Dir: Brandon Kramer | Doc 87’ 2025
This muscular hostage documentary takes a plausible look at the aftermath of the Hamas invasion of October 7th 2023 for one Israeli-American family who suffered a life-changing tragedy.
The focus is Yehuda and Chaya whose 49 year old daughter and son in law were seized by Hamas. Liat was returned after two months but her husband Aviv, a father to their three grown-up kids, was murdered.
Avoiding sentimentality or sensation Brandon Kramer succeeds in presenting the facts surrounding that terrible day within a broader social and political context.
Holding Liat draws on wide-ranging archive footage and interviews and tries to fathom how and why it all happened. Yehuda and Cheya manage to rise above their own pain, sympathising with the plight of the many Palestinians killed in the aftermath (a chance meeting sees Yehuda talking to one of their representatives in Washington D) as well as their daughter’s own horrific experience. They relentlessly lobby the US government to negotiate for Liat’s release.
Kramer takes a balanced view in exploring the complex conflict of two sides who share a region, both claiming to have a right to be there.
Remarkably, Liat remains stoical throughout and committed to the peace process, giving a considered yet emotive speech in the film’s final moments.
Holding Liat is both moving and informative offering some clarity to an ongoing conflict that continues to be be clouded by cant and muddled by misinformation @MeredithTaylor
IN UK CINEMAS FROM Friday | WINNER OF THE ECUMENICAL AWARD BERLINALE 2025