Agenda

'When Lightning Flashes Over the Sea', by Eva Neymann

Barcelona Jewish Cinema cycle in Girona

Documentary
Director: Eva Neymann
Germany / Ukraine, 2025
123 min

Day labourers smoke while looking at the Black Sea, workmen stretch out on the roof of the damaged cathedral, a boy manoeuvres us through the sunny streets and courtyards of Odesa while he dreams of a medium-size chocolate cake for his birthday and a job on a cruise ship. Yet this cheerful everyday life is tempered by a feeling of unease, for the many gaps – the holes in the historical facades, the absence of family members or the darkness caused by the power blackouts – render the omnipresence of the war far more shocking than its deceptively far-off rumblings.

The memories, experiences and dreams of the astounding people that Eva Neymann shows on her extended, attentive expedition through the harbour city become a means of survival. A refugee from Abkhazia, a nomadic clergyman, a widow who takes care of street cats, a single father whose sons live on different sides of the front, a Shoah survivor and many more give us seldom insights into the reality of a place surrounded by myths, a poetic space full of resilient humanity.

Free admission with prior registration.

Organized by: Patronat Call de Girona and Barcelona Jewish Film Festival. Collaboration: Cinema Truffaut. Place: Cinema Truffaut (C/ Nou del Teatre, 16, Girona)