Under their Custody
Co-created with Keren Bergman
A work in progress
"When [an Israeli citizen] reaches the age of 18, their legal status changes to that of an adult: a person in control of themselves, capable of exercising judgment and acting independently with institutions and various entities in society. If a court concludes that a person is unable, due to a mental or psychological condition, to assume all or part of these responsibilities, it may declare them legally incapacitated and transfer these responsibilities to another person, known as a guardian."
“Under Their Custody” is a docudrama that reconstructs monologues of legally incapacitated individuals from real protocols collected at different stages throughout the ongoing legal process of appointing and supervising a guardian for an adult. The scenarios are taken from actual texts collected from different stages of the legal process throughout the litigation, leading to the decision of whether the adult in question can be independent and responsible for themselves or take responsibility for another person. We have shot scenes from the first three cases of these individuals, as they are formally examined and evaluated to be deemed functioning adults, or dysfunctional, period. This cold, binary judgement is problematized even further by putting the "maladaptive" texts in the mouths of neurotypical, professional actors, whose skill is in creating empathy and connecting to the viewer. This confronts the viewers with prosaic, yet fundamental, ambiguities at the heart of our society. Through the perspective of these various cases, we raise questions about personal autonomy, independence, and the power dynamics that surround it.
Three Monologues
From Under Their Custody:
The Case Of
Stav Etgar
Stav Etgar
with
Yael Eisenberg
as Stav Etgar
and
Ruth Burenshtein
as The Social Worker
Yael Eisenberg
as Stav Etgar
and
Ruth Burenshtein
as The Social Worker
The Case Of
Shuki Shifman
with
Dvir Benedek
as Shuki Shifman
Dvir Benedek
as Shuki Shifman
The Case Of
Uria Nae
with
Maya Gasner
as Uria Nae
and
Dvori Fisher
as The Social Worker
Maya Gasner
as Uria Nae
and
Dvori Fisher
as The Social Worker
Written and Directed by
Producer
Cinematographer
Editor
Assistant Directors
Sound Design
Art Direction
Assistant Cinematographers
Sound Recordists
Boom Operator
Gaffer
Color Grading
Makeup
Grip
Production Assistants
Special Thanks
Keren Bergman & Jhonathan Ofrath
Amos Holtzman
Omer Lotan
Maya Kellar
Shira Florentin
Jhonathan Ofrath
Vera Greenblatt
Shay Granot, Afek Eil
Tomer Blair, Yaniv Levi
Nir Aviyam
Ehud Eitan
Oren Bergman (PhD Color Studios)
Maya Lavon
Matan Sela
Gennady Koatchuk, Ilan Goldwasser
Nir David Zatz, Yuval Yairi, Karin Katz, Itamar Hamerman