WHITE MIST

Isaac, a long-time Soviet immigrant, and Brut the dog live together in a dark, memory–filled apartment. Brut’s hind leg has a growth. Up early, they visit the vet. Isaac anticipates an amputation. Brut is ecstatic to be out.

ITAY NETZER

 

Filmmaker and a video-artist. Lives in Jerusalem. In the last seven years he has also been an active writer creating poems, short stories and screenplays. His formal cinematographic education includes a scriptwriting workshop at the Jerusalem Cinematheque, led by director Omri Levy, and the full time 4-year Production and Directing Track at The Ma'aleh School of Television, Film & the Arts. There, he specialized in cinematography and editing. Itaay completed his graduate documentary film, "White Mist" in January 2013. That year the film took second prize for best short at the DocAviv documentary film festival in Tel Aviv, and was screened at the Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival. Itaay completed his fictional film, "Touched" in January 2014. He is currently earning his living as a photographer.

 

• Doc Aviv, Israel 2013 — 2nd Prize Student Sompetition 
• TAU FILM FEST 2013, Israel 2013 First Course Prize 
• Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, USA 2014 
• San Fransisco Jewish Film Festival, USA 2015 — 2nd prize Short Film

 

In order to address some of the sadness I felt after my dog died, I wrote a fictional short screenplay for a film I was directing for my end-of-year project  for Year II of  film school.  The script was about an old man burying his dog in the forest. I looked for an elderly actor who would be able to play the lead, someone whose face would express in one glance the sadness and loneliness I wanted to put across. There weren't many actors of that age and personality around, but finally I came across a picture of an elderly actor with a laconic look on his face, and I decided to contact him. I didn't know anything about him, but at that point I had nothing to lose.

 

When I knocked on the door of Isaac's apartment the first thing I heard was a dog barking, the sound of  its paws clacking across the parquet as he raced to the front door. The door opened and in seconds I was aware of Isaac and the special bond he had with his little dog, Brut.

 

Isaac was in fact a theater actor and most of his work experience was with puppets. His apartment was full of them— all hand-made by his wife for various performances. But, Isaac explained to me, she had become sick and had been in hospital for some time.  He and Brut were living alone in the apartment, which he said enabled him to identify with the character I had written about in my script. So we made the film, and then each of us went our separate ways.

 

About a year later I was looking for a subject for my graduate documentary. I remembered Isaac and his apartment full of puppets and memories, and thought about his relationship with his dog and how he never allowed himself even a moment of self-pity. I got in touch with him and for the second time around, we made a film about a man and his dog. This time, I had no idea how the story would end. 

Short Competition 2015