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DOCAVIV 2021

Tomer Heymann • Director of I Am Not

“Oren's perspective provides a unique glimpse into his inner world”

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- The Israeli helmer talks us through his documentary, which scooped two awards at the recent Docaviv

Tomer Heymann  • Director of I Am Not
Tomer Heymann (right) and his protagonist, Oren, clutching their Docaviv awards

We chatted to Israeli director Tomer Heymann, whose new film I Am Not [+see also:
film review
interview: Tomer Heymann
film profile
]
won the Best Director and Best Cinematography Awards at Docaviv (see the news).

Cineuropa: How did you meet your protagonist, Oren, and decide to make a film about him?
Tomer Heymann:
Ten years ago, I took part in a social project, aiming to connect youth from the geographical or social periphery with filmmaking. The first session was attended by three teenage boys from a boarding school, and as they entered the classroom, one of them immediately stood out due to his somewhat strange, defiant, outsider's expression, which I found touching and intriguing. It was Oren Levi, the protagonist of this film. Something about him mesmerised me, and when we sat down for an in-depth conversation, all of his difficulties and social conflicts came up immediately, alongside a keen sense of humour, sarcasm and a desire to go to Guatemala, where he was born. When we met the second time at a café, I couldn't concentrate on Oren or on our conversation; I spent the time observing how strangers reacted to his behaviour.

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I asked Oren to introduce me to his parents, and when we sat down for sort of an initial research session, I also asked them about Oren and his past. His father, Ehud, turned his back to me, unable to speak; he actually cried, and they shared with me, openly, about how much they love Oren, yet how many painful trials and tribulations they've gone through as his parents. After meeting them, I knew I wanted to delve into this story, and I had no idea where it would take me.

Was it difficult to earn Oren's and his family's trust?
Oren and I built up a trusting relationship very quickly. Oren told me he'd be glad to take his film very far and not hide anything, that truth and openness are important to him and he only wondered how patient I could be with him and his family. With his parents, Dvora and Ehud, it took longer to earn the necessary trust. Before shooting, I visited their home in Jerusalem many times and had discussions with them in which they made a repeated request: that Oren should watch the film before its release, and if there were things in it that bothered him, he could ask that they be removed. And that's what we did.

How did you develop the visual concept of the film?
The first layer of footage is by the crew that filmed Oren and his family for me. I chose to work with cameramen who could handle intimate, intense scenes. I worked with a stripped-down crew of one soundman and one cameraman in order to maintain intimacy as much as possible, and convey the tension and discomfort that coloured quite a few of the scenes we shot. The person who joined Michal and directed one of the film's most powerful scenes – when she meets her family – was my partner, Andreas Merk, who found himself in charge of documentary scenes for the first time in his life.

The second layer consists of home videos that Ehud took throughout Oren's childhood. He didn't remember what he'd filmed and had no idea about the nature or quality of the footage. He told me I could use it, and I was surprised to discover what a fine cameraman Ehud was. I knew I wanted to use this additional layer of material to convey the voices of Dvora and Ehud in order to show their viewpoint on Oren's difficult childhood and adolescence.

The biggest, most significant surprise, which changed the look, character and meaning of the film, came on the day Oren brought me dozens of memory cards. He said: “My mum has cancer, so we're moving to a flat with a lift to make it easier for her. I found lots of memory cards with footage I shot during the filmmaking course with you, and I kept filming afterwards, also during my visit to Guatemala, and also while walking the streets at night.”

When I looked through the footage, I realised I had a film here and that the justification for the film was Oren's perspective, which provides a unique glimpse of his inner world: how he thinks, feels and sees the world through the camera lens.

How did you feel in Guatemala in this very complex situation?
Before the trip to Guatemala, I asked Andreas Boueke, the researcher who helped find Oren's biological family, to explain to the families that I wanted to come along and film their reunion, and they agreed to participate. I should mention that, as the film's director, I had no idea what would happen on this trip or what kind of human interactions I would witness at such a dramatic encounter.

I assume that since Oren's biological family is unused to cinematography in general, and documentary cinematography in particular, they acted naturally, barely noticed the camera and weren't afraid of it. The scene in which Oren meets his father reminded me of Emir Kusturica's When Father Was Away on Business, a film that influenced me a lot.

The original idea was for the footage from Guatemala to constitute a small part of the film, but the chain of events that took place there, and especially the resulting change in Oren's behaviour, led me to decide during the editing process that the footage from Guatemala would make up 50% of the film.

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