From May 4–22, 2024, six students from the Film Department at Sapir College visited the International Film School (IFS) in Cologne. They were accompanied by two instructors, who switched halfway through the stay, so that a total of four faculty members got to know the film school and the instructors there.

In the run-up to the visit, students from Sapir College had worked on projects that examined the events of October 7 from very different, more or less personal perspectives. Together with the IFS, six stories were then selected, each of which had only a first rough cut available. Their authors were “matched” with six partners from Cologne, who completed the films in their edited versions. During the intensive editing process, the IFS brought in an editor who had won the Grimme Prize for Documentary Film to provide further professional consultation.

According to all those involved, the project was a complete success—despite the high level of emotional involvement and initial concerns regarding protests at other universities. Due to the positive working atmosphere and the high quality of the individual films produced, the project is set to continue in the fall, with plans to create a professional sound mix. The plan is to combine the six 15-minute films into an “episodic film” and create a theatrical version. A condensed version of the films (52 minutes) will be shown on the Israeli public broadcaster KAN, which is collaborating with the film school in Sapir.       

The collaboration between the two film schools was supported by the NRW state program “Shalom – Chaveruth – Solidarity Partnerships North Rhine-Westphalia–Israel” (Hebrew for peace and friendship). Read more about the “Shalom – Chaveruth: Solidarity Partnerships NRW–Israel” project here.