Ofra Bloch is a filmmaker and psychoanalyst. She grew up in Israel, where her deep interest in the short and long-term effects of trauma originated. She has volunteered with Doctors of the World, where she interviewed victims of torture, and wrote their affidavits. She began making short documentaries 10 years ago. “Afterward” is her first feature documentary.
“Afterward” will premiere at the 2018 DOC NYC film festival on November 12.
W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.
OB: “Afterward” describes my journey to Germany, Israel, and Palestine, in which I delve into the secret wounds carried by victims as well as victimizers, through testimonies that range from the horrifying to the hopeful.
As a psychoanalyst, I travel to Germany to understand how the legacy of the Holocaust informs contemporary daily life and shapes Germans’ collective identity. In Palestine, I explore the identity-making narratives of the Nakba [the 1948 Palestinian exodus], violent and non-violent resistance, and the possibility of forgiveness.
The road leads me all the way home, to the Jerusalem neighborhood where I grew up. I look out the window for any resemblance to the naive outlook I had about Israel, only to discover that my innocence about the place I used to call home is all gone.
The film points towards a future — an “afterward” — that attempts to live with the truths of history in order to make sense of the present.
W&H: What drew you to this story?
OB: As a psychoanalyst with an interest in treating trauma, I’ve always been drawn to the idea that trauma can be passed down and transferred between generations. I used to be focused on the experience of second and third-generation victims of the Holocaust, and never wondered about the effect of trauma on the dependents of victimizers.
But then in 2013, I started thinking about my own demonization of Germans and I’ve become alarmed by the danger of transferring those feelings to my own sons. My initial goal of making a film about my interviews with second and third generations of German descendants of perpetrators was born out of a wish to shed those feelings. After I returned from the shoot in Germany, it became obvious that I needed to talk to the other group of “others” in my life, whom I was raised to fear and hate: the Palestinians.
During my interviews with both Germans and Palestinians, it occurred to me that it was an opportunity to use psychoanalytic skills of listening in encounters with others as a way of entering the experience of people who might be my own perpetrators or my own victims.
W&H: What do you want people to think about when they are leaving the theater?
OB: My wish is that at the conclusion of “Afterward” viewers will see how easy it is to move from a mind-set of a victim to that of a perpetrator. “Evil,” for lack of a better word, can be unearthed in each of us given the “right” conditions, regardless of our religious or ethnic background. Evil is our capacity as human beings to become bystanders who stop asking questions and remain silent in the face of moral collapse.
It is only in the act of humanizing “the other” that we as a society can find a kind of salvation. The film points to the act of active listening and the recognition and acknowledgment of the experience of others as the first step in this process.
W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?
OB: The biggest challenge was to discover what the film was really about and weave the various themes together. It was only at the post-production phase that I discovered that, unconsciously, I really wanted to make a film about my encounters with Palestinians in which I gave them the space to tell their stories. However, the road to those meetings required me to talk to Germans first and to evacuate the space they inhabited in my mind since my childhood in the shadow of the Holocaust.
Arriving at that pivotal point also revealed that the film ended up being about my own journey — and that my childhood memories and dreams were the glue that connected the various parts of “Afterward” and held them together.
W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made.
OB: I went through an extensive grant application process and I was unable to secure significant funding through that route. I discovered that I had to really build a grassroots coalition of collaborators and supporters who were passionate about the issues I was exploring in the film, with both small and large contributors over a three-year period.
I was lucky enough to have a substantial group of friends and supporters and I feel deep gratitude to them for their trust in me and in the project.
W&H: What inspired you to become a filmmaker?
OB: My best present ever was given to me on my seventh birthday: I was taken to see a movie for the first time in my life. It was in Israel in the ’50s, where there was no TV and hardly any Israeli-made films. That meant that I needed to be able to read subtitles. I saw “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” and thought I had touched heaven and I fell in love with cinema.
Later on, I developed a dream of becoming a psychoanalyst and a filmmaker. Eventually, I studied for many years and became a psychoanalyst and continued at the same time to watch films and dream about being a filmmaker.
But then, I reached the age which I named “the age of chutzpah,” and having had realized that one needs pretty much the same set of skills for both professions, I asked myself, “Why not?” It was when I couldn’t answer the question that I took my passion on the road and dared make the documentary I wanted to make.
W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?
OB: The best advice I received was from my producer, editor, and DP, who saw the value of directing the camera at me, which was not the initial plan, and that move enabled me to enter the frame and be present in a different way in my encounters with my interviewees.
The worst advice I received was the recommendation to avoid talking to Germans and Palestinians because there is no reason for me to care about the experience of my former and present enemies.
W&H: What advice do you have for other female directors?
OB: I would like to tell female directors, and those who dream of becoming one, that it is possible to achieve and that it can be done at any age. Therefore my message is: Yes, you can! I believe that the most important advice is to focus on the act of doing, on the actual creative process, and enjoy and suffer and laugh and cry through all the challenges.
What you are not to do is occupy your mind with worries about how your film would be received or with fantasies about accolades and prizes down the road. This is the blueprint for writer’s/filmmaker’s block and it will paralyze you and take away the magic from your experience.
W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.
OB: My favorite woman-directed film is Agnès Varda’s “Faces Places.” The film is a testimony of Agnès Varda’s humanism, curiosity, capacity for joy, wit, and emotional intelligence.
The 90-year-old director collaborates with the 35-year-old French street artist JR and they go on a road trip and photograph chance encounters with ordinary people with untold stories. Varda has the unique ability to be present for her subjects in such an intimate manner and yet she leaves them breathing space and celebrates their giant photographs that are taken by JR and are displayed on old buildings and structures.
For me, Varda defies gravity. She is a celebration of life.
W&H: Hollywood and the global film industry are in the midst of undergoing a major transformation. What differences have you noticed since the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements launched?
OB: There is definitely an increased awareness of the prevalence of sexual harassment and sexual assault in the film industry. It is very encouraging to know that the conspiracy of silence around this issue has been broken.
While we have seen individual offenders fall from grace, I think it is too early to evaluate the impact of the movements on institutions. Victims have been given their voice back, but how do we punish and how do we compensate are unanswered questions that keep us in limbo.
I believe that what is needed now is the development of regulatory processes and mechanisms to deal with accusations of sexual assault and harassment in every field and work environment. I was very taken by Masha Gessen, who wrote in The New Yorker that victims and perpetrators should address each other through truth and reconciliation hearing. She suggested that this process could create a better understanding of the scope of the problem and help institutions change their power structure by being more transparent.
