WE USED TO SING

The story of a family of four Russian women that immigrated from Moscow to a two bedroom apartment in Tel Aviv. The film reveals the intimate yet complex relationships formed by a unique sisterhood of strong, colorful women, as they try to lay down roots — living through their fears, frustrations, longings, and above all, hope.

LIDIA MOROZOV 

Born 1988, USSR. An Israeli writer and documentarist. Graduated from Minshar School of Arts and the Open University of Israel with a B.A in film. Her first short film Territory (2019) was premiered at TLVFest. Her graduation project We used to Sing won the David Perlov Fund Award and CoPro Foundation Award. Her works focus on the question of identity among immigrants.

As an immigrant myself it’s important for me to convey through my films the hardships and challenges immigrants deal with through their personal point of view, their lack of identity and their longings for what was left behind.

Through close and intimate filming consisting of framed shots around our home, I chose together with the film’s cinematographer to depict the process we’ve been through as immigrants in a foreign land, three generations of women dependent on each other while staying away from the outside world.

In the absence of men at home, each one of us fought to be the one controlling the space, and during these moments is when we decided to film statically and let the one trying to take over define the movement versus the camera.

One of the main themes I wanted to shed light on during the film was what unconditional motherly love is, and through my mother and grandmother’s absolute co-dependent relationship, through daily moments, I meet us at our most intimate and uncover the wounds of the past.

• Docaviv International Film Festival, Israel

The screening is supported by the Israeli Embassy in Russia

DOKer 2022 — Short Competition