YOU ONLY DIE TWICE

YOU ONLY DIE TWICE

YOU ONLY DIE TWICE
(‘’Der Mann, der zweimal starb’’)
(Ata Met Rak Pa’amayim)  

A Film by Yair Lev and David Deri
Director: Yair Lev / Israel 2018

Category: History, Thriller, Personal P.O.V.

Production: David Deri: D.d Productions, for Yes-Docu: Commissioning Editor: Guy Lavie, Israel. Supported by The Yehoshua Rabinovich Foundation for the Arts, Israel.

Co-Production: Markus Glaser: Nikolaus Geyrhalter Filmproduktion (NGF), Austria

Language: Hebrew, English, German and Serbo-Croatian.

Subtitles: English

Length: 88 minutes

A documentary thriller. Yair Lev, a documentary filmmaker becomes a detective and sets out on a personal and historical journey to uncover the true identity behind the man who stole his grandfather’s identity. 

Surprisingly, the film director’s mother became the heiress of a cottage in posh North London. She had only to prove that she is the daughter of Ernst Bechinsky. But then came an astonishing discovery: another death certificate was discovered in Austria, revealing a man with the same name and I.D., born on the same date and in the same place as Ernst Bechinsky. A suspenseful thriller exposes a man, who lived with an S.S. family and became president of a Jewish Community through deception, leading to an extremely charged meeting between descendants of Jews and Nazis.

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Festivals & Awards:

Doc Aviv IDFF: Research Award
Jury's justification: ‘’Research is the heart and soul of this film, a film where the director works as investigator, uncovering a personal mystery to reveal a profound truth about family, brotherhood and forgiveness.’’

Director's statement:
After making two films about my father Hugo, a Holocaust survivor, revolving around his extraordinary experiences during the WW2 and our complex relationship (the film ‘’Hugo’’ in 1989 and the sequel "Hugo II" in 2008) - "You Die Only Twice" took me on a detective journey to solve a mystery concerning my mother's father, my grandfather Ernest Bachinsky. At the end of a six year's quest full of twists and turns, I found myself back in WW2, between survivors and rescuers, persecuted and persecutors. This time, however, the boundaries between them proved to be more blurred than ever.

Movie Reviews:
* « I saw You Only Die Twice for the first time at the festival (Diagonale, Graz, Austria), and it was right away one of the best documentaries I have ever seen. On one hand it is thanks to  the incredible story, but on the other it is thanks to the great film direction. » Mara Hollenstein-Tirk  / Film Plus Kritik
* « The most thrilling film playing at the moment in Israel and maybe the best thriller I've seen in years…a documentary as a mystery that as much as it evolves it reveals its humane substance …as the plot develops so does its capacity to surprise, enrich and empower the experience it fulfills…the tension it creates is built on solid foundation » Uri Klein / Haaretz daily newspaper
* « You Only Die Twice, a film by David Deri and Yair Lev, is a compelling historical and personal mystery. The filmmaker, a second generation survivor, sets out on a journey to solve a family mystery. » Identity Theft / Amy Kronish / IsraelFilm.blogspot
* « Yair Lev’s Israeli-Austrian-German co-production You Only Die Twice is a Jewish detective story set in the Alps and revolves around the former president of the Jewish Community of Tirol, Ernst Bechinsky. A man with the same name dies twice: in 1969 in Israel and in 1987 in Innsbruck. Who was Ernst Bechinsky really? Given the category, it’s not all that difficult to guess – but why be a spoiler? » Grapevine : Diplomatically speaking / Greer Fay Cashman / Jerusalem Post
* « Blurs the border between reality and imagination and the result is a rare and stirring family story…a family story that every documentary filmmaker would long for, and no fiction filmmaker would come up with » Shmulik Duvdevani / Ynet
* « "You Only Die Twice" is extremely suspenseful, intensive and intimate…it contains a long series of powerful scenes that leave the audience glued to one's sit and eventually totally satisfied » Avner Shavit / Walla!
* « A moving story unfolds in a fascinating way » Yael Shuv / Time Out

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