Beyond the Mountains and the Hills

In director Erin Kolirin's mind, there’s no doubt that the Israeli community is dysfunctional, but who is really to blame? When David Greenbaum retires from a major military position, he feels life has lost its purpose. It doesn’t help much that he chooses to sell a silly diet product. His wife Rina, working at a middle school, becomes the target of the sexual predator in the class, and we can feel trouble looming. Of the couple’s children, Yifat is the most sympathetic. She listens to Arabian music (Fayroz) and wears a kaffiyeh - as a political message. But when she meets a young Palestinian man from the mountains, the situation gets scarier than she’d like. And what happens when David in frustration fires a gun into the black night, and accidentally kills a Palestinian? Will it tie the family closer together, or drive them further apart?

Eran Kolirin (b. 1973) is an Israeli writer and director. His debut film The Band’s Visit (2007) won a series of international awards, and The Exchange (2011) was in the main competition at the Venice Film Festival. Beyond the Mountains and Hills was screened at this year’s Cannes festival.