After You

Efrat Rasner Shefa

Producers

Ayelet Kait, Amir Harel

Lab Edition:

2024

Production

Lama Films

Country

Israel

SYNOPSIS

Yula (45) unexpectedly loses her husband Amir in an accident. After his death, his organs are donated. She wants to meet the man who received her husband's heart, but he refuses to be in contact.
Through illegal means, she obtains the details of the recipient—Gabriel (57), a piano teacher, and decides to take piano lessons from him. In the piano lessons, they gradually open up to each other, but Yula's lie stands between them, growing larger as their bond tightens.
Yula's web of lies will expand, and she will lose control of her life. When the truth comes to light, Yula will have to confront the immense pain and deal with her loss for the first time.

DIRECTOR'S NOTE

My existential fear of losing someone I love led me to write this script, and I dealt with the question - Can you suspend the farewell?
This question is Yula’s unconscious wish, the film’s heroine, a woman who loses her husband. At the end of Yula's journey, she will have to feel the deep pain of her loss in order to say goodbye and set herself free, and keep on living. The film I aspire to create is narrative based, on the one hand, but uses bold cinematic viewpoints and unique scenes to offer a poetic layer that stems from the concrete story and allows moments of contemplation - that capture the themes of the film – loss, love and grace.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKER

Born in Israel in 1987. Graduated with honors from the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School. Her graduation film Out Of Reach won the Outstanding Film Award of her class and was screened at dozens of festivals in Israel and around the world, winning international awards. Since completing her studies, she has written and directed two more short films, "Third Look", which was also screened at numerous festivals including Palm Springs ShortFest and Slamdance, and "Foreign". She received two development grants for feature-length films, one of which is for "After You".

ABOUT THE CO-WRITER

PRODUCERS

Ayelet Kait, Amir Harel

Lama Films concentrates on projects with a political-social-cultural orientation. Whether fiction or documentaries, Lama Films' projects address phenomena that reflect the essence of Israeli existence, yet still appeal to diverse audiences around the world.
Among Lama Films projects are: Golden Globe winner for Best International Film and Oscar nominee Paradise Now; Venice film festival official selection Valeria is Getting Married and Tel-Aviv on Fire; US box office hit and Berlinale films Walk on Water and Yossi & Jagger; Cannes Film Festival, Camera d’Or Winner Jellyfish and James' Journey to Jerusalem.

PRODUCTION COMPANY PROFILE

○ LAMA films, Tel Aviv
○ +972 54-567-9367
○ ayelet@lamafilms.com

PRODUCTION BUDGET

○ Total budget: 850,000 euro

LANGUAGE

Hebrew

GENRE

Drama

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