TSILI

Genre: drama (2014, France/Russia/Israel)

Script: Amos Gitai, Marie-José Sanselme
Producer: Laurent Truchot, Yury Krestinskiy

The 1940s, Eastern Europe. Tsili is an adolescent girl of 17. Her parents and the rest of her family have been deported to the camps. With the instincts of a tiny animal, she has built herself a nest in the vast forest overlooking the valley, where she used to walk when she was a child.

From time to time, she goes down to the villages to beg for food from the peasants. The latter suspect her of being Jewish and she disguises her origins by claiming to be the daughter of Maria, a local prostitute who took her in for a while. Maria tried to sell her and Tsili returned to live in her nest.

One day, she meets Marek in the forest. He is about forty and he is Jewish too.

They stay together. Occasionally, Tsili goes down to the villages to exchange clothes for a loaf of bread. One day, unexpectedly, Marek and Tsili become closer.

Winter comes. It becomes harder to go down to the villages for food. Marek decides to make the trip. He doesn’t come back.

The snow starts to melt. All of a sudden, the war is over. Tsili meets survivors from the camp.

They stay near the river for a while. Then they set off for the south. They advance mechanically like automatons. Tsili is pregnant, she walks among them.