Amichai Greenberg, Ori Pfeffer – The Testament #Venezia74

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Amichai Greenberg and Ori Pfeffer, director and actor of the film The Testament.

Director Amichai Greenberg screened his directorial feature debut, The Testament, in the Orizzonti section of Venezia 74. The director stopped at our studio to talk about it, alongside his lead actor Ori Pfeffer, who plays the role of the Holocasust historian investigating on a tragic incident that happened at the end of World War II. Greenberg discusses with us the influences of the stories from the Holocaust and how they impacted him as the son of a generation of Jewish people who were not alive themselves at the time. He also talks about the contrast between the personal and the universal in the film, and how both aspects are balanced in The Testament. Pfeffer too tells us whether he felt this internal search of the character he plays, and also whether he likens it to the acting process in general.

The Testament: Yoel, a senior Holocaust researcher, is in the midst of a widely covered legal battle with powerful forces in Austria, concerning a brutal massacre of Jews that took place toward the end of WWII in the village of Lendsdorf. An influential family of industrialists on whose land the murder took place, is planning to build a real estate project on the very same land. Yoel suspects that their aim is to bury the affair for good, but has trouble finding the conclusive evidence that would stop the project. While investigating the incident Yoel examines classified testimonies of Holocaust survivors, and to his shock and surprise he finds a testimony given by his mother, a testimony he didn’t know existed. In her testimony she confesses to a substantial secret from her past. Yoel, who’s conducting a double-investigation, personal and scientific, is trapped between walls of silence. As a historian with an unshakeable commitment to the truth, he decides to continue his investigations even at the cost of ruining his personal and professional life.

For the official page of the film on the festival website click here.