The Sun Glows over the Mountains

"While working on this piece, the research process was different from usual. This time, I went through a long and emotional research period. I started with discussions with my father, with and without a camera. I used my memory, recalling stories I had heard at family gatherings since childhood, and read parts of my grandfather’s diaries, going through his photo archive, searching for pictures I could use in the film.

My grandfather died when I was 2 years-old, and I tried to get to know him better by all means I could find. I went to the Israeli radio archive and listened to old recordings of his voice. I viewed old black-and-white news clips from the fifties, which showed him in various official occasions. At last, I interviewed six people who knew him as a public figure, three of which appear in the film.

This film is a very personal work, dealing with my family's story and my connection to Israel, directly associating open conversations with my parents to the camera and the viewer, and video-still landscape images.

I always use a tripod; I never move the camera, I just wait for the movement to occur in the frame, and the shots are long. In this work, I used interviews for the first time, filming them the same way I usually do. Each one of them was one long shot. I chose to show the cuts in the interviews, instead of hiding them by editing. 

I went through an interesting process with my parents, filming them together for the first time. I filmed our discussions, talking the same way we always do at the dinner table. This time, I was not only the daughter but also the director.

This piece is personal and political. It deals with the changes the state of Israel has been going through since the time it only existed as a dream, up until today, as this dream has been shattered to pieces. It addresses the historical experience of Israel’s foundation and the development of the state from its early days until today."

Nurit Sharett in a statement to PLATFORM:VB (October 2013)