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"Still
blowing the sand out of my eyes.
I'm
struck.
The music is hypnotic
-- so
forlorn and appropriate."
Tom Shandel
Documentary Filmmaker
(the innovator behind The
Corporation phenomena)
Cowichan Bay,
BC, Canada
"Surreal
gave me a look at a piece of the
world we hear so much about at a
moment in time that will never
be repeated."
Danny Singer
West Vancouver, BC,
Canada
"Brilliant
work."
Dor Givon
Tel Aviv, Israel
"Surreal shed
light for me on a reality that I
could not have otherwise
imagined.
The
farewell visit to the Gaza Strip
is just that, Surreal.
For me it was both the first and
the last time that I witnessed
Israeli life in the Gaza Strip.
I have only ever been exposed
to brief flashes on the tv
news or reportings on the radio
but never a view from the angle
that Erez presents to us in this
documentary.
The combination of moving and
still images is both creative
and effective in capturing the
essence of the journey by
bringing the viewer along for
the ride.
When
watching the film I often felt
that I was right there with them
in the car.
The original musical score
compliments the film
exceptionally as it draws upon
emotion and supports the
"...glance at a land that no
longer exists"."
Nicole Carere
Vancouver, BC,
Canada
"Yanuv Barzilay clearly did not find what he expected to
find in Gaza:
no militant settlers, no demonstrations, no barricades
against the upcoming turnover. What he did find is
surprising: a land that is, at
first glance, eerily ordinary.
Yet Yanuv Barzilay once again demonstrates his ability to
see beyond the surface as he captures the ghost-town-like
dislocation of a land in shock, teetering between denial,
muted rage and resignation. Israeli settlements are
largely abandoned; those who remain are shrouded in
distrust.
One feels one is driving though villages ravaged by a
plague. The sense of loss hangs heavy in the rotting
tomatoes, the ripped Israeli flags, the unspoken words. Is
it a graveyard or a powder keg? The viewer can't decide.
Yet the lingering images are those of the innocent smiles
of the Palestinian children in Rafah and of the communal
sense of loss etched on the faces of both Israelis and
Palestinian workers - images of what was and what could
have been. Yanuv Barzilay has
given us a once-in-a-lifetime documentary of a time and
place few of us have ever seen and can never see again."
Meg Johnstone
Journalist
Vancouver, BC, Canada
"Powerful
and challenging film.
Great music."
Rabbi Shmuel Birnham
West Vancouver, BC,
Canada
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"Gripping!"
Jessica
Zwaiman
Director of Programming
Discovery Channel Kids Latin
America
Miami, Florida, USA
"Absolutely
astounding.
Riviting."
Reg Oldershaw
World War 2 Vet
Sunshine Coast, BC,
Canada
"a
meditation
on an incredible event – two
travelers striving for some
understanding.
You’ve taken a delicate and
complex situation and put us
literally in the driver’s seat.
The style of photography, the
drift of the music, the faces of
the many people you encountered
en route make Surreal
a
wonderful and provocative
experience."
Peter Smith
Writer, Producer
Toronto, ON,
Canada
"Surreal
has given us a "real-time"
insight and overview of the
situation in the Gaza without the
sensationalism that we see on T.V.
It's heartbreaking that
people have been uprooted from their homes, their lives
put in limbo, and a flourishing agricultural industry
totally decimated with little hope of any positive
outcome from the pull-out.
This film made me feel so sad
about the situation in Israel
and the sacrifices and
compromises we're continually
making in the hopes of finding
peace. I don't see it ever
happening.
The music was
excellent.
I found it haunting and quite beautiful!."
Debbie Goldberg
Vancouver, BC, Canada
"it
was truly a surreal experience...
seeing all these beautiful neighborhoods turning from
hopeful, budding, thriving, communities into ghost-towns
and ultimately into heaps of scrap...
one cannot
help but feel extreme sadness.
All the financial resources, efforts that got washed
down the drain with people's dreams and lives...
the music
contributed to the surrealness of the movie."
Iris Colyn
Burnaby, BC, Canada
"My heart pounded when I recognized the place from
our earlier tour.
It was,
without stretching your point
-
Surreal.
You
continue to amaze me."
Carl Chaplin
Air Brash Artist
Vancouver, BC, Canada
"Thank you very much for making us part of your
journey in Israel.
It aroused in me feelings of impotence, of sadness, of
questioning myself: What, we humans, are omitting; what,
we humans, haven't yet being able to understand that
provokes that many misdoings, disorder,
and confusion in our lives.
Do we,
the human race,
build to destroy to build again
in an interminable chain?
At the end what is the lesson we have really learned and
applied?
Love for all of us, the Human Race."
Lilia Chavarria
Vancouver, BC, Canada
"Yeseher
Coah for a very thought
provoking film.
It certainly was surreal and
very evocative and haunting.
It gave me a glimpse of an
Israel that I have never seen."
David J. Litvak
Publicist, Writer
Vancouver, BC, Canada
"Surreal
was astounding,
I for the first time
was able to see your perspective,
part Israeli and part
Canadian.
It gave me a new
appreciation for being in the
Gaza strip.
I felt that it was a
fantastic opportunity to see it
as it was at that time..."
Kevin Michael Martin
Filmmaker
Vancouver, BC, Canada
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