It’s 1991. A massive wave of Russian Ashkenazi immigrants arrives to Israel. Mish is 12 years old and records his arrival to the Promised Land with his video camera. The traumatic experience of immigration becomes absurd when the family’s grandaunt dies during the flight just before landing. Misha’s parents will have to confront the busy and strict Hebrew bureaucracy to be able to bury the deceased in Israeli soil.

The leading family of this half-length film arrives to an unknown country with an unknown language and very strong traditions. While they are trapped in the immigration offices close to the border they will have to resolve everything related to the funeral of their grandaunt; but first they’ll have to deal with all the paperwork needed to formalize the corpse’s nationality.

Prudovsky, the director of Welcome and… our condolences, transforms a tragic situation into a comedy where dark humor takes the main spotlight. The intelligent and sharp script is full of continuous absurd situations. The director takes Woody Allen’s idea: comedy = drama + time, and the result is this hilarious 30 minute long comedy.

Leon Prudovsky was born in 1978 in Leningrad, USSR (currently Saint Petersburg, Russia) and he immigrated to Israel when he was 13 years old. He graduated from the Film and TV School of Tel Aviv University in 2004. His graduation project short-film, Dark Night, was nominated for the Student Academy Award in 2005 and won several prizes in prestigious festivals such as the International Film Festival of Venice; the Jerusalem Film Festival and the Palm Springs International Film Festival of New York. In 2009 he wrote and directed his first feature film Five Hours from Paris, which was selected for the Toronto Film Festival. He has also worked as an advisor for the Israeli Film Fund. His latest film, Welcome and… our condolences, won the highest award in its category at both the Tel Aviv Film Festival and the New Jersey International Film Festival. This film was given the Young Jury Award at the latest edition of Clermont-Ferrand.

Welcome and… our condolences will be part of the Official Section of the International Half-Length Film Festival La Cabina that will be taking place during the month of November at the IVAM.  You can find all the information here: www.lacabina.es

WELCOME AND… OUR CONDOLENCES  | Israel · Leonid Prudovsky · 2012 · 30 mins.

Welcome and… our condolences (Leon Prudovsky, 2012) from Festival La Cabina on Vimeo.