''Invisible'' () is a 2011 Israeli film writen and directed by

Michal Aviad Michal Aviad (; born Jerusalem) is an Israeli director, script writer, producer and senior lecturer at the Department of Cinema and Television, Tel Aviv University. Biography Michal Aviad was born in Jerusalem. Her mother was an immigrant from ...

. It premiered at the

61st Berlin International Film Festival The 61st annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 10 to 20 February 2011, with actress Isabella Rossellini as the president of the jury. The Coen Brothers film ''True Grit (2010 film), True Grit'' opened the festival. 300,000 tick ...

in February 2011 where it won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury. The film is based on a series of

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

s that occurred in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

during 1977–1978. Testimonies of the original victims are interlaced into the film.

Plot

Lily and Nira are brought together over a shared trauma; they were both victims of a serial rapist twenty years earlier. Together they begin to research the crimes and the fate of their perpetrator.

Cast

Ronit Elkabetz Ronit Elkabetz (; 27 November 1964 – 19 April 2016) was an Israeli actress, screenwriter and film director. She worked in both Israeli and French cinema. She won three Ophir Awards and received a total of seven nominations. Biography Elkabe ...

as Lily *

Jenya Dodina Evgenia (Zhenya) Dodina (in ; born December 10, 1964) is an Israeli theater, film, and television actress, originally from Soviet Belarus. After meeting director Yevgeny Aryeh at the Mayakovsky Theater in Moscow, she immigrated to Israel and be ...

as Nira *Gil Frank as Amnon *Gal Lev as Yuval *

Sivan Levy Sivan Levy (; born 4 June 1987) is an Israeli singer-songwriter, filmmaker, and actress. Early life After graduating from Israel's Alon School of the Arts in 2007, Levy began her military service as a singer for the IDF Musical Ensemble. Car ...

as Dana

Reception

Screen Daily ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company which also owned '' Broadcast''. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involv ...

'' described the film as "powerful and provocative". The reviewer praised the lead actresses; "Ronit Elkabetz makes a striking impact.. with her glacial aloofness meshing perfectly with the character of the forthright Lily." The reviewer described Dodina as "Equally fine". The review concludes that Aviad does not exploit the subject matter, but allows the "story of two women dealing with a long repressed trauma be told in an engrossing and emotive manner." The film won in citation from the jury in panorama category at the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

. It won the best film prize and Yevgeniya Dodina won the best actress prize in

Haifa International Film Festival The Haifa International Film Festival () is an annual film festival that takes place every autumn (between late September and late October), during the week-long holiday of Sukkot, in Haifa, Israel. History The festival was inaugurated in 1983 an ...

in October 2011. Nirit Andman (October 23rd 2011)
"Invisible" - the winner in Haifa International Film Festival
''

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

'' (Hebrew)

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 1893261, Invisible 2011 drama films 2011 films Films about rape Drama films based on actual events Films shot in Israel 2010s Hebrew-language films German drama films Israeli crime drama films 2010s German films