Strangers (2007 Israeli film)
| Strangers (Zarim) | |
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Film poster
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| Directed by | Guy Nattiv, Erez Tadmor |
| Produced by | Tami Leon, Chilik Michaeli, Shai Michaeli, Avraham Pirchi |
| Written by | Guy Nattiv, Erez Tadmor (synopsis only) |
| Starring | Lubna Azabal and Liron Levo |
| Music by | Eyal Leon Katzav (original music) |
| Edited by | Yuval Or |
| Distributed by | IFC Films |
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Release date
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June 8, 2007 (Jerusalem Film Festival); May 29, 2008 (Israel - wide release); October 18, 2011 (DVD-U.S.) |
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Running time
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85 minutes |
| Country | Israel |
| Language | Arabic, English, French, Hebrew |
| Budget | $200,000 (estimated) |
Strangers (Zarim) is a 2007 Israeli experimental fictional film directed by Guy Nattiv and Erez Tadmor that is set during the 2006 FIFA World Cup and the 2006 Lebanon War. It is the first feature film that they made together and was developed from an award-winning 2004 short of the same name.
Strangers opens in Berlin during the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Rana Sweid (Lubna Azabal), a Palestinian from Ramallah currently living in Paris, meets Eyal Goldman (Liron Levo), an Israeli who grew up on a kibbutz, after they accidentally switch bags on a train. They eventually strike up a friendship and decide to watch the World Cup together. Their budding romance is cut short when Rana is mysteriously called back to France and asks Eyal to stop seeing her. Despite her request, he seeks her in France. They are then faced with the 2006 Lebanon War as Eyal is drafted by the Israel Defense Forces.
In 2004, directors Erez Tadmor and Guy Nattiv submitted a short called Strangers to the Sundance Film Festival. It won the Online Film Festival Viewers Award which led to funding a full length version of the film.
They envisioned the feature version as experimental in form, largely improvised and centered around the World Cup in Berlin. Production began in Berlin with one actor (Levo), photographer and producer. They then met with actress Lubna Azabal whom they convinced to join the production via phone by telling her: "two actors, one camera and the World Cup Soccer Championships. That's all. No screenplay, only a synopsis, and we want to flow with it." According to the directors, they wanted "the actors to improvise their lines without being bound by an official screenplay, and to let the relationship that would develop between the characteristics dictate the flow of the plot."
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