Oscilloscope Laboratories announced this past week that
Israeli-American filmmaker Asaph Polonsky’s One Week and a Day, his
award-winning dramatic tale of grief suffered by surviving parents at the death
of their son, will be making its domestic home entertainment debut on Sept. 5
as both DVD and Blu-ray product offerings.
The film opened at the Cannes Film Festival in May of last
year, where it won the Gan Foundation Support for Distribution Award and was
nominated in both the Critics Week Grand Prize and Golden Camera competition
categories. One
Week and a Day then worked the international festival circuit before
arriving at the Mill Valley Film Festival in October of last year, followed by
the Chicago International Film Festival a week later. This release pattern continued through April
of this year (piling up awards along the way and critical praise), before an
arthouse theatrical launch was put in place at the end of April.
The ARR works out to 130 days.
Based loosely on events that unfolded over the years in
Polonsky’s own life — his experiences with death and the tradition of Shiva
(seven days of mourning associated with the passing of a family member) — One
Week and a Day tells the story of Eyal (Shai Avivi — Atomic
Falafal, Epilogue) and his wife, Vicky (Evgenia Dodina — The
Attack, Adam Resurrected), as they mourn the death of their adult son,
Ronnie (health issues related to cancer).
Vicky, at the end of this period, makes her best efforts to
return to a normal routine. It is
difficult to bury a child, but life goes on.
Eyal, on the other hand, has a different approach to the
transition. A token of his son’s
memory turns into a mission to retrieve a blanket from the hospice, which turns
into a medical marijuana “experience” with Ronnie’s goofy friend, Zooler (Tomer
Kapon — A Tale of Love and Darkness, Hostages), and then Eyal suddenly
realizes that burial plots next to his son’s resting place might be snapped up
by strangers … that’s a mission too!
Yes, life goes on!!
Bonus features include commentary from filmmaker Asaph
Polonsky, a video session with Polonsky at AFI, the short film In
Bed at 10 P.M., the featurette titled “Tomer Kapon “Zooler” Air Guitar
Rehearsal” and the American Pavilion panel discussion featuring Polonsky and
Kapon.
One Week and a Day is presented in Hebrew with English
subtitles.
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