Leave the Lights On

Directed by Dafna Englander

Elinor, a young woman brimming with life and imagination, arrives at Adam’s apartment in Jerusalem, where he lives surrounded by piles of boxes that have sat sealed since his parents died. They plan to travel to his childhood home in Ukraine – a journey Elinor sees as the start of a shared life – but over the night before the flight it becomes clear that Adam cannot leave: not the apartment, not the objects, and not his past. Every object ignites a memory in him, and Elinor is drawn into the stories, spinning them into fantasies of a future together. Yet as the night wears on, the enchanted veneer cracks and the relationship is exposed as toxic and deceptive. By the end of the film, Elinor must choose whether to stay in the relationship as it is, or step out into an unknown world.