Join us on February 8th for the Center's sponsored screening at the 37th Israel Film Festival of this moving and quietly affecting docudrama, shot on location in Kibbutz Nir Oz just weeks after the October 7 attacks.
Sunday, February 8, 20263:30 PMFine Arts Theater8556 Wilshire Blvd.Beverly Hills
The screening will be followed by a conversation with the director, Dani Rosenberg.
The UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center has a limited amount of complimentary tickets for this screening. If there are none remaining, tickets can be purchased HERE.
Sponsored by the UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies with support from The Cooper Fund for Israeli Film and Television.
About the Film
As dawn breaks, 16-year-old Dar returns to her kibbutz in search of her missing dog, lost in the attacks she survived just days before. She confronts the aftermath of the massacre in her community, and the horrors etched in the faces of the people around her, while witnessing the stark reality of the tragedy unfolding across the fence in Gaza. Over the course of the film, we gradually learn Dar’s story through the diaries of her mother, read in voiceover, and later her tearful description that her mother was kidnapped on Oct 7 and hasn’t been heard from since. Caught between those who seek revenge and those keeping faith in humanity, Dar tries to find her own voice.
The film was shot on site at Kibbutz Nir Oz with a tiny crew, just weeks after October 7. While Dar is a fictional character played by an actress (Ori Avinoam) everyone else she meets in the film—soldiers, forensic pathologists, volunteers, a kindergarten teacher, and an elderly resident who has decided to stay put—are playing themselves, and much of the dialogue is improvised. Filmed as the war in Gaza has already begun, airstrikes we witness are actually taking place, not visual effects.
Watch the film's trailer.
Praise for the Film: Rosenberg is less interested in politics or exploring the root causes of the unending Israeli-Palestinian conflict, than in putting a human face on tragedy…. Despite the intensity of what we’re seeing, there are no easy sentiments or pathos-ridden scenes in Of Dogs and Men, but rather the desire to capture the aftermath of the attacks as earnestly as possible” – The Hollywood Reporter
Director: Dani Rosenberg Screenwriters: Dani Rosenberg, Ori Avinoam, Itai Tamir Running Time: 1 hour 22 minutes, in Hebrew with English subtitles
About the Director/Featured Speaker
Dani Rosenberg's debut feature film The Death of Cinema and My Father’s Too was part of the Official Selection at Cannes 2020 and won the Jerusalem Film Festival. His second film, The Vanishing Soldier, was part of the Official Selection at the Locarno Film Festival 2023 and won the Haifa Film Festival. Of Dogs and Men, his third feature film, was part of the Official Selection at the Venice Film Festival 2024.
Rosenberg's comedy-drama series Johnny & the Knights of Galilee has been purchased for adaptation in Germany (VOX, titled Milk & Honey) and 2 seasons in France (Amazon Prime, titled Escort Boys). He also created the documentary Zohar, the Return, which was commercially screened in Israel, and adapted the play God of Vengeance for Israel’s leading theater, The Cameri.
Rosenberg's short and medium-length films have been shown at numerous international festivals, including Cannes Cinéfondation, Berlinale, HotDocs, and IDFA.
DISCLAIMER: The views or opinions of our guest speakers and the content of their presentations do not necessarily reflect the views of the UCLA Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies. Hosting speakers does not constitute an endorsement of the speaker's views or opinions.
Sponsor(s): Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies, Israel Film Festival