Under the radar, Israeli film artists have created a thriving animation industry. Their work is in demand at companies like Disney and Pixar. Sapir’s School of Audio and Visual Arts has been a pioneer in the field, training a new generation of film artists and animators to take the lead in this emerging field.

Now, Sapir graduate Yulia Trachtenberg has won the prestigious Asif prize for the best animated student film of 2022, as part of the Animix film festival. Her film, Pears, features original music by Nikita Semyonov and soundtrack by Lior Weizman, both Sapir graduates as well. In the poignant, six minute film, a young woman named Yana tries to give meaning to a family proverb that has accompanied her from childhood: “Love till you’re breathless, and shake it like a pear.”

The prize committee, calling the artistry “perfect,” the sound track “wonderful,” and the directing “precise,” said that Pears features “hypnotic visual imagery.” Giving voice to the pain and ambivalence of the immigrant experience, the film “is both a personal tale and the story of an entire community.“

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