My father, Lev Syrkin, is a Moscow-born artist. He left an illustrious career in the USSR to realize his dream and come to Israel with his entire family in 1972. In Israel, he created dozens of public art works: mosaic murals, sculptures, and prints portraying Jewish and biblical subjects – which was virtually impossible to realize in the USSR. But his freedom of expression came at a great price – he remained outside the local art establishment, the critics ignored him, his salaries were almost minimal, and my mother became our main breadwinner. Throughout the film, I undertake a double mission - to tell my father’s story and to help him realize his life’s dream: the creation of a huge mosaic portraying the dove of peace in the heart of Jerusalem. This film is a journey throughout Israel, connecting my father’s work, his career, and the agony of fulfilling the dream of one artist and one son – a fool’s dream. Only during the journey, as we come across his public works and the people living among them, do I begin to understand my father. The viewers become acquainted with a man who is a fighter and a dreamer, an uninhibited humanist and optimist who lives to fulfill his ideal of public art for the Israeli nation. And yet, this nation just glances at his works and continues on its way…
My father, Lev Syrkin, is a Moscow-born artist. He left an illustrious career in the USSR to realize his dream and come to Israel with his entire family in 1972. In Israel, he created dozens of public art works: mosaic murals, sculptures, and prints portraying Jewish and biblical subjects – which was virtually impossible to realize in the USSR. But his freedom of expression came at a great price – he remained outside the local art establishment, the critics ignored him, his salaries were almost minimal, and my mother became our main breadwinner. Throughout the film, I undertake a double mission - to tell my father’s story and to help...