Wake Up, Grandson

  • Israel
  • Documentary
  • 2024
  • 93 min.
  • Director(s): Renen Schorr Heller
  • Producer(s): Renen Schorr Heller

Synopsis

Director Renen Schorr’s (“Late Summer Blues”, founding director of the Sam Spiegel Film School), journey in the footsteps of his grandfather, Rabbi Avraham Heller, hero of the 1948 War Battle of Safed. Spiritual vs. Secular, Faith vs. Film, Holy Safed vs. Hedonistic Tel Aviv. A duel.

 

In a 25-year exchange of letters between Grandfather and grandson, the elder begs the young filmmaker to forsake his belief in filmmaking for Jewish tradition and carry on his legacy. When the request is rebuffed, a surprising final wish comes from the grandfather, “Make a movie about me”.

 

In the epilogue, the director makes a double-act. For the first time since his bar mitzvah, he puts on Tefillin and prays. Furthermore, he undertakes the legal act of changing his name and official identity to Renen Schorr Heller. And finally, his homecoming to Safed, to direct a scene scripted by his grandfather when his life was coming to an end.

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Credits

Director(s)

Renen Schorr Heller

Producer(s)

Renen Schorr Heller

Script

Renen Schorr Heller

Cinematography

Gal Rumbak, Yaniv Linton

Editor

Noa Keidan

Original Music

Ehud Banai

Production Company

Blues Productions LTD

Research

Renen Schorr, Lily Yudinski

Sound Design

Aviv Aldema

Color

Yoav Raz

Festival Highlights

Docaviv International Documentary Film Festival, Israel, Masters Section, 2024

Reviews

  • "An extraordinary documentary film – beautifully conceived, with great pacing, which combines the personal and the national in an effortless way."
    - Amy Kronish
  • "I loved the movie and the crash course in Israeli history” "
    - Acclaimed filmmaker Wim Wenders