In Words That Remain, six people recall the languages that cradled their childhoods: Judeo-Spanish or Judeo Arabic, or Judeo-Persian. These languages, while quite different from one another, have a common Hebrew component, and—especially—a common feature: all of them are written in Hebrew letters. These letters have, with the passage of time, lost their use and their force. Today, the languages themselves are becoming extinct. The resonance of their words, however, of melodies, rhythms, and accents, have left traces that still work on in those who heard them as children.
Nurith Aviv
Nurith Aviv was born in Tel Aviv in 1945. Currently based in Paris. She is a French-Israeli Direcor, Cinematographer and Producer. Her first work as a Cinematographer was for the Israeli cult Shablul (1970). She moved to France afterwards and became the first woman in France to be officially recognized by the CNC as a Director of Photography. As such, she has worked with a wide range of directors including Agnès Varda (Daguerreotypes, 1975) and Réné Allio (Moi Pierre Rivière ayant égorgé ma mère, ma soeur et mon frère, 1976) , and Amos Gitai (Field Diary, 1982) and A House in Jerusalem(1998). Aviv has directed fourteen documentary films, and the topic of language is central to her personal and cinematographic exploration.