"Sometimes you don't know who the spider is and who is the fly." In the shadows of city streets as well as the human heart, deep and conflicting emotions simmer beneath the surface of Palestine under British authority in the 1930s. Predators become prey for the crime of loving too little, loving too much, or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. A Zionist girl (Shoshana) and British boy (Timothy), equally well-connected, navigate these dark spaces together and apart. Alliances and relationships form and crumble like shifting winds. You think you know someone until their knife is in your back. Based on real events and people, Shoshana is a thrilling look at how idealism breaks people and nations apart and brings them together. Shot along the seacoast of rural Italy which in certain ways resembles Tel Aviv of the 1930s, Shoshana tells the story of two lovers that parallels the simultaneous dissolution and formation of Israel. The director and main actors were present at the second showing of the film the day after the world premiere. Irina Starshenbaum (Shoshana) said it was hard to stay in great shape when there was such good Italian food available all the time. While I wish the chemistry was better between the actors and that the main theme was clearer, the film highlighted an important truth in relationships between people as well as countries; it matters what sort of thing is being built.

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