Israeli Hostage Survivor and Subject of Doc ‘Holding Liat’ on Recent Hostage Release: ‘After a War of This Scale We Can’t Have Things Go Back to What They Were’
In the documentary “Holding Liat,” director Brandon Kramer follows elderly American Israeli couple, Yehuda and Chaya Beinin, as they fight for the release of their 49-year-old daughter, Liat Beinin Atzili, and her husband, Aviv, who were kidnapped and taken into captivity in Gaza after the October 7 attacks.
The film, which won the top nonfiction prize at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year, follows the kibbutznik couple, originally from New Jersey, as they navigate bringing their daughter and son-in-law home while also contending with the Israeli government’s handling of the crisis, their hopes for peace and a two-state solution, and Yehuda’s criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Bibi understands what every right-wing politician understands: never to waste an opportunity to serve your agenda,” Yehuda Beinin tells his other daughter, Tal, who, in the doc, joins him in Washington, D.C., to lobby Congress and ask then-President Biden for help. Upon his arrival in the U.S., Beinin can’t hide his disgust for the pro-Zionist propaganda being spewed at nationalistic rallies.
“This is bullshit,” he fumes, before storming out of a 2023 MAGA convention.
Two months into the ordeal, Kramer documents Atzili’s release from captivity and her husband’s burial.
Earlier this week Variety spoke to Kramer and Atzili, who currently resides in Israel with her three children, about the documentary and the recent release of the remaining Israeli hostages.
Liat, how are you feeling since the release of the hostages?
Atzili: It’s amazing to see the living hostages coming home. It’s a huge relief to see that. I’ve been saying all along that after a war of this scale we can’t have things go back to what they were. [The hostage release] is a game-changer, and things will be different, and I’m hopeful that they will be better.
So, you do believe that this war is over?
Atzili: For the most part, yes.
Brandon, in the documentary Liat’s father says things about the Israeli government and about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that are not favorable. Are you worried about his safety?
Kramer: A big part of making this film has been pushing through fear. This is not a film about the entirety of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or even October 7th, or even the hostages. This is a film about one family, and that’s the frame. As we were editing the film, we would feel fear around showing certain things that people feel in the film because it was too controversial, or because it might upset this person or this audience member. We would have these rough cuts, and you could tell where we edited out of fear. Part of the process of editing this film over a year was blushing those fears out and having the restraint to stay true to the different lived experiences that the family had.
The doc makes it clear that in Israel Netanyahu is not universally liked, while in the U.S. not liking Netanyahu can be seen as anti-Israel. Why do you think that is?
Kramer: In my opinion, there is a false expectation that you need to pick a side where your empathy lies. If you feel that the devastation that is happening in Gaza is absolutely horrific, then for you to acknowledge that the pain that Liat and her family went through is a betrayal of that empathy that you are having for Palestinians, or vice versa. If you have been living in your heart with this feeling of deep empathy for the Israeli victims and the hostages, acknowledging that tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed and that the children have been starved is a betrayal of that grief. Liat spent 54 days in captivity, and her husband was killed. She came out and immediately said, ‘I don’t want a single person in Gaza to be harmed or killed in retribution for what happened to my family.’ So, I think Liat is modeling how it’s not a choice between having empathy for one side or the other. You can have empathy for all people who are affected by this conflict.
Atzili: It has been one of our goals to put forward a message that being pro-Israel doesn’t necessarily mean being anti-Palestine and vice versa. There is a conflict, and people on both sides are being hurt terribly by it. That’s why we have to work together to solve it.
The film has screened all over the world, including in Tel Aviv and most recently at the Hamptons Film Festival. The conflict is especially polarizing in the U.S. How have audiences responded?
Kramer: What happens is that at the end of the screening, people are having conversations that they have never had before. It’s breaking a paralysis in dialogue around this conflict. I think a majority of people actually just have empathy and don’t want people to be suffering. I’m hopeful that the distributors will catch on to that and see that. We have had a lot of success all across Europe and the rest of the world.
“Holding Lait” follows in the footsteps of “No Other Land,” which claimed the Berlinale’s top doc honor in 2024 but despite winning an Academy Award earlier this year, never found mainstream distribution. Brandon, this film also does not have U.S. distribution. What’s the plan?
Kramer: We are doing a theatrical release with The Film Collaborative. The film will open at Film Forum in January. I’m hoping that a distributor, in particular a streamer and broadcaster, will come around and share this film.
