Return To Them

[noam]

Return To Them:

Kyla, a young woman living in post-holocaust Europe deals with the death of her family.

As a young girl during the war, Kyla's entire family was taken by the Nazi's, brought to a concentration camp and murdered. Because of her age, and the fact that she had blonde hair and blue eyes, Kyla was passed off as an orphaned Christian girl, and adopted by a Nazi family. Now over fifteen years later, she is living alone and depressed.

Kyla has always felt guilty that she was the only member of her family to survive the Holocaust - and it was only accomplished by living a lie for so long. After years of reflecting on what had happened she still finds herself lost.

Kyla's Quest:

Deep down, since her family was taken, Kyla has needed to reconnect with her family - somehow. She realizes that the only way to reconnect with them and to fulfill herself would be to spiritually "Return To Them" in death. The only thing standing in Kyla's way is herself. She is torn between living a long, but possibly lonely life, or taking the leap - and hoping she can once again be with her family.

[Ryan E. Walters]

Touching work. I really enjoyed the visuals of the film, and they complemented the story very well. At first I thought that the compositing was a bit gimmicky, but in the end I think it works as it helps to create a disturbing feeling. I also liked the voice over- I'm not a fan of VO, but her delivery of the Vo was compelling and honest to me, and that overcame my natural prejudice of VO work in short films. Great job. :)

[sean156]

Your film as a whole came across as completely PRO. The cinematography in particular was stunning. Great acting via mere expressions by all three actors and an excellent job with the voiceover as well.

I can't really think of any criticisms except to maybe say that I don't see much replay value in the film. But that's a minor nitpick. Fantastic job!

[Horncastle]

A heart-rending and beautifully made short. Music, sound and cinematography were all excellent and I loved the combination of in-camera and post-production editing. I liked the way the voice over was delivered, although I did have difficulty in understanding the words at times.

That said, I've watched it several times now and I still have some uncertainty as to whether you intended the film to relate to one particular historical period or not. I came away from the first viewing convinced the film spoke about ex-Yugoslavia, and so heartfelt did it seem that I expected to see lots of Slav names in the credits. The scenery, physical appearance of the actors and the costumes all seemed in keeping with ex-Yugoslavia in the late 90s or early 2000s. The girl's tattoo seemed at first to be a concentration camp number but then we are shown her doing it to herself in the bath so I thought it might be the date of her family's disappearance (although I was unable to read the number). In your message above you say that it's set in post-holocaust Europe, yet the time period is not at all convincing. Also I read that Kyla was adopted by a Nazi family - and that made me think of the children of the murdered Argentinian desaparecidos given to family's friendly to the regime to bring up (something that is less likely to happen in the case of ethnic cleansing I think). So anyway, I'm left wondering how much you wanted your film to be an all-encompassing story about political and ethnic persecution generally, and how much you really wanted it to refer specifically to the Nazi holocaust.

[Noel Evans]

Yeah I have to say, great use of VO, something I always try to avoid, but you got it down.

Some really excellent shots. Very powerful!

[Tim Joy]

Quite captivating, and beautiful. The score and sound design hooked me right from the get-go.

It had a wonderful erie dream-like quality that supports the story well.

Bravo on a first entry.

Tell us more about the making-of.

[Zak Forsman]

this one reminded me in a way of Tarkovsky's more abstract work like The Mirror. that's a compliment.

[noam]

Thanks for all of the feedback everyone! There are still a couple of minor issues with the sound and visuals that I will be working out for future cuts, so this version isn't 100% polished. I'd like to upload some behind the scenes photos at some point soon, but until then I can tell you a bit about the production process. It was produced in three shoot days with a very minimal crew.. Two out of the three days we only had a two person crew, including myself. Which meant we had to take on many roles. Everyone involved was extremely dedicated and I couldn't have asked for a better cast or crew to work with. The film was shot on my HMC150 using a Cinevate lens adapter rented to us by fellow DVXuser member Rodney Smith. Who of course also was a huge help on set on one of our most important shoot days.

In terms of the story, it's nice to see that people are interpreting it in different ways. The intention originally was fairly straight forward. The main character, Kyla who had lost her family in the Holocaust, is now in her early twenties and reflecting on her life as a little girl. She imagines what it would be like to be an elderly lady, alone - having lived a life without her family, and is unsure if she wants to go on living.

When I began editing the film, I realized that the story really came to life in the edit and I intentionally tried to leave certain elements open to interpretation, while still trying to maintain focus of the film.

I REALLY appreciate the feedback, and I'll look forward to hearing more of your thoughts.

Noam

[noam]

Some shots from our first day on set.

[Solomon Chase]

this one reminded me in a way of Tarkovsky's more abstract work like The Mirror. that's a compliment.

I got the same vibe. Mirror is the last Tarkovsky film I've watched, and immediately came to mind while watching this. I loved the surreal atmosphere and the compositing... the opening image was great and I like how it began and ended on it. Beautiful piece. :thumbup:

[noam]

I'll have to check out The Mirror.. Sounds interesting!

[Susanne G.]

Very sensitive work. I enjoyed particulary the camera work - for esample when the camera is going to the sky and then down to the children. An other cinematography detail I loved was the end when she put her hands in front of her face, very artistic. I didn't understood the whole dialog, because on one hand english isn't my mother language and on the other hand there was something like an east european accent, I think. After watching the film I read the synopsis in your thread and I was surprised that it was located after the holocaust. How she was dressed let me thought that it must be more recently, for esample after Yugoslavia. Overall a very enjoyable film. Compliments!

Susanne

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

The link to discuss the film doesn't seem to work.

This was a very visual/powerful piece. Loved the narration as well, very nice.
The transitions also worked for me. I also really enjoyed the music even though it may have been a tad strong at points.

I do have a question though. When/where was this shot?

MAH

[Marlon Ladd]

Very nice film with a great and strong story. I loved the shots. This was a powerful piece.

[Ryan E. Walters]

I just noticed that this was an exhibition only piece- what made you go that route?

[kurtmo]

I really like the score on this one. All the shots held my attention. The overlaid pictures were a novel effect. The audio of the girl was sometimes drowned out by the score and so that I think I missed part of the point. Overall, an interesting way to tell a story connecting images motion and people.

[Gord.T]

Really good. I had to watch it a few times to pick up the tattoo, it was hard to hear what she was saying the first couple times. Sounded like a russian accent to me, or someone from that general area. I understood the guilt and after reading the posts I heard... "..and now I (put?) the number on my arm, and return to them." Makes sense.

I did think it was a little depressing though. I generally prefer to see some sign of hope or enlightenment at the end of these tragity types of things. There is a brief shot where she, as I interpret it, is imagining leaping to her death. I also didn't feel she had found some measure of closure, but that was your point I take it.

Yes, I would have liked to have seen it go a bit further and offer some hope.
Maybe a final shot of her with her new baby for example, I don't know.

That's just a point of view btw. :) That aside, very very well done with nice visual story telling as well as audio and acting, ect.

[hoz]

congrats on your film. i took this to be like a poem.

[DarkElastic]

Hi Noem,

Beautifully shot, with some of the best camera work in the Fest for me, shame it won't be placing! Great acting, creepy music.
An emotional piece, set in a very sensative and emotional time in History.

I think the visions over her face, at the beginning, came in very abruptly, I think a fade would have worked better.


Overall, a brilliant film. Well done.