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Trance Therapy

Shot a few years before the October 7 attacks in Israel, the film delves into the heart of the youth movement targeted at a desert rave party in 2023.
At the age of 20, in 2018, French director Cindy Gzaiel embarks on a journey to the Golan Heights, the no-man's land between Lebanon, Syria and Israel. During this time, she becomes a war reporter and meets a pacifist generation of young Middle Easterners who seek solace in rave parties. Between recklessness and violence, war and dreams of peace, these young people suffer from a generational anxiety. They are escaping the trauma of war. Cindy is fleeing something else: the trauma of rape. Together they create their own therapy through dance, trance and intense living, as if every day were their last.
Over the course of five years, the young filmmaker meticulously documented her life experiences, resulting in this incredible cinematic odyssey and seismograph of life.

  • Cindy Gzaiel
    Director
  • Indy Eye Prod
    Producer
  • Baptiste Aubert
    Film editor
  • Cindy Gzaiel
    Film editor
  • François Roure
    Sound Editing & Design
  • N'To
    Music
  • Mathieu Hamel
    Sound mixing
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Feature
  • Genres:
    Road-movie, Psychological drama, Women, Social Issue, Metoo, War, Trauma
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 39 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    October 18, 2024
  • Country of Origin:
    France
  • Country of Filming:
    France, Israel
  • Language:
    English, French, Hebrew
  • Shooting Format:
    MPEG-4 (H.264)
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1,77
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Miami Jewish Film Festival
    Miami
    United States
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Cindy Gzaiel

Cindy Gzaiel studied filmmaking at the New York Film Academy and the ESRA in Paris. She has directed three short films, including Le Syndrome du Plongeur, which won the Best Director and Best Cinematography awards at London's GNIFF. She has also worked as a war reporter on the Israeli border with Lebanon and Syria. At the age of 20, on the frontier of these different worlds, Cindy began filming and producing Trance Therapy, her first feature-length film. Trance Therapy was shot over the course of 5 years. Today, she's writing a new mini-series project : "JNOUN", shot in the suburbs of Paris.

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Director Statement

The stakes of this project: the film of Cindy's life - no filters. There are no actors in this film: everything is real.

Everyone who appears in this film was informed about the shooting and agreed to appear. The final cut was sent to them and they approved it. They have signed an image rights authorization.

There's only one character whose face is blurred and whose voice is pitched to preserve his anonymity. This is the journalist who sexually abused Cindy, the protagonist, when she was working for him as a reporter in Israel on the Lebanese border. She filmed his manipulations. For 5 years, she bravely filmed her life, the best and the worst moments.

As said, this film was made for more than 5 years between France and the Lebanese border with Israel. Self-produced with a low budget, Cindy shot this film alone. It was only later, after private screenings, that the project gained the support of sponsors (FSJU, Fondation Rothschild) and filmmakers. The film is now looking for distribution and international sales agent.