No Names on the Doors

No Names on the Doors (Hebrew: אין שמות על הדלתות) is a 1997 Israeli drama directed by Nadav Levitan. The film was screened at the Berlin International Film Festival, the Montpellier Film Festival, the Shanghai International Film Festival, and the Melbourne International Film Festival. It received five nominations for an Ophir Award including Best Actor and Best Screenplay and Best Soundtrack.^{[citation needed]}

No Names on the Doors
אין שמות על הדלתות
Directed by	Nadav Levitan
Screenplay by	Nadav Levitan
Produced by	Uri Sabag Nadav Levitan
Starring	Chava Alberstein Mosko Alkalai Assi Dayan
Cinematography	Valentin Belonogov
Edited by	Anat Lubarsky
Music by	Nachum Heiman
Distributed by	Paralight Films
Release date	January 1, 1997 (1997-01-01)
Running time	84 minutes
Country	Israel
Language	Hebrew

No Names on the Doors was shot entirely in Kibbutz Yakum and is the third film in director Levitan's trilogy about Israeli kibbutzim, following An Intimate Story (1981) and Stalin's Disciples (1986).

Nahum Heiman composed the music. The piece for flute, "The Journey to Jerusalem," has been played for many years as the opening theme for morning broadcasts on Reshet Bet.

Plot

The film is set on a modern kibbutz as the spectre of an Arab invasion lurks in the background and financial pressures are breaking down traditional communal values. A series of fragile, interwoven stories mirror this disintegration of collective ideals: a longstanding friendship between two 40-year-old bachelors (Danni Bassan and Meir Swissa) ends tragically when one decides to get married; a bereaved father is embarrassed to find himself attracted to his dead son's girlfriend (Dorit Lev-Ari); and a mother (Chava Alberstein) perpetuates the memory of her dead son by tending to his room as a memorial. At the same time, an elderly man (Mosko Alkalai) discovers a new, more loving relationship with his intellectually-disabled adult son (Avi Pnini).

Cast

• Chava Alberstein as Adina
• Mosko Alkalai as Kuba
• Assi Dayan as Uzi
• Avi Pnini as Israel
• Micha Selekter as Amos
• Dorit Lev-Ari as Aya
• Danni Bassan as Mordi
• Dan Wolman as Joseph
• Abraham Sandberg as GP
• Louise Zarchi as Shoshana
• Hekena Wallport as Suskia
• Shlomo Tarshish as Ely
• Meir Swissa as Simcha

Reception

Deborah Young of Variety wrote that Levitan's third film in his kibbutz trilogy "brings the action to the present day to show the sad dissolution of collective ideals that were these agricultural co-ops' raison d'etre. Though not exceptionally original, the fragile, interwoven stories have a sincere, heartfelt quality that should play well in specialized film weeks and venues."^[1] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called the movie "tender" and "moving".^[2]