Another Yitzhak

A short film that focuses on a personal story of my family.
Rivka's world is turned upside down when her beloved husband, Yitzhak, is diagnosed with dementia. As he begins to lose his identity and memories, Rivka struggles to come to terms with the difficult separation that lies ahead.
Through personal anecdotes and heart-wrenching moments, we witness Rivka's journey as she copes with the devastating effects of Yitzhak's illness. Even after his passing,
Rivka continues to tell stories about him, keeping his memory alive as she navigates the lasting impact of their separation on her family.

English version

The short film

Nominations at festivals around the world

The film has been entered into elevn competitions spanning across different festivals

Nominations:

SWIFF competition - Student World Impact Film Festival, New Jersey, USA
Born in Baltimore Film & Photography Festival - Baltimore,Maryland,USA

Work process

Research

I conducted a project on my grandfather's life by collecting important documents and pictures, such as old letters he wrote to my grandmother. He led a rich and fascinating life, and I felt compelled to honor both his passing and his life story.

I created a timeline of events by interviewing family members who shared their experiences with him. I chose what was important for me to include as part of the project, and I thought about the aspects that shaped his personality, such as what he loved, his priorities, and the values he instilled in his children.

Rationale for the project

After reading about dementia and similar diseases and families who experienced it, I discovered that what makes dementia unique is the sudden jumps in impairment, rather than
a gradual decline. This reminded me of my experiences with my grandfather, where each time I saw him, his condition was noticeably worse than before.

I reflected on how difficult it was for me to interact with him,
the feeling of discomfort and embarrassment, and the sense that he didn't fully understand me. I wanted to explore the personal conflict of "losing the person you knew" and the self-shame and disappointment that comes with it.

While researching existing projects on the topic, I noticed that most of them focused on Alzheimer's and similar diseases. So, I aimed to create a project that addressed the ambivalent feelings of aging in relation to memory and the changes that come with dementia.

Concept and script

As I pondered how to share Yitzhak's story, I knew I wanted to convey it in a meaningful way. Given his love of tea and its traditions, I decided to center the story around 'The Tea Ceremony'. To enrich the tale, I will incorporate anecdotes from Yitzhak's life, which his wife Rebecca will share from her own experiences with him or his own stories. As she prepare tea, this time for her granddaughter, following the same ritual she used to make for him each afternoon, we will receive a rich tapestry of his story.

The monologue that Rebecca will share is accompanied by visual representations that illustrate the story. I created a storyboard that highlights my grandmother's method and selected parts that evoke the emotions that arise when listening to the story.

Design basics

Art Directing

The movie was filmed at Rebecca's home, which was designed with colors that express the emotions I wanted to convey.

The color scheme was inspired by old photographs, featuring warm reddish-brown tones that reminded me of pleasant memories from the past.

These colors are evident in the house and kitchen decor, the tea's color, the lamps, and other accessories. I opted to capture close-up shots of several items in the house that symbolize memories, such as a clock or a lace that is commonly found in Oriental families like my grandparents.

Narrative through styling
At the beginning of the film, Rebecca is dressed in warm colors of red and beige that sanctify the pleasant memories of her husband. At the end of the film, she wears a cold light blue coat to demonstrate the last painful memory of her husband, where he was no longer who he was: depressed and changed.

Cinematic Expression

I mostly used close-up clips to create a sense of intimacy with the character. The text was playfully dramatized through footage of tea preparation. The film alternates between focusing and defocusing to emphasize Itzhak's feeling of disorientation, where things are sometimes clear and other times confusing or forgotten.

I added animated elements that were created using a graphic board, some were made frame-by-frame in Photoshop while others were animated using After Effects effects. They were meant to express the world of memory of Rebecca and Yitzhak in an almost tangible way, allowing the viewer to see similarities to Itzhak, his sister or other images that enhance the memories.

Music editing and sound effects

I edited the sound by extracting a clip from Pixabay, searching for a melody in an Arabic style, similar to Yitzhak ancestry,

in order to create a sense of connection to his and his stories.

I recorded Rebecca telling the voiceover that I built from the stories she shared with me during the research process. The film was shot without sound, and I recorded sound effects by using various objects at home, such as mixing water in a cup, opening a drawer, and so on.

Production and post production

The production process was convenient. I visited my grandmother Rebecca's house often, which was a perfect fit,

so there was no need to search for a location, just to organize the space a bit. Rebecca was easy to work with and professional in every action. The difficulty arose more in the process of writing and recording the emotional text since it was a fresh story.

The production was concise and done with great sensitivity.

I edited the video using Premiere and added the texts and animations using After Effects. I also did the musical and color editing in these programs, finding the work comfortable and preferring to keep as much work as possible on the same software.