Mountain
Description
Yaelle Kayam’s debut feature is strikingly shot against the tombstones of Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives, where an Orthodox woman’s longing for her husband’s love sets in motion a transformational journey into a nocturnal world of pimps and prostitutes. Like an Orthodox answer to Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, Tzvia (Shani Klein) is a creature of routines—some comforting, like touching the mezuzah on the doorframe, others prescribed, like the endless dishes to be washed and stews to be cooked, leaving her with feelings of isolation and longing. Her routines mask a burgeoning resolve, perhaps even a “drunk, embroiled will,” to quote the Israeli poet Zelda, whose grave Tzvia visits on her frequent walks among the tombs. Pacing the cemetery at night, she discovers its after-dark function as a spot for illicit activities. Fascinated and repelled in equal measure, she returns, again and again, and her interactions with them provide some of the film’s most surprising and unexpected moments. Shani Klein’s mesmerizing performance keeps viewers riveted to a character study that is by turns tender and startling.
“I’m inspired by landscapes and especially cultural landscapes, places that have historical and architectural meanings and are still relevant in our lives today,” filmmaker and journalist Yaelle Kayam has said. Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives was just such a site. While spending time there she dressed as an observant woman in order not to stand out, sparking her imagination and leading to Mountain. Born in Tel Aviv in 1979, Kayam studied filmmaking in Melbourne and Jerusalem. Her debut short, Diploma (2009), was widely shown at festivals, and her script, Providence, was developed at Sundance’s Screenwriter’s Lab. Mountain is her feature film debut.
Trailer
//player.vimeo.com/video/157228607?autoplay=1Film Details
Language Hebrew
Year 2015
Runtime 83
Country Israel/Denmark
Director Yaelle Kayam
Producer Eilon Ratzkovsky, Yochanan Kredo, Lisa Uzrad, Yossi Uzrad, Guy Jacoel
Writer Yaelle Kayam
Editor Or Ben David
Cinematographer Itay Marom
Music Ophir Leibovitch
Cast Shani Klein, Avshalom Pollak, Haitham Ibrahem Omari