Sarah Lederman

The lives of two neighbours, one a pious Jewish woman, the other secular, cross during a power cut. Both are driven by a curiosity about what they have not been able to see, until now.

Julie lost her parents when she was still very young. Now she is 13 and has long since settled in her new home, with a family who loves her. Over the years she has managed to accept her fate. “Light” follows Julie for a while and shows a girl who, despite immeasurable loss, faces the world with her arms wide open.

Two women—one Ashkenazi Jew from Poland and one Sephardic Jew from Algeria—meet in Brussels with the same quest: to find out what their Jewish identity means to them. Their biggest desire is to undergo the water ritual called Mikveh. But they are not welcome in a bath house being neither married nor orthodox. Nonetheless, they try to claim their heritage on a road trip and on their own Judaism.

When Sarah’s father receives a terminal diagnosis, she hides behind her camera to preserve his presence forever. What begins as a desperate attempt to hold on to what is slipping away slowly unfolds into a tender portrait of their bond and a vulnerable reflection on her grieving process.