Download TOL online press kit 101208

‘The Tree of Life’
A documentary film by Hava Volterra
Production Company
Interim CEO Films
2618 3rd Street
Santa Monica, CA 90405
310-657-5343
[email protected]
Press Contacts
New York
Marjorie Sweeney Publicity
Tel 718.965.2577
Cell 646.489.4226
[email protected]
Los Angeles
Jordan Moore
Laemmle Theatres
310-478-1041
[email protected]
High-resolution photos for this film are available for download at the film’s website:
www.thetreeoflifemovie.com
the tree of life
Synopsis
A personal family saga that illuminates the fascinating history of the Jewish
people in Italy, The Tree Of Life follows the Israeli-born director, an engineer in
Los Angeles, as she struggles to come to terms with her father's death by
traveling to Italy, the land of his birth, to trace the roots of his family tree.
Beginning in the ancient Adriatic city of Ancona, Volterra and her feisty 82-yearold Aunt Viviana travel extensively through Italy, digging up rare historical
manuscripts, interviewing an array of quirky historians, and discovering the
astonishing and humorous stories of their ancestors, including the da Volterra
family of bankers in Florence of the Medici; Ramhal, a Venetian rabbi and mystic
involved in the Kabbalah; renowned scientist and mathematician Vito Volterra;
New York City’s legendary mayor Fiorello LaGuardia; and Luigi Luzzatti, Italy’s
first Jewish prime minister. The film also includes the poignant reunion of
Viviana’s reunion with the Italian family who sheltered her and Ms. Volterra’s
father from the Nazis during WWII.
The film uses a variety of creative visual effects to illustrate the pages of history,
including collage animation and CGI-enhanced marionette puppetry, along with
music from Golden Globe-nominated composer Carlo Siliotto.
A heartfelt personal story that celebrates the passion for life, love, and family
that unites both Jews and Italians, The Tree Of Life goes beyond history to
address how our families and their roots affect each individual’s sense of
belonging, identity, and self-worth.
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Critics Talk
“A truly fascinating history of Italian-Jewish life from the 15th century through the Holocaust”
- THE VILLAGE VOICE
“A remarkable 76 minute film of great beauty and substance”
- THE FORWARD
“Beautifully done..., the music is outstanding...., the footage from days gone by is
compelling... all 76 minutes of 'The Tree of Life' are worthwhile”
- CRITICAL WOMEN IN FILM
“One particular rabbi, who sings about a goat, is worth the price of admission.”
- FILM JOURNAL
“Uncommon creativity and poignancy.”
- WBAI/Newsblaze
“A fascinating ancestry””
- THE NEW YORK TIMES
“First-time documentarian Hava Volterra uses her own family as a microcosm to explore the
challenges and successes of living in the country that first gave the world the term “ghetto” for
restrictions on Jews (in 1516 Venice)”
- FILM FORWARD
“A distinct visual sense not often seen in documentaries...
- JB SPINS BLOG
“Although the film wanders across some six-and-a-half centuries and much of the
Mediterranean, ...the film’s narrative line is well-focused and the result is charming.
- THE JEWISH WEEK
“A rewarding film experience”
- THE NEW JERSEY JEWISH STANDARD
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the tree of life
Production Credits
Writer/Director/Producer
Hava Volterra
Executive Producer
Andrew Viterbi
Co-writer
David N. Donihue
Cinematography
Eyal Gordin ; Oded Plotnitzki, Ram Shani; Giovanni Andreotta
Editors
David Donihue; Mathew Jones
Story Editor
Eli Green
Music
Carlo Siliotto; Nico Mansy, Enrico Fink
Graphics and Animation
David N. Donihue
Music Editors
Drew DeAscentis; Yagmur Kaplan
Voice Over Director
David Thomas
Marionettes Created and Costumed by
Beata Ihnatowicz
Puppeteer
Beata Swiderska
The Tree of Life
2008 • USA/Italy/Israel • Color • Digital 4:3
Running time: 76 minutes
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Cast by Order of Appearance
Hava Volterra
Viviana Volterra Gerner…………………………Documentary Filmmaker; Puppeteer
Alessandra Veronese…………………………….….Professor of Italian Jewish History
Robert Bonfil..…………………………………………..Professor of Italian Jewish History
Sergio Della Pergola….……………………Head of Israel Institute of Demographics
Anna Foa.………………………………………………………………….... Historian and Author
Fabrizio Lelli …..………………………….Professor of Renaissance Jewish Philosophy
Shaul Yatsiv …………………………………………………………………Professor of Physics
Moshe Idel……………………………………………………………………. Scholar of Kabalah
Mordecai Finley………………………………………………..………………Rabbi and Scholar
Sandro Franchini……………………..Director of Istituto Veneto di Scienze e Lettere
Elia Richetti………………………………………………. Chief Rabbi of Venice and Cantor
Patrizia Volterra………………………………………………………………………………Cousin
Judith Goodman………………………………………………….Biographer of Vito Volterra
Giorgio Luzzatti……..……………………………………………….Luigi Luzzatti’s grandson
Andrew Viterbi……..…………………………………………………….Founder of Qualcomm
Alyn Brodsky…………………………………………..……Biographer of Fiorello LaGuardia
Mihal Hershfinkel…………………………………………………………..Professor of Physics
Zalman Rosenwaks ………………………………………………………Professor of Physics
Avraham Rotem……………………………............................................Entrepreneur
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the tree of life
FILMMAKERS’ BIOS
HAVA VOLTERRA
Director/Writer
Hava Volterra was born in Jerusalem, Israel, and raised in Israel, Canada, and the
United States.
