Majdal Shams, the hometown of the two protagonists, is the largest of the four Druze towns in Israel. Located in the Golan Heights, the town was occupied in the Six-Day War in 1967 and annexed in 1981. Many people here still identify as Syrian—but with the war in Syria and October 7, the situation has fundamentally changed, and questions of national and cultural belonging are being renegotiated.
Udi Kalinsky and Irit Hod followed their protagonists over a period of three years. On the one hand, there is a teenage girl who dreams of becoming a professional ice hockey player but can only participate in international tournaments if she holds an Israeli passport. On the other, her uncle—a farmer and journalist—who is actively involved in local politics. They represent two different generations navigating the same uncertain reality, yet with very different approaches. While Aya sees herself as a future athlete and is willing to adopt a new citizenship to achieve that goal, Ayoub remains deeply rooted in the past and continues to identify as Syrian. A film not only about questions of identity between history and the present, but also about how one can plan one’s life—and that of a community precariously caught between opposing sides—as tensions continue to escalate.
Text: Bernd Buder
Supporting Film: SILA (Bissan Tibi, IL 2025, 25 min)