COUNTRY: United States YEAR: 2025 RUNNING TIME: 97 min
DIRECTED BY: Brandon Kramer
LANGUAGE(S): English, Hebrew
SUBTITLES: English
PRODUCER: Lance Kramer, Darren Aronofsky, Ari Handel, Justin A. Gonçalves, Yoni Brook, Brandon Kramer
EDITED BY: Jeff Gilbert
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Yoni Brook, Omer Manor
MUSIC: Jordan Dykstra
Screenings
Synopsis
On the morning of October 7, 2023, Israeli-American Liat Atzili and her husband Aviv were at home when Hamas attacked their kibbutz. By nightfall, Liat and Aviv are captives in Gaza along with 250 other people – 12 of whom, like Liat, are American citizens. Caught between international diplomacy and a rapidly escalating war, their family must face their own uncertainty and conflicting perspectives in the pursuit of Liat and Aviv’s release. This agonizing process, and the ultimate fate of their loved ones, challenges how the members of the family understand themselves and their place in the conflict.
Through the intimate lens of a family’s experience, HOLDING LIAT poses complex questions of identity across generations, as the family is thrust into the epicenter of a global conflict rapidly unfolding in real-time.
Director
Brandon Kramer
Biography
Brandon Kramer is an American documentary filmmaker based in Washington, D.C. and co-founder of Meridian Hill Pictures. He holds a bachelor’s degree in film and cultural anthropology from Boston University. Together with his brother Lance, he has created films that have screened at Tribeca, Full Frame, and AFI DOCS.
His directing credits include THE FIRST STEP, CITY OF TREES, and the Webby Award-winning series THE MESSY TRUTH. Brandon is a Film Independent Fellow, a DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities Fellow, a regular collaborator with Kartemquin Films in Chicago, and has served as a media teaching artist for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In addition to filmmaking, he develops educational programs in community video storytelling.
Filmography
City of Trees (2015), The Messy Truth (2016), The First Step (2021), Holding Liat (2025)