual... but I'm pretty sure I wasn't successful, and the drinks helped mask my nervous eyes as I had a keen yet enjoyable time. It fascinated me how fixated I was, as if I was personally experiencing a trauma. Regardless, I met some lovely, easygoing team members, and in one of those awkward silence moments, I couldn't resist asking the inevitable question: "So... what did your grandparent do during those years?" to the delightful German I had been conversing with for a while.
Amidst the abundance of wine and the unclear accent, I'm fairly certain she mentioned that her grandfather doesn't remember what he did... and BOOM, that collided head-on with the film about the Lebanon war, in which Ari Folman is attempting to recover a lost memory from his time there during the war...
Ari Folman character in Waltz with Bashir
And so, we continued our journey, departing from Cannes and making our way to Berlin. We had made a pact to avoid Holocaust-related tours, but an eerie feeling began to creep up my spine as we lined up and handed our documents to a uniformed person speaking German. The banality of the memory seemed to linger in that moment.
Homage to Waltz with Bashir on my way to Berlin
I captured a homage to the film that had been buzzing in my head for days. This shot would symbolize, for me, the protagonist's moment of awakening.
Next post - we land in Germany :-) 🌻