Milchamta shel Raya Sinitsina

This very personal documentary goes far beyond conventional World War II portraits. Graboy initially encounters opposition from his protagonist, now resident in Israel, before managing to dig ever deeper into her life story. In fragmentary form he transforms her memories into imaginative chains of association, thus illustrating the subconscious element in her stories of patriotism and perseverance, hopes and longings, and a youth overshadowed by war, in a masterful tightrope walk between mourning and self-deprecation.

Efim Graboy, whose parents emigrated with him from Russia to Israel in 1999, made a successful start to his filmmaking career with personal documentaries about his parents and experimental films in a journey that has taken him from China to Serbia. Following on from THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER, a portrait of 92-year-old Newsak Weis, THE WAR OF RAYA SINITSINA sees him again reflect, in a most personal yet unconventional manner, on the everyday lives and memories of Russian World War II veterans.