The Farewell Party

A retirement home in Jerusalem. Yehezkel is a retired inventor who spends his time building odd contraptions. A close friend of his is gravely ill and in enough pain to be asking for his own death. With help from his wife and a few friends, Yehezkel builds a machine on which the person presses the button himself. Once word gets around, other residents start knocking on their door, and the group no longer knows what to do. Tal Granit and Sharon Maymon directed it together; it won the audience award at Venice and four Ophir Awards in Israel. It is constructed as a comedy and does not lighten the subject: the difference between helping someone and deciding for them stands in every scene.