Marek Hłasko — writer, rebel, carouser — was hailed as the Polish James Dean for his looks and the Polish Boris Pasternak for the brilliance of his prose and his experience of exile. Fleeing the suffocating politics of 1950s Poland, he arrives in Israel—a land that becomes both inspiration and entrapment. Among new immigrants striving to build a new society, Hłasko struggles to survive. Unable to publish in Polish, he takes on physical labor. Forbidden from returning home, he drifts between defiance and despair, growing quietly attached to the people and the harsh beauty of the place.
This film is a multi-story, hypnotic and trance-like document, where a personal perspective intertwines with literature, illustrated with never-before-seen archives from Hlasko’s life and the place he chose as his temporary refuge. The film uses an unconventional, collage-like form to explore the period of inspiration and alienation experienced by Marek Hłasko in 1950s Israel.

• A Khamsin is a dry, hot, sandy local wind that blows across the region, often lasting for about 50 days (the Arabic word khamsin means “fifty”).
• In the context of the film, the title ”8th Day Of Khamsin” suggests a theme of intense, unsettling, and potentially suffocating atmosphere that parallels Hłasko’s time in the young, challenging State of Israel in the 50’s.