A Film by Shahar Cohen & Halil Efrat
(Israel, 2006 ,75 Minutes, Color, Hebrew, English subtitles)



Winner of San Francisco Int'l 2007, Winner of DocAviv 2006, Israeli Academy Award for best documentary 2006, Second Audience Choice award of IDFA (Amsterdam) 2006.

A charming, funny and touching father/son journey in search of  the "Souvenirs" the father may have left with local girls during his service in the Jewish Brigade while stationed in Amsterdam during WW II..

Shahar is an unemployed filmmaker. His father, Sleiman, a strict 82 year old Yemenite, suggests that Shahar should make a film about the Jewish Brigade, in which he served during WW II.

Shahar becomes enthusiastic when he realizes that his father may have left some "souvenirs", by having impregnated two Dutch women. He decides to make the film hoping to find his father’s lost off - spring and maybe lessen some of the burden of his father’s criticism.

They set out together on the trail of the Jewish Brigade, beginning in Israel and continuing through Italy, Germany and ending in Holland with a surprising discovery. With humor and compassion the film exposes a complex father-son relationship and raises universal questions and thoughts about the tension between myths of bravery and reality and between memory and historical truth.



AWARDS & FESTIVALS

 San Francisco International Film Festival 2007, USA - 1st Prize
 SILVERDOCS - Feature Audience Award
 Israeli Academy Award - Best Documentary
 DocAviv, Israel - 1st Prize
 Thessaloniki International Documentary Film Festival, Greece - FIPRESCI Award
 Chicago International Documentary Festival - Grand Prix Special Jury Award
 International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) - 2nd Audience Choice Award
 Jewish Motifs Film Festival, Warsaw - Audience Choice Award
 Helsinki Documentary Film Festival (DocPoint), Finland
 True/False Documentary Film Festival, U.S.A 
 MOMA (The Museum of Modern Art, N.Y) - Director's Fortnight
 EuroDoc Oslo, Norway
 Martha's Vineyard Independent Film Festival, U.S.A 
 Molodist Kyiv International Film Festival, Ukraine
 HotDocs, Canada
 Munich IDFF, Germany
 Input Lugano Switzerland
 Krakow Film Festival, Poland
 Seoul Film Festival, Korea
 Chicago International Documentary Festival
 Israeli Film Festival, Los-Angeles 
 Israel Film Festival, Miami
 Israeli Film Festival, Paris
 Northeast Pennsylvania Jewish Film Festival
 San Jose Jewish Film Festival
 Boston Jewish film Festival
 Milwaukee Jewish Film Festival
 Fairfield County Jewish Film Festival
 VERZIO Documentary Film Festival, Budapest
 DOCSDF Festival of Mexico City
 Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, Czech
 Sao Paulo Jewish film Festival
 Cincinnati Jewish film Festival
 Jewish film Festival of Fairfield County
 San Francisco JCC
 Kimball Theatre in Williamsburg
 JCC of Greater Washington
 Washington Jewish Film Festival
 UK Jewish Film Festival
 Southern States Jewish film Festival
 Contra Costa Jewish film Festival, USA
 Calgary Jewish Film Festival
 Desert Jewish Film Festival, USA
 Brooklyn Israeli Film Festival
 Tucson Jewish Film Festival
 Minneapolis Jewish Film Festival
 San Antonio Jewish Film Festival
 Long Beach Jewish Film Festival
 Durham Chappel Jewish Film Festival
 New Jersey Jewish Film Festival
 Sacramento Jewish Film Festival
 Sepharadic Film Festival, NY
 Columbus Jewish Film Festival, USA
 Sarasota International Film Festival, USA
 Charlotte Jewish Film Festival, USA 
 Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival, USA 
 Burns Film Center, NY
 Rockland Jewish Film Festival, USA 
 Maine Jewish Film Festival


TV SCREENINGS

 Yes Doco, Israel
 SVT, Sweden
 YLE,  Finland
 NRK, Norway
 TV Catalunya, Spain