SONG OF SONGS

Shimek is a child with a fertile imagination. Scolded by his conservative parents and marginalized by his classmates, the 10-year-old boy finds a sympathetic ear in Buzya, his neighbour across the way. Escaping the judgement of adults, they forge a universe in which they are the prince and princess of an enchanted kingdom. But then Shimek, to the great dismay of his parents, decides to leave his childhood village to study medicine. Now grown up, the man cannot forget the young girl who helped him come out of his shell. The third feature by Ukrainian director Eva Neymann finds its resonance in the historical reconstruction of a Hasidic Jewish shtetl that is nothing short of masterful. This lyrical, incandescent and decidedly romantic production is bathed in a ghostly ambiance and draped in the seductive nostalgia of an era forever past. Chosen for competition at the prestigious Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Song of Songs finds beauty and a hazy sensitivity in the idealized dreams of lonely children.