By Lorraine LoBianco
Foreign Letters
Brief Synopsis
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Set in the early 80's, 12-year-old Ellie arrives in the US from Israel, coping with homesickness and humiliations in school where she can't manage to fit in. Ellie survives by cleaving to the letters she exchanges with her best friend back home. Life brightens when she meets Thuy, a Vietnamese refug
Cast & Crew
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Ela Thier
Director
Noa Rotstein
Dalena Le
Daniel Bahr
Laura Camien
Jade Gurman-chan
Film Details
Genre
Biography
Comedy
Drama
Release Date
2012
Distribution Company
Film Movement
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 40m
Synopsis
Set in the early 80's, 12-year-old Ellie arrives in the US from Israel, coping with homesickness and humiliations in school where she can't manage to fit in. Ellie survives by cleaving to the letters she exchanges with her best friend back home. Life brightens when she meets Thuy, a Vietnamese refugee her age. Slow but persistent, she wins Thuy's trust. The two girls, having both arrived from war-torn countries, find solace and adventure with each other. They become inseparable. Ellie, however, takes it personally when Thuy consistently prioritizes her studies.The two hurt each other, the trust is broken, and their friendship comes to its end. Ellie must give up her efforts to blend in and embrace who she is, in order to win her friend back. As the girls watch the sun rise after yet another sleep-over, Ellie writes her friend in Israel about her new-found wisdom: that not even one's parents, or oceans, or wars, can change the fact that once you are friends with someone - it's forever.
Director
Ela Thier
Director
Cast
Noa Rotstein
Dalena Le
Daniel Bahr
Laura Camien
Jade Gurman-chan
Virginia Hastings
Vlad Kochetkov
Gloria Kron
Alan Le
Paula Le
Alex Marinaccio
Ela Thier
Crew
Inna Braude
Producer
Nick Buzzell
Executive Producer
Eve Cuyen
Sound Designer
Evan Gluck
Executive Producer
Virginia Hastings
Art Director
Ben Insler
Editor
Milton Kam
Director Of Photography
Brant Kantor
Producer
Terry Leonard
Executive Producer
Lauren Palmer
Hair & Makeup
Kama K Royz
Costume Designer
Rob Schwimmer
Music Composer
Tom Soper
Production Designer
Ela Thier
Producer
Ela Thier
Screenplay
Film Details
Genre
Biography
Comedy
Drama
Release Date
2012
Distribution Company
Film Movement
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 40m
Articles
Foreign Letters -
Foreign Letters (2012) is a coming-of-age tale set in 1982 Connecticut. Written, co-produced, edited and directed by Israeli-American director Ela Thier, it is partially based on Thier's own experiences as an immigrant and the difficulties she experienced while trying to understand American culture and learn English. Set in the pre-email era, the film follows "Ellie Thir" (Noa Rotstein), a homesick girl who waits for letters from her friends back home in Israel after moving to the United States so her father can escape serving in the army in Lebanon, where her uncle was accidentally killed. Described as "a film about poverty, prejudice, shame and the power of friendship to heal us," Foreign Letters was Thier's first feature-length film and an expansion of her earlier acclaimed 17-minute short film A Summer Rain (2009), which also starred Noa Rotstein. Ela Thier herself plays her own mother and Dalena Le plays Thuy, the Vietnamese refugee Ellie bonds with since both are social outcasts. Made on a budget of only $40,000, Foreign Letters was selected for screening at over 140 film festivals worldwide and was acquired by Film Movement. It opened in New York in early 2012 before gaining a wider release as part of Film Movement's Jewish Film Club series. It features the music of Chava Alberstein, who was Thier's favorite musician as a child.
By Lorraine LoBianco
By Lorraine LoBianco
Foreign Letters -
Foreign Letters (2012) is a coming-of-age tale set in 1982 Connecticut. Written, co-produced, edited and directed by Israeli-American director Ela Thier, it is partially based on Thier's own experiences as an immigrant and the difficulties she experienced while trying to understand American culture and learn English. Set in the pre-email era, the film follows "Ellie Thir" (Noa Rotstein), a homesick girl who waits for letters from her friends back home in Israel after moving to the United States so her father can escape serving in the army in Lebanon, where her uncle was accidentally killed. Described as "a film about poverty, prejudice, shame and the power of friendship to heal us," Foreign Letters was Thier's first feature-length film and an expansion of her earlier acclaimed 17-minute short film A Summer Rain (2009), which also starred Noa Rotstein. Ela Thier herself plays her own mother and Dalena Le plays Thuy, the Vietnamese refugee Ellie bonds with since both are social outcasts. Made on a budget of only $40,000, Foreign Letters was selected for screening at over 140 film festivals worldwide and was acquired by Film Movement. It opened in New York in early 2012 before gaining a wider release as part of Film Movement's Jewish Film Club series. It features the music of Chava Alberstein, who was Thier's favorite musician as a child.
By Lorraine LoBianco
Quotes
Trivia
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States on Video August 7, 2012
Released in United States on Video August 7, 2012