An electronics engineer by training, Hava has worked in the development of very high
speed digital imaging equipment when the technology was in its infancy, and in the
development and marketing of computer communications equipment during the early
years of the internet. She has served in roles as VP of marketing, VP of business
development, and most recently, as CEO of a company developing technology for
cellular phone systems. Hava views engineering as a creative endeavor, and brings her
fascination with history, art, and science to her first film, The Tree of Life.
DAVID N. DONIHUE
Writer/Animator/Editor
David N. Donihue was born in rural Washington, raised blocks away from The Green
River Killer, and has been writing and directing underground theater and film since
junior high. He moved to Los Angeles four years ago, after deciding to switch his focus
to commercial filmmaking. David N. Donihue wrote alongside director Rahul Dholakia,
the critically acclaimed thriller Parzania.
He is also the writer and director of the four and a half hour long interactive film, THE
WEATHERED UNDERGROUND, an action comedy in the same vein as the choose your
own adventure books of the eighties, where the audience chooses what the central
character does next. Donihue, in addition to his writing and directing, has garnered
acclaim for his work as an actor in Matt Wilkin's critically acclaimed drama, Buffalo Bill's
Defunct. Donihue lives in Los Angeles where he continues to write and direct on a
variety of different projects.
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the tree of life
CARLO SILIOTTO
Composer
Born in Rome, Italy, Carlo Siliotto studied guitar and violin, and completed studies in
composition at the Conservatory of Frosinone under the guidance of Maestro Daniele
Paris. He was a founding member of the group Canzoniere del Lazio (1973-1979) with
whom he adapted and revisited traditional popular songs and music originating from
Southern Italy and the Mediterranean, creating a new sound out of traditional music,
mixing the languages and instruments of rock, jazz and classical music with the codes of
ethnic music, a field in which he is considered an expert. With his group he produced six
LPs and toured in numerous countries, particularly in Africa where he shared
experiences with remarkable African artists from Somalia, Tanzania, Moçambique,
Zambia, and Kenya.
Carlo has worked as a composer, orchestra conductor, producer and violinist with many
Italian artists, and written music for symphonic orchestra, theatre, and film. He has
composed music for over 90 films (including THE PUNISHER, FLUKE, FLIGHT OF THE
INNOCENT, CAESAR, LA MISMA LUNA) and worked with film directors such as Carlo
Lizzani, Maurizio Nichetti, Carlo Carlei, Sandro Baldoni, Clive Donner, Uli Edel, Robert
Markowitz , Roger Young, Joseph Sargent, Carlos Saura Medrano, Jonathan Hansleigh,
and Jeff Blackner.
He was recently nominated for the 2006 Golden Globe awards for his music for the
Kazakh film NOMAD.
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the tree of life
Production Notes
The Tree of Life started as a historical documentary, but evolved also into a film about
my relations with my father, an extraordinary scientist that, sadly, I did not fully
understand during his life.
The film was originally conceived in the spring of 2004, as a documentary that would tell
the story of the Jews of Italy through the story of my late father's family, and a few
exceptional historical figures from his family. I chose those figures that would give the
broadest representations of the Italian-Jewish experience – mystics, moneylenders in
the period of the renaissance, politicians, scientists, and immigrants to the U.S.
In September 2004, after several months of research, I embarked on a few weeks of
filming in the U.S. (San Francisco), Italy (Milan, Ancona, Florence, Volterra, Pisa, Venice,
Padova, Rome), and Israel. I was joined by my aunt, puppeteer and filmmaker Viviana
Volterra Gerner, and a small crew, including accomplished cinematographer Eyal Gordin.
It was an opportunity to visit the house and neighborhood in Ancona where my aunt
and father had grown up.
Our guide in Volterra was Alessandra Veronese who had written a couple of books on
the original 15th century Volterra family of bankers, and with her, we saw and filmed in
the Volterra town archives the original documents from the year 1408 giving the
Volterra family the right to live and to bank in the town.
