Souvenirs
Art and life merge in unexpected ways for a filmmaker looking for a project in this documentary.
Shahar Cohen is an Israeli filmmaker who personal and professional lives were both stuck in neutral when his father Sleiman Cohen proposed an idea for a documentary -- make a movie about the Jewish Brigade which fought against Axis forces during World War II. Sleiman was a member of the Brigade and volunteers to help Shahar research the project, so when Shahar agrees, the two men hop into an old car and drive from rural Italy to Amsterdam, the route Sleiman and his fellow soldiers followed during the war.
Sleiman and Shahar have never been especially close, and as they take turns at the wheel while Sleiman shares his war stories (illustrated in part by vintage newsreel footage), the father and son develop a close bond they've never felt before.
However, en route Sleiman explains to his son he has a personal reason for wanting to look back at his past -- he had brief flings with a pair of Dutch girls while stationed in Amsterdam, and believes he may have fathered children with them. Souvenirs received its North American premiere at the 2007 San Francisco International Film Festival.