Four years after unveiling "Scenes from a Marriage" in Venice, celebrated Israeli director Hagai Levi returns to the Lido with a haunting new project: "Etty." Announced at a press conference in Rome, this six-part miniseries is set to premiere at the 82nd Venice Film Festival—one of cinema’s most revered stages.
Levi, already a towering figure in international television thanks to works like "BeTipul" ("In Treatment"), "Our Boys," and HBO’s acclaimed "The Affair," once again blends raw humanity with emotional depth. This time, he turns his lens on Etty Hillesum—a brilliant, complex Dutch-Jewish writer whose diaries, discovered decades after her death in Auschwitz, echo with spiritual clarity and literary fire.
Born in Middelburg to a Dutch teacher and a Russian Jewish mother, Hillesum moved to Amsterdam in 1932, immersing herself in law, psychology, and Slavic languages. Her life changed when she met Julius Spier, a magnetic German psycho-chirologist and Carl Jung disciple. Their relationship—intellectual, erotic, therapeutic—becomes the emotional axis of Etty. Through diary entries she chronicled with aching vulnerability, we witness her inner metamorphosis: from a neurotic soul to a woman radiant with compassion, determined to meet fate on her own terms.
During the Nazi occupation, Hillesum’s spirit refused to buckle. She volunteered to join her fellow Jews at Westerbork transit camp and, later, chose to remain with her family rather than escape deportation. On the way to Auschwitz, she famously tossed a postcard from the cattle car: “We left the camp singing.” It was found—and delivered.
Levi has long been captivated by Hillesum. In 2014, he reflected: “There’s only room for one Holocaust diary, and Anne Frank took that spot. But Etty’s spiritual journey—reaching a place where even the gas chamber can’t rob you of your freedom—that’s the ultimate liberation.”
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Now, Etty comes to life as a French-German-Dutch co-production, with ARTE backing the project. It stars Austrian actress Julia Windischbauer as Etty and German actor Sebastian Koch ("The Lives of Others," "Bridge of Spies") as Spier. Israeli theater icon Evgenia Dodina plays Etty’s fiery mother, rounding out a cast rich in gravitas.
The crew behind the camera is equally formidable: editors Neta Dvorkis, Yael Hersonski, and Asaf Korman, and producers like Maayan Eden, Elon Ratzkovsky ("The Band’s Visit"), and Yael Fogel. The Israeli powerhouse SIPUR, headed by Emilio Schenker and Gideon Tadmor, is also on board.
Levi, speaking to Ynet, said that “Etty’s words, written more than 80 years ago, have never felt more urgent. In an age of war and despair, her faith and tenderness are vital. This is a deeply personal series, and I hope it touches many.”
Venice will also host another SIPUR-related film: "Dead Man’s Wire," directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Al Pacino, Bill Skarsgård, and Colman Domingo. Based on a true 1977 hostage crisis, it promises high-stakes drama and searing critique of institutional failure.
Hollywood's A-list will be out in full force this year—Julia Roberts is making her first Venice appearance with "After the Hunt," and Julian Schnabel’s "In the Hands of Dante" features a jaw-dropping ensemble: Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, Al Pacino, Martin Scorsese, and Gerard Butler.
Meanwhile, Paolo Sorrentino will open the festival with "La Grazia," and auteurs like Jim Jarmusch, Noah Baumbach, Park Chan-wook, and Yorgos Lanthimos will battle for the Golden Lion. The controversial film "The Voice of Hind Rajab," about a young Palestinian girl killed in Gaza, will likely spark fierce discourse.
With Alexander Payne leading the jury and Werner Herzog and Kim Novak set to receive lifetime honors, Venice 2025 is shaping up to be a cinematic pilgrimage. And while no Israeli feature films made the main competition, "Etty" stands as a luminous testament to memory, morality, and the redemptive power of art.