On June 20, filmmaker/artist Eva Lanska premiered a powerful documentary short film created in support of MANNA, the U.K. branch of Meir Panim, Israel’s largest assistance network for the needy, at a gala fundraising event held in London. The event raised 300,000 Euro for the charitable organization that helps to feed children, families and Holocaust survivors in Israel.
Lanska joined Israeli VIPs and celebrities in support of the important organization, including singer Idan Raichel, who performed at the event.
“For many years I have volunteered for several organizations that help children adapt to society and support their education. My wish is to share my experiences to try to inspire the underserved youth and to raise funds to help them,” comments Lanska. “ The power of film is incredible. As a director, I’m happy that my professional knowledge can be utilized to serve charitable humanitarian organizations like Meir Panim.”
The short documentary is available now on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUS_wJbLbdo
The film’s director of photography is Itay Weinbroom.
Lanska and her team recently traveled to Israel to produce the documentary that features the faces of Meir Panim, including a young boy named Omri, CEO Benjamin Ebenboim, and several long time volunteers, Laura and manager Ilanit Hafuta, who have tirelessly worked for the charity for decades.
Lanska adds, “The volunteers featured in my film are very special people, with some having invested more than 20 years of their lives helping others. I was compelled to inform the world about them. With my film, I want to spotlight their dedication and selflessness.”
Lanska recently donated the proceeds of an NFT from her installation “The Existential Choice” that sold for 3,000 GBP at a special charity auction in support of United Hatzalah of Israel.
About Eva Lanska – The musicality between gesture and dialogue is what drew Eva Lanska to filmmaking. She trained at London Film Academy and London Institute of Photography, and draws on her experiences living in Paris, Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv, as well as her upbringing in Moscow. Influenced by classic Italian filmmakers such as Fellini and Antonioni, plus the expressive virtuosity of prima ballerinas she saw at the Bolshoi Theatre as a child, she works either in black and white or elegant muted colors, using stylized camerawork to refer to tradition and continuity. Women’s rights are one of Lanska’s core concerns in her creative endeavours and she has long campaigned for a film industry in which a woman’s age, nationality or origin cease to be barriers to a career in cinema. Lanska’s first short, “Okay, Mum,” about domestic violence, won Best Picture at Los Angeles Film Festival and was selected for Short Film Corner at Cannes 2017. Centering around the complex issues facing women internationally, her work finds different ways of intertwining this core priority with related themes such as interfaith marriage (short film “Little French Fish,” 2020) and transcending stereotypes (documentary “The Abraham Accords Change History: Women in the Middle East,” 2021). Forbes interviewed her as “one to watch” in 2020 and she’s received awards or nominations from over thirty film festivals. Her upcoming feature film “Bardot,” based on the life of Brigitte Bardot, is signed with NoW Films.
@becomingeva @evalanskanft
