For a whole hour, the filmmaker Samuel Maoz feared his daughter was dead. That’s how long it took to get hold of her, after an attack on a bus in which she might have been sitting. That uncertain hour, twenty years ago, was the worst thing he had ever experienced – even worse than his war experiences, which he tackled in his masterful debut, Lebanon (2009).
Foxtrot takes this personal trauma as the starting point for a story about the Feldmann family. Father Michael and mother Daphna learn at the start of the film that their son Jonathan has died on military service, as a guard at a deserted border post. The facts prove to be a lot more complex.
In three stylistically different parts, Maoz tells the story from the perspective of father, son and mother. All three dance a foxtrot with fate. A dance with many variations, but ‘no matter where you go, you end up where you started’.
Film details
- Country of production
- Israel
- Year
- 2017
- Festival edition
- IFFR 2018
- Length
- 108'
- Medium/Format
- DCP
