Turn Left at the End of the World

Colour, 35 mm
Israel, France, 2004, 108 min
Section: Horizons

Synopsis

The 1960s, an era of massive immigration to the state of Israel. Sarah and her family come from India, and her father experiences the same despair as tens of thousands of other immigrants: in place of the promised "limitless opportunities" they are sent to a small settlement in the middle of the desert. The process of adaptation is difficult for all of them, especially when complicated many times over because of the language barrier and above all inter-personal relationships. For Sarah, who writes everything down in her diary, it is a school for life, as it is for the distinctive and temperamental Nicol. The latter is a French girl from Morocco, who acquires a best friend in the Indian, but at the same time has to lose the illusions of more than one of her romantic girlhood dreams. Gentle narrative over-exaggeration together with sensitive character sketches create a three-dimensional picture of individuals and the whole colourful community. 

About the director

Avi Nesher was born in Ramat Gan in Israel and figures in cinema as a scriptwriter, director, producer and actor. He began to make films at the end of the 1970s, when he made his debut with the musical Sing Your Heart Out (1979), and since then has made around 20 films of various types. He regularly works in the USA, where he has augmented his filmography with action films, criminal dramas and thrillers: Doppelganger: The Evil Within (1993), Raw Nerve (1999) and The Taxman (1999). His other films include The Cowards (1983), She (1985) and Savage (1995).