Aharon (Shai Avivi), in his fifties and separated for years from his wife, has given up his career as a graphic designer over the last two decades in order to raise and care for his autistic son, Uri (Noam Imber). When Uri’s mother suggests that it is time for her now young adult son to live in a specialized group home, Aharon is concerned that Uri is not ready for their gentle routine to be disrupted. While on their way to the institution, Aharon decides to run away with his son and, with almost no money in his wallet, the two begin a road trip across Israel. During an odyssey filled with unexpected and revealing encounters, Aharon begins to consider the possibility that perhaps it is, in fact, he that is not ready to be separated from Uri. Along their journey, Uri compulsively views Charlie Chaplin’s first feature The Kid (1921), and while 100 years have passed since the premiere of Chaplin’s comedy milestone, Here We Are shows that there is still power in the simple, universal, and cinematic premise of a parent protecting their child. Though the locales and situation have a decidedly contemporary feel, director Nir Bergman (creator of the television series In Treatment) and screenwriter Dana Idisis take a classical approach to storytelling that nonetheless avoids easy sentimentality and uncomplicated characters. “Handling its themes with sensitivity and respect, the latest film from Nir Bergman is a gratifyingly textured portrait of a loving father son relationship teetering on the brink of suffocating co-dependency” (Wendy Ide, Screen Daily). 2020 Cannes and Toronto Film Festivals. (JH) 

Presented with support from Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies and the Hillel Foundation at the University of Wisconsin.