We will all remember 2020 as the year of the pandemic, but for the talented Shira Haas it also represented the beginning of a period of continuous professional triumph.
First with Unorthodox, the Netflix miniseries that has earned her various awards including an Emmy nomination and which will probably also take her to the Golden Globes.
Now with Asia, director Ruthy Pribar's debut feature, which after winning three awards (including Best Actress for Shira Haas) at the Tribeca Film Festival, has been chosen to represent Israel in the race for the Best Picture Oscar international.
"It was just a normal year, like all the others - joked the 25 year old actress in the streaming meeting on the film organized by The Wrap -. Somehow I'm still digesting it. However, having to stay in my 'safe place' , in my home, it also allowed me not to end up overwhelmed by everything that is happening to me and makes me feel truly grateful ".
'Asia', which also garnered nine Ophir Awards (Israel's top film awards), including Best Actress Alena Yiv and Best Supporting Actress (Haas), depicts a growing mother-daughter bond and it becomes so strong that it becomes almost symbiotic, in the worst of circumstances.
The protagonist is Asia, a nurse and single mother who grew up in Israel as an immigrant from Russia, her daughter Vika, 17 who is struggling with a neurodegenerative disease (she is not named but one can think of ALS, ed).
Their initially difficult and detached relationship changes dramatically when Vika's illness suddenly worsens, right in the middle of her journey to becoming an adult (she had also recently decided to lose her virginity).
For Asia, who is struggling to find a balance, even a sentimental one, in her life it is time to grow up and take care of that much more mature daughter.
The film, of great intensity, was born from a personal experience lived by the director: "Fourteen years ago I lost my sister - explains Ruthy Pribar, born in 1982 - it was a trauma and an enormous pain, which I still face. I realized that in those months, I couldn't really be there for my sister, while my mother sacrificed everything to help her, in every possible way, she was with her constantly. It was the story I wanted to tell "even if the story of Asia and Vika "is very far from the one lived in my family".
Shira Haas finished reading the script in tears "and it's not that usual, in life I don't cry so easily. Every part of my body told me to make the film. I considered it an honor to be able to play such a wonderful character. and complex. We speak of mourning, of loss, but in the story there is also a profound sensitivity and empathy ".
One of the main challenges for the actress was physically making Vika's condition worsen: "I read a lot, I saw documentaries and with Ruthy we met various doctors and patients suffering from this type of disease - she explains -. She helped me a lot. also the fact that the film was shot in chronological order ".
Alena Yiv also immediately said yes to the project: "They offered me the film shortly after my daughter was born. Initially I could only read two scenes, and I was struck by how contrasting they were, one from the other. I understood that my character goes through a kind of spiritual transformation. "
The alchemy that can be seen between the two actresses "took shape through the rehearsals, spending a lot of time together, including various lunches and dinners - explains Shira Haas -. A deep bond was born between us and also with Ruthy that continues today. ".