What Defines A Person Is Their Actions In The World: Tomer Shushan and Shira Hochman on "White Eye"
White Eye is writer/director Tomer Shushan’s second short, which went on to win the Best Short Film Award in Haifa International Film Festival 2019. The film is edited and co-produced by Shira Hochman, who received a nomination for the Editing Award in the 2014 Israeli Academy Awards, and focuses on a man who discovers a shocking revelation when trying to find his stolen property.
A man finds his stolen bicycle and it now belongs to a stranger. In his attempts to retrieve the bicycle, he struggles to remain human.
We had the opportunity to chat with Tomer and Shira about their love for filmmaking, the difficulties of pulling off a one-shot short, and much much more!
How did each of you fall in love with film and the art of moviemaking?
Tomer: When I was 20 years old, right after the army service, I started to work in a clothing store, in the back, in the storage, folding clothes, 8 hours in a row, sitting and folding. There were two workers every shift. My favorite one was with Yoel, who used to recommend films to me that I couldn’t watch at the theater, T.V or even on the net. One film after another, each one better than the one before. I remember how much it affected me, to see new stories from different cultures and places. I never thought I could actually do it, filmmaking felt bigger and far from me. But ever since I started to watch films with so much passion, I started to see every moment in my life in shots. I imagined how I would shoot it and from which angle. Until one day I got a new mobile phone from my parents, with video camera, and started to take secret videos of my family and friends. After one year, I decided to study film, and since then I feel there is nothing more organic for me then to tell stories with sounds and visuals.
Shira: For me, film and filmmaking is an act of love and compassion. My dad loves movies and as a child it was our quality time. I was very excited every time, not from the movie of course but from being with him. He always picked the film to watch, usually it was thrillers, action movies and adventures. I really didn’t care, it was our sacred hours.
I’m making films from a place of great love for the people with whom I create and the necessity of the souls and worlds we create.
How did the two of you meet, and what attracted each of you to this project?
Shira: Tomer and I got to know each other in 2016 as we worked together on his diploma film - Inside Shells. We became good friends. It was clear to us that we would continue to work together on his next project. When he wrote the script for White Eye and told me about it, I immediately wanted to read it. I absorbed into the world he created. Cruelty and compassion are a necessary part of our lives and a central part of the film, as we often encounter a situation where we have to decide, according to our private values. Usually, the private ego chooses not to see the other weak side affected by our decisions. Right after I read the script, I felt a big urge to produce this movie, that this movie just has to happen and reach as many viewers.
What do you hope audiences take away from the film?
Tomer: I hope that after watching this movie, a person will ask himself what he would do in such a situation, or from that point, when a person is facing the weaker, he will try to look at the situation from a different angle and not just from his own place and ego. Eventually, the material is biodegradable, it has no value without the human psyche that defines it. What defines a person is their actions in the world.
The decision to approach the short as a long take gives the short a sense of realism and really emerges the viewer into the character’s situation, but it must have come with its own set of unique challenges. What kind of work goes into an ambitious feat like that?
Shira: The production itself was very exciting. Shooting ONE SHOT in one night is definitely thrilling. [Co-producer] Kobi [Mizrahi] and I had to prepare for this night very well. Many reheasles have been made so that we can reach the most accurate moment. Mostly, we were about 50 people, who wanted to see this shot take place and gave their hearts to the set. The cast and crew from all departments were ALL IN and maintained admirable concentration and patience. From the moment of the ACTION to the CUT we couldn’t breathe, we prayed with all our heart that there will be no interruption to the take, that this dance succeed, and everyone will do the choreography in symbiotic way, to reach the most accurate take. This in itself is a fascinating and exciting thing. A complete set of 50 people is breathtaking for 20 minutes in each take.
Doing one long take demands a lot of your actors. How did you find your cast, and how much rehearsing went into getting the blocking just right?
Tomer: When I started to work on this film, I knew that to make it on one shot I need to do lots of rehearsals, but from the other end, It was important for me that the first time the main actors are going to meet will be on the day we shot, so I worked with them separately and with each one of them, I used to confront them as the other character.
I think this is one of the things you can really see in the film, that the tension is there and you can feel this is the first time they see each other. There is something about meeting a person for the first time, that the body language and the general energie are really hard to reproduce.
Another thing that was important for me is that the actor who is going to be Yunas will be a non-actor African refugee, because I knew that this character should be presented by a person who comes from the same background.
After a few months of searching, one night, I walked at 3am in the street and from a dimly lit window of a hamburger place I saw dawit washing dishes, I came close and we looked at each other for a few moments, something about his look recognized that someone actually saw him. My first words were “I want you to act in my next film”, he laughed, couldn't believe that i'm serious, the day after we met for a coffee and we started our journey of two meetings in a week of talking, working on text and body language.
My sister recommended me on Daniel Gad for the character of Omer.
We met and I just knew, something about our first meeting was magical, the feeling that you wish to have when you're looking for the missing part of a creation. I didn't even need to see anything he did before. When we started to work on the character, I knew that the best thing is that Daniel will have the chance to be close to me even when we are not working since the character is based on me. So I decided to take him to Sinay, there is no better place i think. And there we became really close and the work just became much more organic, because it is not the director and actor that are working, it's two friends that are trying to tell a story.
I love the graffiti that was strewn all over the exterior of the street location. How much of the set dress was production design and how much was natural?
Shira: The graffiti in the street location was the creation of our talented art director Nitzan Ziprut. She worked on the location during the nights prior to the shooting together with a graffiti artist while Kobi and I were guarding them. It’s a very dodgy area and many people passed by, asked questions and even tried to steal the metal pillar that Nitzan attached to the ground, to which the bicycle was tied to in the film.
What films or filmmakers did you use as inspiration for the short?
Tomer: When I have a story to tell, for me to make it is to collect references to each part of the film from my favored films and filmmakers.
So I can say that on the composition and the mise en scene I'm taking a lot from Bela Tarr and Chantal Akerman.
Roy Anderson and Nuri Bilge Ceylan are there all the time for the dynamic between people, relationships and how to seize a moment.
Theo Angelopoulos and Andrei Tarkovsky for the spiritual and meditative effect of visual and sounds.
For this film I also watched Bicycle Thieves of Vittorio De Sica for story reference and Victoria (2014) and all of Gaspar Noe’s films for technical reference.
Are there any other projects you’re working on that you can tell us about?
Tomer: I'm developing two projects these days.
The first one is my debut feature film, Between the sacred and the secular.
The film is about an unexpected love story that happens one night in a wedding celebration between a thirty years old waiter and a rich young woman, that comes from two different classes and carries them to a wild night journey of passion which raises a threat of existence.
The second one is a T.V series named TORSO. It is about Leon, a private investigator who was hired by the suspicious wife of a police detective. Instead of discovering the husband's unfaithfulness, Leon reveals his complex secret. Going deeper and deeper in the trace, Leon gets the chance to save the life of innocent people.
What do you think? We want to know. Share your thoughts and feelings in the comments section below, and as always, remember to viddy well!