{"id":13175,"date":"2011-06-24T00:00:49","date_gmt":"2011-06-24T07:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=13175"},"modified":"2011-06-29T03:37:55","modified_gmt":"2011-06-29T10:37:55","slug":"ticket-to-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=13175","title":{"rendered":"Ticket to Ride"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Still image from "Step by Step", a film by Vitali Krivich<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The clip is jarring, disturbing, and powerful; the reality it describes is no less unsettling. Documenting an absorption center where Russian youths who immigrated to Israel alone spend 9 months in preparation for a new life in Israel, \u201cStep by Step\u201d by Vitali Krivich is a film in progress. A short clip presented at the recent CoPro <\/a>pitching session in May 2011, elicited the following comment from Rudy Buttignol President and CEO of Knowledge Network, \u201c[I] thought this would piss off a lot of people so I immediately loved it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The images are grim and lurid, depicting young people (ages roughly 16 \u2013 20) far away from family and home, cooped up in a building in the north of Israel with strict discipline \u2013 they are not allowed to go out, work, have television or internet in their rooms, they have barely any contact with the outside world, and every incentive to cut loose and break all the rules. At 24, Vitali Krivich is not much older than these students. \u201cStep by Step\u201d his first feature, has been commissioned by Yes Docu, edited by Doron Suliman, the film is produced by Haim Meckelberg, Estee Yaakov-Meckelberg and 2TEAM Productions.<\/p>\n

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Vitali Krivich\/Photo: Laurent Burst<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Krivich came to Israel as an immigrant from Russia, arriving in 1999 with his family and residing in the north. The frame story is a familiar one: his father spent a year in Israel working then returned and \u201cit was decided somehow to immigrate\u2026it all happened very quickly.\u201d Krivich was then twelve and a half. He majored in film and communications in high school, graduating with honors while finding time to spend two years as a broadcaster on a pirate radio station. He struck out on his own at age 16, and eventually found his way to Tel Aviv. \u201cI was afraid to come here alone,\u201d recalled Krivich, \u201cI didn\u2019t know anybody. Tel Aviv seemed like a foreign country, moving to Tel Aviv was a kind of immigration, aliya. I thought, if I find a study program, then I have enough of a reason to come.\u201d Krivich studied film at Minshar, and it was there that the current project began: an assignment to make a short documentary, up to 15 minutes in length.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I received the assignment I contacted the Jewish Agency and they sent me to a few different places because they didn\u2019t really understand what I wanted and I didn\u2019t really know what I was looking for,\u201d said Krivich. He looked at absorption centers in the south and center of the country but didn\u2019t find that elusive quality he was searching for until he received a phone call telling him about yet another place, an absorption center in Karmiel. \u201cIt was winter, raining, really cold and I hate winter,\u201d said Krivich, \u201cand I thought: fuck, I\u2019ll have to go all the way over there.\u201d Once there, he was astonished by what he found.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t imagine that places like this exist, an isolated, closed off building where there are only young people, they\u2019re just kids. The funny thing is that this is the first time in my life that I felt that there was some difference between me and young people at that time I could have said of myself \u2013 I\u2019m young, but I met people who were 17, 18 years old and I was 22 or 23. That difference of only a few years was really noticeable. It was a little strange.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seeing the clip for \u201cStep by Step\u201d it is obvious that Krivich had incredible access to the place and the people, perhaps enhanced by an affinity to the students at the center: the Russian language, background as an immigrant and his youth. On his part, the connection and dedication to the project was intense. He recalls, \u201cAfter a few weeks I started shooting there with a small camera and I was up there every spare minute \u2013 if I wasn\u2019t in school or working, whenever I had a few hours to spare. I spent lots of money on transportation, going by sherut cab, train or bus. It would take two or three hours. I was there every weekend Thursday through Saturday from January to June, until they finished the program.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause it is my first movie and I talked to lots of people and the best advice I got from documentary filmmakers was that if you want to make a film about a place you need to live there. Now, I couldn\u2019t actually move in there, that was impossible, although I would have done it. I was there as much as I could, and it helped.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Still image from "Step by Step", a film by Vitali Krivich<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The group of immigrants depicted in the film completed their program in June 2010 and have each gone their separate ways; a small minority returned to Russia, the others are either students in a mehina (a pre-academic program administered by the universities in Israel) or are serving in the IDF. Krivich remains in touch with them and has continued filming their experiences in Israel, although not with the same intensity. The core of the film is the experience of these youths at the absorption center. \u201cStep by Step\u201d is entering its final stages as Krivich reflects and structures the material, towards the film\u2019s final editing and completion.<\/p>\n

The essential questions generated by these youth\u2019s experiences continue to puzzle and fascinate. \u201cHow do you leave everything at age 16 and come here?\u201d said Krivich, \u201cThey give them a free ticket and promise them a bright future, put them in this absorption center in Karmiel, and they are stuck there for 9 months\u2026 When my father told me, I thought: Wow, to move to Israel! I didn\u2019t know anything about Israel except for the little that I\u2019d heard from people. I imagined tall buildings like Las Vegas, something like a big city in America\u2026 that I\u2019d have great games.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked what he thinks his life would have been like had he remained in Russia, in a place Krivich describes as a \u201chole\u201d, his answer is unequivocal: \u201cEverything would be completely different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Would he be making films?<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d said Krivich, \u201cChances are I\u2019d study something that my parents chose and managed to get me into some university through connections, someone who knows someone\u2026 I\u2019d probably be a dentist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the film is not yet finished, Krivich is very clear about his intentions, \u201cI\u2019m not dealing with politics. It\u2019s a movie about people. I don\u2019t have an opinion about politics, I don\u2019t vote, it doesn\u2019t interest me. I came and filmed and my aim is to convey the atmosphere of the place and the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Step by Step, directed by Vitali Krivich
\nEditor: Doron Suliman
\nProducers: Haim Meckelberg, Estee Yaakov Meckelberg, 2TEAM Productions
\nCinematography: Vitali Krivich, Additional cinematography: Arie Shusterovich, Daniella Nowitz<\/p>\n

The photograph of Vitali Krivich is by Laurent Burst<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The clip is jarring, disturbing, and powerful; the reality it describes is no less unsettling. Documenting an absorption center where Russian youths who immigrated to Israel alone spend 9 months in preparation for a new life in Israel, \u201cStep by Step\u201d by Vitali Krivich is a film in progress. A short clip presented at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-film"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13175\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}