The Flame and the Arrow

Hamtaro and friends let children learn small Hiragana sentences.

At the age of 18, at his birthday party, Udi experienced the trauma of his life. His childhood sweetheart, Raphaela, leaves him and kisses his brother Lior who is a year younger than him and plays basketball for Maccabi Tel Aviv. Udi holes himself up in his room for three years, disconnecting from any human contact, puts on weight and dedicates his life to Lord of the Rings. When Udi is 21, Lior informs him that their grandmother has passed away and left a will stating that if Uri marries within a month, Udi will receive five million dollars. If he doesn't get married, the money will go to the Friends of the Earth charity in Jaffa. Their grandmother also enclosed a ring with a mysterious power - it is electrifying. If a girl will put it on and doesn't love the guy it will electrify her finger. Udi comes to the decision to leave the room himself and search for a bride in the outside world. A few others join him on this journey: Raphaela, now an up-and-coming model, Lior and Bechor, Lior's delinquent childhood friend. Lior and Bechor are both gay and in the closet and they are both terrified by it. Udi looks for a bride amongst various unusual girls (a transvestite, a dwarf, a Bedouin) who for one reason or another remind him of characters from Lord of the Rings.

A film shot entirely by tsunami survivors, first as kids then as adolescents found by photograph 6 years later. Zen tragedy, organic verite, situational PTSD, displaying the artist, resilience and triumph in us all. A camera is set in a Batticaloa refugee camp in rebel territory Sri Lanka post tsunami and is picked up by children who film a routine food distribution making 15 minutes of beauty that any other filmmaker could not. Six years later, we are at Heaven's house sending them off, once again, professional film crew in toe, to complete 'their' movie - in Tamil - a world anew. Heaven's trauma to Heaven's dance. A unique look at the everyday worlds of the affected and triumphant.