What were some of the challenges you faced in making this film?

We were filming between two countries, England and France, so the obvious challenge was the lack of extra time.

The producer brought all the actors and film crew from London to Paris. And when we talk about filming, every single minute counts,

especially so when traveling, but thanks to the outstanding work of the actors and the rehearsals they had, most of the scenes

were shot on the first take. I really wanted to capture an extraordinary light of Paris sky, but on the day of shooting on location,

the weather was cloudy and rainy, the actors were freezing in the wind and we were literally desperately trying to catch every ray of sun.

In the end, though, we got lucky and returned to London with the material we wanted.

The cinematography and acting is wonderful and supports the drama in a very effective way.

What was it like to work with them?

I have a meticulous approach when it comes to choosing the crew and the actors, taking into account such credentials

as a person’s positive attitude, etc. When we were auditioning an actress for the main role to act as the artist Leia,

we paid close attention to the shape of her hands, height, tone of voice, her enthusiasm to learn about the foreign tradition

and culture, etc. The casting started at 7am, and as far as I remember we would finish as late as 10pm without taking any lunch break.

The actress Devora Wilde was auditioned first and remained our favorite throughout, despite the fact her auditioning time was the shortest.

She came to the casting very well prepared, she knew the text, didn’t make a single mistake, acted very naturally in every scene,

and subsequently, throughout the whole filming, each team member noticed that. English actors are incredibly reliable and responsible.

On a separate note, I’d like to comment on the music. Even if we remove all the dialogs from the film and leave the music only,

we would still be able to comprehend the meaning of each scene only by the sound of the melody. In the process of creating a film,

I give one of the main roles to chance. So, quite by accident, I stumbled upon an incredibly beautiful Arabic melody performed

on a traditional Ney instrument, so I immediately decided that this instrument will be used for this film.

We tried to create a dance of love between Arabic and Jewish traditional melodies, depending on the essence and hidden

meaning of each episode. I was lucky to have the incredibly talented composer Ed Watkins on board,

who could magically turn our ideas to reality.