A woman who built joy from secrets gets paid to finally crack open.
Joy Levine lives in an old apartment that, in complete contrast to her, is shabby and worn-out on the outside while well-kept and filled with joy on the inside. Her life changes when she auditions for a TV show called "Gotta Be Happy". To her astonishment, she is chosen, and her mission is to throw a surprise party for her parents on the upcoming show. However, there is a price to pay for all this: she has to let the viewers into her private inner world and share with them an event that has been overshadowing her family's life and hers for the past 22 years; an event that made a tight-knit bunch of friends shun her parents, Chaya and Yitzhak Levine.
Acting
Sigalit Fuchs builds entire worlds behind her eyes.
Writing
The reality TV premise that actually interrogates reality.
Director
Julie Shles
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The film explores specifically Israeli dynamics of community shunning and the pressure to maintain 'sabra' emotional resilience.
Director Julie Shles uses the reality TV format to critique how Israeli society consumes private pain as public entertainment.
IL
