Wednesday, January 24----SWEET MUD, the sole dramatic film from Israel in the Sundance World Cinema Drama Competition, debuted this evening at the Egyptian Theater in Park City. The film is the second feature by Israeli director Dror Shaul. Set in a kibbutz (collective farm) during the 1970s, the film is a powerful, courageous critique of kibbutzniks who ostracize a psychologically unstable young mother. It also shows the effect of their well-meaning prejudice on her youngest son, who stands poised at the threshold of manhood.

The year is 1974 and Dvir (Tomer Steinhof) is twelve, entering his bar mitzvah year at the Bet Gvurot Kibbutz. His father is dead and his mother, Miri (Ronit Yudkevitch), who has been institutionalized for mental illness, has recently returned to live with Dvir and his brother Eyal. When Miri's long-distance lover, a Swiss judo master named Stephan (Henri Garcin) arrives to visit, her hateful former in-laws lead the community against her and her family. The young man learns life's complicated lessons as he attempts to cope with the family crisis, while navigating his own romantic longings for a foreign exchange student.

The film offers a rare look at kibbutz life, which seems utopian to some, but which can become very repressive and intolerant when one of its members steps out of line. Shaul captures the social codes and rhythms of life in the kibbutz, while his focus on the tensions and intense feelings within the family are poignantly represented. The young Tomer Steinhof is a find....a totally naturalistic actor who also invites sympathy and compassion as he loses his innocence and tastes both the bitter and the sweet the adult world has to offer.

Dror Shaul was born in southern Israel. He is a prolific, award-winning director of commercials and his medium-length film, OPERATION GRANDMA (1999), won an Israeli Academy Award. He made his feature directorial debut in 2003 with SIMA THE WITCH. SWEET MUD had its international premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2006. Both director Shaul and his lead actor were nominated for the Israeli Film Academy Awards, with wins for Best Picture, Best Art Direction, Best Sound and Best Music among its nine nominations.

Sandy Mandelberger
Sundance Online Dailies Editor