The Israel visit was short, and was focused primarily on interviewing scholars with
specific knowledge related to the subject of Italian Jews, and the historical figures that
we were researching - Robert Bonfil, considered one of the leading scholars of Italian
Jewish history, and author of the definitive text on the subject of Renaissance Italian
Jewry – Moshe Idel, considered today's leading scholar of Kabalah, inheritor of the
mantle of Gershom Sholem, and expert on Jewish mysticism in Renaissance Italy - and
Sergio Della Pergola, head of Israel's institute of demographics, who had been born and
raised in Italy, and had done his PhD work specifically on the demographics of the Jews
of Italy.
A chance discussion in Los Angeles revealed that Judith Goodstein, chief archivist of
Caltech University, was writing a biography of the mathematician Vito Volterra. The
background material and interview that she provided proved invaluable to the film's
section about Vito Volterra. Angie Volterra, granddaughter of Vito, provided
photographs, along with family tree information that clarified the family connection.
After analyzing the material that had been filmed, we decided on an additional round of
filming, and in March 2005, I returned to Israel. This time Oded Plotinitzki, an
accomplished cameraman and graduate of Jerusalem's prestigious Sam Spiegel school of
filmmaking, was the DP, along with his friend and collaborator, Oded Leshem. The
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the tree of life
filming was spiced by an emotional meeting with Viviana at her Kibbutz, and a very
funny and unusual presentation by Eliyahu Hazan at the Ramhal synagogue in Acre,
where he regaled us with legends about the Ramhal. The last day was spent in a frantic
search for the tomb of the Ramhal, which we found just as time was running out,
perched high above the town of Tiberias, overlooking the Sea of Galilee.
Three months later, in June of 2005, I returned to Italy, this time working with Italian
cinematographer Giovanni Andreotta, to round out information about the historical
figures in the film, and to finally, with my aunt, visit Monte San Martino, and the family
that had hid my father, my aunt and their family during the war. The same trip included
a visit to the spectacular Medici library, a 500 year old library, normally closed to the
public, that includes numerous original 15th century manuscripts, including the
travelogue of Meshulam da Volterra, letters from Meshullam to Lorenzo de Medici, and
books on Jewish mysticism and Kabalah. It also included another visit to Venice, to talk
with Sandro Franchini, Director of the Venice Institute of Letters and Sciences, and the
author of several books about Luigi Luzzatti. Finally, we met with Elia Richetti, chief
rabbi of Venice and extraordinary cantor, with an almost encyclopedic knowledge of
Italian Jewish liturgy from the many different Italian Jewish communities. A couple of
his chantings, including the Venetian version of Had Gadya, are included in the
documentary.
The film took a turning point during this visit, as my discussions with Fabrizio Lelli
became much more personal, with a stronger focus on my father - an unintended but
perhaps natural evolution of the film.
Returning to Los Angeles, I started editing, with the help of multi-talented scriptwriter,
film editor and graphic artist, David Donihue. We decided to use animation to describe
the story of the original da Volterras, and influenced by my aunt's expertise in
puppeteering, to describe the Ramhal story through a computer graphics enhanced
marionette show. Good marionettes were hard to find, until we came across Beata
Ihnatowicz, an artist and poet from Krakow, who had created a set of extraordinarily
beautiful marionettes that she was willing to dress in period costumes for the movie.
Filming of the Ramhal marionette sequence took place against a green screen in a large
loft in L.A.'s downtown artist's district. We also squeezed in a trip to Florida to interview
Alyn Brodsky, the premiere biographer of Fiorello LaGuardia, another family member.
But at that point I began to feel that a major subject of the film, my father and my
relations with him, had remained unresolved. After many months of deliberation, I
returned to Israel, this time in December of 2006, to talk with people who had known
my father and could give me some perspective on his personality and the way he was
viewed by those close to him. The cameraman was Ram Shani, a superb documentary
(and music video) cinematographer who lent his own voice and questions to this very
personal exploration. I met with some people that I hadn't seen in almost 20 years. The
visit proved cathartic, and gave me, a much deeper and fuller understanding of my
father.
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After a last visit to Italy, we wrapped up filming. Final editing of the film took place in
Los Angeles in May and June of 2007, and in March of 2008. Along the way I was very
fortunate to receive superb original music from multiple composers and musicians. The
majority of the film’s music, and its basic scores, are by Golden Globe nominated
composer Carlo Siliotto. Nico Mansy , Joe DeBlasi and Yagmur Kaplan composed pieces
for the film. Enrico Fink provided a modified version of his recording of Lid. Warner
Chappelle gave me access to a compilation of 1930s music, including original Fascist
music and period music of the Trio Lescano. The great Israeli singer and songwriter
David Broza, along with Ron Feuer, and the Ensemble Lucidarium all contributed pieces.
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