Murder at Cinema North
Synopsis
In 1957, young Holocaust survivor Tommy Blitz tries to rob the Cinema North cashier. While escaping, he kills Italian-Jewish engineer Fidia Fiatelli, standing in the ticket line. The murder shocks the young State of Israel. After a failed escape from jail, Blitz asks the forgiveness of Fiatelli’s widow, Heinkeh, a music teacher born in Germany — a Christian drawn to Buddhism. She decides to forgive him. But the murder and the terrible secret of Blitz’s mother, who collaborated with a Nazi agent during the Holocaust, continue to haunt the lives of Blitz and Heinkeh, until their tragic end.
Credits
Director(s)
Avida Livny
Producer(s)
Shula Spiegel, Dana Eden
Script
Avida Livny
Cinematography
Avner Shahaf
Editor
Yoni Kohen
Original Language
Hebrew
Subtitles
English
Sound Designer
Amnon wallman
Festival Highlights
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WINNER
Best Documentary FilmIsrael Film Critics Association2020
Montreal Israeli Film Festival , Canada, 2021
Philadelphia Israeli Film Festival , USA, 2021
Israfest Foundation (LA Israeli FF) , USA, 2020
Docaviv, Israel, Official Competition, 2020
Reviews
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"A fascinating and thought-provoking film"
- Makor Rishon
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"A good documentary film turns the story it documents into an archetypal story. From this, stems the great success of the film. The Israeli tragedy it presents, touches aspects in Judaism, Christianity and even Buddhism. It is disturbing, unsettling and mostly moving. It deals with crime and its punishment as well as compassion, forgiveness and perhaps even redemption."
- Uri Klein, Haaretz
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"A remarkably intelligent documentary that turns what happened at the entrance of a cinema, that no longer exists, into a testimony that resonates very powerfully with the power of fate."
- Uri Klein, Haaretz
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"this docu-crime... is treated poetically and philosophically, which turns the horrific murder into a story that makes the viewer ponder"
- Ynet
