Shahar Cohen and Halil Efrat met in kindergarten.
As teenagers, the best friends snuck into Jerusalem cinemas, splitting buckets of popcorn and sharing detailed film analysis.
Decades later, the Israeli filmmakers, who traveled miles across Europe making a documentary, are celebrating the movie that has won big at film festivals around the globe.
Their first full-length feature, “Souvenirs,” won the Golden Gate Award for best documentary feature at the recent 50th San Francisco International Film Festival.
“We put everything into this film,” Efrat said while in San Francisco to accept the award. “This came from the inside,” he said, motioning to his heart. “I don’t really know how to say it.”
The documentary award is “the top prize in the festival,” said Hilary Hart, spokeswoman for the festival. It carries the largest cash award — $10,000. More than 1,200 films are submitted each year, and of those, only 100 are chosen for festival screenings. Fourteen go on to win awards.
“Souvenirs” got started when Sleiman Cohen, Shahar’s father, suggested that his unmarried, unemployed “bum” of a son make a film about the Jewish Brigade of World War II, in which the elder Cohen served.
The Brigade was a group of Jewish soldiers who joined the British Army during the war.
“We are like family,” said Efrat, who did the filming. “Sleiman trusts me almost more than Shahar, so we were able to convince him.”
The film begins at a reunion of Brigade soldiers in Israel. Shahar Cohen is surprised to learn that his father and fellow soldiers might have left behind “souvenirs” — that is, children — with Dutch women they slept with in postwar Amsterdam.
The Cohens set out on a cross-continental journey during Passover 2005. They pack matzahs, old photographs and clothing so they can retrace the path of the Brigade from Italy to Holland. Sleiman Cohen thinks it’s simply a father-son trip, and that the film is merely historical.
Little does Sleiman Cohen know that his son has hired a private detective to find his father’s long-ago lovers, and that the real purpose of the trip is to see if the 82-year-old has any other children, or grandchildren.
Efrat and Cohen scoured British and American archives for footage of the Brigade, much of which had never before been viewed. The black and white images are laced throughout the film.
While the story of the Brigade is interesting, “Souvenirs,” is also an emotional tale of father and son, and how they become friends. Their relationship had always been troubled, Shahar’s narration explains, and Sleiman had never before respected or understood his son, whose free-spirited personality was nothing like his own. But on the journey, they become closer.
“It’s a very human film about two men learning to accept each other,” Efrat said.
Shahar Cohen and Efrat both studied at the Sam Spiegel Institute in Jerusalem. For many years, both worked in film and television editing. “Souvenirs” is the first film for which they share a directinFather My Lord” (“Hofshat Kaits”) won the top prize at the TriBeca Film Festival. At the Berlin International Film Festival, U.S.-born Israeli director Joseph Cedar won best director for his film “Beaufort.”
“Israeli cinema is just booming, there’s no question about it,” said Tamar Akov, cultural attache at the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco.
Efrat said he’s happy to be a part of the cinema boom in Israel, and has enjoyed screening his film in other countries, too.
In each city, audiences find laughter and curiosity in different elements of the film, Efrat said. He’s appreciated the cultural lessons his film has provided him.
The road trip featured in “Souvenirs” took only 16 days, but to edit the film and craft the narration that helps move the story along required nearly a year.
Efrat said he’s proud of the film he and his best friend made. His success is a reflection of increasingly professional and creative filmmaking happening in Israel: The filmmaking community is small, he said, and though competitive, the artists support one another.
He and Cohen are planning another project, but Efrat wouldn’t explain any of the details.
The only souvenir he would leave was a copy of “Souvenirs.”
The film will likely be shown as part of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival July 19 to Aug. 6.g credit.
“We always knew we’d make a film together,” Efrat said.
They’ve showed the film at festivals in New York, Paris, Amsterdam, Ireland and Greece.
“Souvenirs” isn’t the only Israeli film getting attention this year. “My Father My Lord” (“Hofshat Kaits”) won the top prize at the TriBeca Film Festival. At the Berlin International Film Festival, U.S.-born Israeli director Joseph Cedar won best director for his film “Beaufort.”
“Israeli cinema is just booming, there’s no question about it,” said Tamar Akov, cultural attache at the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco.
Efrat said he’s happy to be a part of the cinema boom in Israel, and has enjoyed screening his film in other countries, too.
In each city, audiences find laughter and curiosity in different elements of the film, Efrat said. He’s appreciated the cultural lessons his film has provided him.
The road trip featured in “Souvenirs” took only 16 days, but to edit the film and craft the narration that helps move the story along required nearly a year.
Efrat said he’s proud of the film he and his best friend made. His success is a reflection of increasingly professional and creative filmmaking happening in Israel: The filmmaking community is small, he said, and though competitive, the artists support one another.
He and Cohen are planning another project, but Efrat wouldn’t explain any of the details.
The only souvenir he would leave was a copy of “Souvenirs.”
The film will likely be shown as part of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival July 19 to Aug. 6.