Holding Liat
Brandon Kramer / United States / 2025 / 97 min
The winner of last year's Berlinale award for best documentary is a complex portrait of how a Jewish family's tragedy on October 7 turns into a pawn in a geopolitical game.
Just two weeks after American-Israeli Liat and her husband were kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, 2023, director Brandon Kramer turns on his camera and gains full access to a family in emotional and political turmoil. Liat’s father Yehuda is a pacifist to the core and a staunch opponent of Netanyahu, while his son wants an eye for an eye. The family’s dynamics and quarrels are mirrored in their country’s internal contradictions, and the divide only becomes clearer when they travel to Washington to share their story with American politicians and the media.
To Yehuda’s great frustration, the family tragedy is turned into a pawn in a geopolitical game, but even in the lion’s den, he insists on reconciliation, forgiveness, and self-reflection. In scenes that could be taken from a spy movie, they meet with lobbyists from both sides of the conflict, but the beating heart of the film is the family’s grief, which reveals a deep understanding of the human consequences hidden behind the headlines.