Self Made (Hebrew: בורג) is a 2014

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i film written and directed by

Shira Geffen Shira Geffen (; born April 23, 1971) is an Israeli actress, screenwriter, film director and children's book writer. Biography Shira Geffen was born in 1971. Her father, Yehonatan Geffen, was an author.Jordan HoffmanShira Geffen doesn’t care if y ...

. The film follows an Israeli artist (Michal) and a Palestinian DIY store clerk (Nadine) who swap their lives because of a mix-up at a border security checkpoint.Jordan Hoffman
Shira Geffen doesn’t care if you call her anti-Israeli
''

The Times of Israel ''The Times of Israel'' (ToI) is an Israeli multi-language online newspaper that was launched in 2012 and has since become the largest English-language Jewish and Israeli news source by audience size. It was co-founded by Israeli journalist Dav ...

'', July 19, 2014Clarence Tsui
'Self Made' ('Boreg'): Cannes Review
''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'', May 16, 2014Leo Barraclough
CANNES: Trailer for Critics’ Week Film ‘Self Made’ Debuts
''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'', May 09, 2014Philippa Hawker
Shira Geffen's film Self Made will open the Israeli Film Festival
''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper in ...

'', August 19, 2014 In her review for ''The Hollywood Reporter'', critic Clarence Tsui described the film as being filled with "

dark humor Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

" and noted its use of "surreal elements to explore difficult real-world issues." Tsui further explained, "Gefen’s intention is to show that a person's outward appearance is merely a façade," and concluded that the film presents "a thought-provoking and witty commentary on the limitations imposed on women—or perhaps on everyone, in general."

Synopsis

The film tells the story of two women, Michal and Nadine. Michal is a successful visual artist living in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. She orders a new double bed from a furniture company called "Ithaca" (a parody of "IKEA"), but when it is delivered to her home, she discovers that one of the necessary screws is missing. One morning, she falls out of her bed and loses her memory. Nadine, a Palestinian woman living in a refugee camp with her older brother, faces a challenging life: her mother has passed away, her father is imprisoned in Israel, and she is unmarried, much to the disapproval of her community. She longs for a child and spends most of her time commuting through checkpoints to work at a factory, where her job is to place screws in bags. Nadine loses her job after Michal complains about the missing screw. Everything changes when a soldier at a checkpoint mistakes one woman for the other, sending each to the other's home. In a series of surreal scenes, they begin to swap identities and lives from opposite sides of the checkpoint.

Cast

*Zidane Awad as Ebrahem *Sarah Adler as Michal *Samira Saraya as Nadine * Omer Perelman Striks as Ido *Doraid Liddawi *Na'ama Shoham *Ziyad Bakri

Critical reception

The film was presented at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

and at the

Jerusalem Film Festival The Jerusalem Film Festival (, ) is an international film festival held annually in Jerusalem, It was established in 1984 by the Director of the Jerusalem Cinematheque and Israeli Film Archive, Lia van Leer, Lia Van Leer, and has since become th ...

. It was also shown at the opening night of the AICE Israeli Film Festival in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Australia. In a review for ''The Hollywood Reporter'', critic Clarence Tsui said the film "visual and textual references to the ''intifada'' – checkpoints, suicide bombers and views of 'stunning' Jerusalem – it’s a film that talks about another aspect of difficulties in surviving life in modern-day Israel." Film critic Oron Shamir called the film "a masterpiece by a talented director who attempts to bring a different and dreamlike worldview to the screen in a way that constantly deceives the viewer, resembling a work of art."

References

2014 films Israeli drama films {{2010s-Israel-film-stub