In Your Eyes
Upload | Barak Heymann | Israel, 2019 | English, Hebrew, Amharic (English subtitles) | Documentary | 56m | IMDB | Distributor/Sales: Heymann Films | Festival marketing sample: Red Rock Film Festival 2019 | Trailer
Description: This film profiles three Israeli and a Palestinian YouTube vloggers. Clips of their work are interspersed with footage of them filming themselves and their interactions with family and fans. We meet a Palestinian/American girl who believes her father was killed while wrongly suspected of committing a terrorist act. To the chagrin of her mother, she abhors politics and wants to use her YouTube channel to discuss beauty and fashion, but the political reality has a way of rudely intruding. Another YouTube vlogger is a transvestite performer from a traditional background. His mother is struggling to accept the sexuality of her two sons. At the same time, his fiercely secular partner is unwilling to make any concessions for the sake of his family. An ultra Orthodox mother, whose online activities are barely tolerated by her husband, uses her YouTube channel to encourage Orthodox girls to choose the path that is right for them. Finally, an immigrant from Ethiopia, whose successful singing career was launched by a YouTube recording of a song composed following the death of his father, confronts the racism he encountered in Israel. We join him and his mother on a pilgrimage to Ethiopia to visit his aunt’s grave. There is almost no interaction between the four characters (save the singer who performs at the same LGBTQ event as the transvestite.)
Merits: The Heymann brothers have directed some of Israel’s most interesting documentaries in recent years and this latest effort does not disappoint. Despite the short overall length, Heymann is able to flesh out each protagonist with a revealing narrative. This is an eclectic portrait of Israelis that young global audiences could relate to.
Rating: Strong language, LGBTQ theme.