WAIT FOR ME
Poland Warsaw IFF 2022 (Competition 1-2) International Premiere
Maya, sixteen years old, runs away from home in the family sailboat to the port of Larnaca, where a cargo ship is docked and Maya's father supposedly works on it. As a Sea Scout guide, Maya manages to reach her destination, despite some difficulties, including a "strange light" in the sea that follows her. But when she arrives in Larnaca, she witnesses the cargo ship departing for its next destination - Crete. Maya tries to follow it, but her sailboat's engine fails and she is stranded alone in the foreign port. From this moment Maya challenges everyone's belief about how far she is willing to go to find and bring home the one she loves the most. In the world of the sea, where death is as natural as life, Maya's inspiring journey awakens the senses and leaves traces in the heart, body and soul. Just like the sea.
"WAIT FOR ME" is a drama film, set at sea, that follows Maya (16), who runs away from home on the family sailboat in order to get from Israel to Cyprus and find her father. After her plan goes awry, she must decide how far she's willing to go to bring home the person she loves most.
My father was an independent skipper and I grew up in the “sea men's world”.
I wanted to direct a movie where the sea is more than a "shooting set", but is a natural, impressive and powerful world as I know it. As a sea man you must respect the sea in order to survive. Every time you sail you are aware that you might not come back to port. The sea is always changing, never the same, it's unpredictable – like life.
I was interested to set up Maya's journey in this cruel but yet natural world. She is a stubborn teenager, trying to go beyond what is possible, challenging herself and others about what she can achieve or not. She learns in her own particular way that nature is stronger than her, but also, that she is a part of this magnificent nature.
In order to be close to Maya and to the sea, the movie is filmed in a documentary style, authentic as possible. The suffocating space and closed frames reflect the smallness of the man in the sea world but also the emotional state of Maya in the film. Only at the end of her journey, she is able to see life as it is, and herself a part of it.