Panorama: Holding Liat
Featuring a post-film discussion with director Brandon Kramer, moderated by Shany Littman.
In the weeks unfolding after his daughter is kidnapped, a father resists efforts to use her captivity to justify escalating violence in Gaza, exposing rifts within his family.
On the morning of October 7, 2023, Israeli-American Liat Atzili and her husband Aviv were at home when Hamas attacked their kibbutz. By nightfall, Liat and Aviv are captives in Gaza along with 250 other people - 12 of whom, like Liat, are American citizens. Caught between international diplomacy and a rapidly escalating war, their family must face their own uncertainty and conflicting perspectives in the pursuit of Liat and Aviv’s release. This agonizing process, and the ultimate fate of their loved ones, challenges how the members of the family understand themselves and their place in the conflict.
Through the intimate lens of a family’s experience, Holding Liat poses complex questions of identity across generations, as the family is thrust into the epicenter of a global conflict rapidly unfolding in real-time.
About Brandon Kramer
Brandon is a DC-based filmmaker and co-founder of MHP. Brandon directed The First Step (Tribeca, AFI DOCS); City of Trees (Full Frame, PBS, Netflix); and the Webby Award-winning documentary series The Messy Truth. Brandon won Best Director at the 2016 Chesapeake Film Festival and Indie Capital Awards, and was a 2022 & 2015 DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities Individual Arts Fellow. Brandon has directed over 30 short films commissioned by organizations including the AARP and US Institute of Peace. Brandon holds a bachelor’s degree in film and cultural anthropology from Boston University.
About Shany Littman
Shany Littman is a magazine and feature writer for the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz. She covers social and political issues and writes opinion pieces, including a regular column on cinema. With an academic background in philosophy, history, and film, she has also worked as a documentary researcher and producer. She is currently a fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalists at Harvard University.
