Film
Washington Jewish Film Festival: Back to the Fatherland (2017), dir. Kat Rohrer, Gil Levanon

Mon, 11/11/2019
7:00 PM Edlavitch DC JCC

Back to the Fatherland
Documentary, Germany/Austria/Israel, 2017, 77 min., Directors:  Kat Rohrer & Gil Levanon

Directors and subjects Kat Rohrer and Gil Levanon in conversation following both films.

Gil and Kat have been friends since college. Gil is from Israel, Kat from Austria; Gil is the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, Kat the granddaughter of a Nazi officer. They have been friends for over a decade.

Through them we meet other young men and women whose grandparents were murdered or persecuted during the war. What’s interesting is that many have decided to move back to the Fatherland, a choice that their families disagree with.

Why would they do this? This revealing documentary (originally screened at Washington Jewish Film Festival 2018) explores the challenges and opportunities for reconciliation and understanding between the generations on both sides of the Shoah.

Presented in cooperation with the Edlavitch Jewish Community Center of Washington, DC.
Buy Tickets Kat Rohrer founded GreenKat Productions in 2002, while she was still studying at The School of Visual Arts in New York City. Since then, Kat has directed and produced more than ten short films, music videos, documentaries, and a wide variety of industrials and commercials. Some of her bigger clients include: Roland Foods, Austrian National Tourist Board, Vienna Tourist Commission, PersonalBasis, Wolkenrot.

Her short film The Search won Best Short at the 2005 LA Femme Film Festival. Her 2011 short film Wantless was selected for the 2011 Hamptons Film Festival. Kat has also been DP on various feature length documentaries including Larry Flynt: The Right To Be Left Alone for Midtown Films, which screened around the world and has been aired on IFC.

Her first feature documentary, Fatal Promises, which deals with the global problems of human trafficking, was released in NYC in 2010 and toured the US, Europe and Middle East at festivals, universities and was aired on TV.

Her new documentary, Back to the Fatherland, premiered at the Haifa International Film Festival before embarking on a festival tour through Israel, Europe and the US. With European and US distribution now in place, the film will be released theatrical this fall in multiple countries across Europe and the US.

She is currently in development for her new documentary Enough is Enough and her first narrative feature film Looking for Emma T.


Gil Levanon has been writing, producing and directing award winning commercials, industrials, and short films for over fifteen years.

She served in the Israeli Defense Forces' film unit, where she produced the films for Israel's Jubilee TV celebration. With that, she became the youngest First Assistant Director in the TV and commercial industry in Israel. After completing her BFA in directing and graduating with honors from the School of Visual Arts in New York City, she associate produced in The Rolling Stones Show for MTV and later associate produced promos for USA Network and NBC.

She now lives in Tel Aviv, Israel, and continues to passionately direct commercials, industrials, and films. Her clients include: Cellcom, Netvision, Bank Hapoalim, Strauss, YES, Campari-Germany, AKIM, and Israeli Aids Task Force.

She is also member of a leading strategic marketing team in Israel whose clients include: Bank Hapoalim, Osem, and Netvision.

Her short film, Manfred, received second place in the Israeli Documentary Challenge Competition and also won the Audience Award. It is currently being screened in movie theaters around Israel.


Presented as a part of the Washington Jewish Film Festival, a collaboration with the Edlavitch Jewish Community Center of Washington.