By Jeffrey Catalano
Assistant Editor
On Thursday, February 26, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., the “Jewish and Israeli Film Festival” will be screening, in partnership with The Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center, the final film in its line-up, “The Property,” at the Cincinnati Union Terminal.
The 2025 film is 108 minutes long and is a Hebrew, English and Polish-language film. It carries a content warning of graphic content. The drama film was directed by Dana Modan in her directorial debut. Her previous credits, as an actress, include “Significant Other” and “Aviram Katz.” Modan served as one of the writers for “The Property,” along with her sister, Rutu Modan, who wrote the graphic novel upon which “The Property” is based.
“The Property” tells the story of a grieving Israeli grandmother who makes a trip with her granddaughter to the streets of Warsaw during winter. The grandmother makes this trip reluctantly, as she has to reclaim a family flat that was lost during the war. The flat unearth long-buried memories and hidden truths she isn’t sure she’s ready to deal with.
The grandmother, who only recently lost her son, tries her best to bear the terrible emotional weight of the trip, while her granddaughter expresses a great interest in learning about her family’s history. Over the course of the film, one of them bonds with a Polish tour guide, and the other reconnects with an old flame.
What begins for the grandmother as a journey to reclaim her family’s property turns into a powerful journey of self-discovery and reconciliation. Dana Modan’s moving adaption of her sister’s graphic novel is nominated for four Israeli Academy Awards, including the prestigious “Best Picture” award.
Should you want to attend the screening of “The Property” at the Cincinnati Union Terminal, there is a fee for admission. Tickets for this screening include a closing night post-film reception.
