Mechina: A Preparation HOME/PERSONAL USE
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Film Overview

Directed By: Maital Guttman Directed By: Madeleine Sackler View Official Website	Release Date: 2008-06-19 Running Time: 0:45 Content Rating: GA (General Audience)	DVD Region: All Regions Media Format: NTSC-DVD Aspect Ratio: 4:3 Audio Language(s): English, Hebrew
Genres: Documentary >> International :: Documentary >> Jewish Heritage :: Documentary >> Art & Artists Influences: Promises // Encounter Point // Unsettled

Synopsis

Maital feels no different from her cousin Amitai. They both enjoy music and going to the beach. They both want to work for peace. When they were eighteen, they both worried about graduating from high school and making plans for the future. The difference? At eighteen, Maital worried about what college she would attend, while Amitai worried about what unit he would enter in the Israeli Defense Force.

In the summer of 2004, Maital launches a journey to discover what it means to be eighteen in Israel. Living with her cousin Amitai and his five friends as they prepare for their army service, she uncovers the complexity of being young and idealistic in a time of war, as the teens transition from students to soldiers.

Crew

Director: Maital Guttman | bio
Maital Guttman is a documentary filmmaker who was born in Israel and is now based in Los Angeles. She is passionate about bringing people together across boundaries, and has created documentary photographs and video in New Orleans, Thailand, Uruguay, Poland, Israel, Morocco, and Moldova. In 2006, she was awarded the Lewis Hine Documentary Fellowship which sent her to South Africa for ten months. There, she produced a documentary a film that premiered at The International AIDS Conference in Toronto and is being distributed by the Red Cross of Southern Africa. Most recently, she is producing a documentary film entitled Mechina:A Preparation, a film that explores the lives of 18-year old students in Israel who are preparing for their army service. She is currently touring with the film nationwide to various high schools, colleges, and film festivals.
Director: Madeleine Sackler | bio
Madeleine Sackler graduated from Duke University in 2005 with a B.S. in Psychology. She has studied film editing at the New York Film Academy. In 2005, she edited Mechina: A Preparation with Maital Guttman. She has worked for numerous editing houses as a freelance editor, most recently for MTV and Moxie Pictures. She has edited several short non-fiction pieces, including a promotional video for Sting and Trudie Styler’s organic farm in Tuscany and a documentary for Eliot Spitzer’s campaign.

Accolades

Festivals

Nashville Jewish Film Festival
Rhode Island Jewish Film Festival
Desert Jewish Film Festival
Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival
Maine Jewish Film Festival
Santa Barbara Jewish Film Festival
UCSanta Barbara Israel Palestine Festival

Press Reviews

News and Record | show/hide snippet
Guttman’s film is a raw, incredibly powerful film that feels like MTV’s “Real World” with a sociopolitical bent.
Rhode Island Jewish Film Festival | show/hide snippet
"A stimulating and thought provoking film. At the end of the film, many audience members had tears in their eyes."
Rabbi Lionel Moses, Montreal | show/hide snippet
"Every Jewish teen 16-22 should see this film!"
Mo Sarhan, President of Duke's Arab Student Organization | show/hide snippet
"I realize that it's not I'm pro-Palestinian and you're pro-Israel, but we're all pro-peace!"
Wayne Firestone, President of Hillel International | show/hide snippet
"This film has proved itself to be effective at challenging commonly held perceptions of Israel, the Israeli army, and Israeli society, by humanizing Israelis.”