17 Beginnings of Talia

2015· 73 min★ 7.8·

Twenty-five years after the death of actress Talia Shapira, her son begins a journey to retrace her life. He combs through the vast belongings his mother left behind – diaries, stories, films, audio tapes – as he peels his memories layer by layer, finally arriving at the most significant moment in their relationship: Talia’s last days. Seventeen chapters of observation constitute an abstract and emotional mosaic, an intense investigation into the essence and meaning of a dialogue between mother and son – a dialogue that transcends words and time. The unique way in which the director has chosen to describe this process of deciphering his mother’s life poignantly conveys both the need as well as the inherent difficulities to connect incidental moments of our lives into meaningful stories.

Director: Yoni Ben-Tovim