Interview with Omer Hazan from the Israeli film "Encirclements"

We've caught up with Omer Hazan about his first-ever movie role in the original Israeli film “Encirclements”. The film had locked the Darom cinema Festival. We asked him about his character, the shooting experiences on set, whom he connected to the most, and his future as an actor .

First of all, can you introduce yourself? 

"I'm Omer Hazan, I'm 15-and-a-half year-old from Ashdod. I've been studying 7 years in the acting and theather school 'Yetsirati (Creative)'. I've gotten into it through auditions- I was auditioning here. I saw a flyer, and I was a soccer player at that time, and then I decided to stop my career there and to put an effort into acting because ever since I was a little boy I liked the stage. So I went to audition and got accepted... a year later I did my first project, a guest appearance ,in 'Asfur' (a succsessful TV series). There were more projects and more auditions, smaller ones though. About two years ago I played in 'Encirclements' with Lior Ashkenazi, Asi Levy and Uri Gabriel.”

Can you tell us about the production of 'Encirclements'?

"At the beginning I came there through 'Yetsirati', I studied acting, and they sent me to audition. I'd passed the first, second, third and fourth audition... and then I had the fifth audition. There was 90% I'd pass and 10% I wouldn't. The last 10% scared me but I still maintained my hope, and I did pass it. A week later I'd met Uri Gabriel, the director and the editors, and so we worked on my first scene”.

How did you work on it?

"They had sent the text to my mail. I was so excited, I got a pile of papers, and already after just one hour I had studied everything by heart and went there really ready”.

How do you learn so many papers by heart?

“With a bit of willpower and enthusiasm, you can succeed easily. So we met in person for the first time, we rehearsed the text and the scenes... I had just started it, and I coudln't believe it, because I was playing in a movie among the main roles, I have an importance, and it's an Israeli film and I'm bringing an honor to my nation...”

It's also a pride fo Ashdod, you put us on the map.

"Absolutely, it's a pride for Ashdod, yeah [laughs]. It's not something every kid my age goes through and it's a huge project for my opinion. I was supposed to play the main character, and Lee Gilat- the director that I incredibly appreciate and is amazing and the best and I hope and wish myself to play in her next movies- after she had casted me, she said 'I think you'd be more suitable for a different role', whose name is Amir Vaknin, and it's ultimately the role I played in the end”.

Can you describe your character?

"Meir is a jealous, aggressive character, he's the king of his neighborhood. He likes to have some laughs and mess around with his friends, be with his crew and to be the one who controls it. His sister objects what he's doing, because she's in love with the person Amir can't stand, which is Aharon, and Aharon won the Zhcut Encirclement and it's the most important thing in our town, that I was supposed to win at and everybody else expected it too...I claim he got it out of pity, so we repeat the contest so that I get to be the one who lifts the Torah book, and at the end he wins it. Everyone's in shock, and I am the one who comes to help him, in spite of the rivalry, in spite of our fights, in spite of my harassment towards him and his parents... And you can see it through the movie, the whole sensitivity that evolves there”.

Have you had a hard time portaying him?

"Honestly, no. I actually brought a lot from me”.

Did you relate to him?

"Obviously I connected to him, and I think there was no one else who could do this part better than me and I hope that's like what people are going to say, because I was supposed to play the lead role of Aharon... But I truly preferred it now [the role of Amir], and also when I watched it on screen, I said to myself that it was a really good choice of Lee Gilat, to switch my part, and I think I did it in the best possible way.

"Yet, it's a road, it's hard, it's a lot of no's in this industry and I can tell that in the last two months I got a lot of them. But it's fine, you evolve slowly, you grow slowly, and after you go through a big production like 'Encirclements' so you know you've got a lot to do and to grow”.

How were your days on set?

"It was amazing, the actors were like family with me. I though that they wouldn't accept us and they would see us [e.g., him and the rest of kid actors] as less than them, like we're not their age so we're not at their level, but they treated us wonderfully”.

To which actor you connected the most?

"I honestly connect to everyone, especially to Aria Cherner and Florence Bloch who played my mom and dad, and to the other kids of course. I can tell you that each and every one from the production team was amazing and treated us amazing, and always came to help and always knew the right word to say and where to improve us...And Lee Gilat have said to always bring something from ourselves, not to be fixated solely on the text and the character's lines, but if we think to change something- than we can come to her, speak about it, and share it... I couldn't get any better place to do my first big-screen role, and it was awesome”.

Which experience can you share with us?

"Mostly the jokes, because we were like a family, we had our own jokes that even the production team didn't understand what we were talking about... Like, in the middle of the filming someone could throw a comment and th entire set would burst out laughing, an only their team wouldn't know what we talk about because it's something that happens behind the scenes, in the vans and durig our meals together”.

Have you got any projects coming soon?

"Not in the meantime, and as I said before, in this career you'll get a lot of rejections, but I hope this will open new doors for me. Like I said, it's a long road, and from those rejections you learn and you grow thick skin”.

Would you like to be an actor in the future, do you see yourself continuing that?

"Definitely, there's no doubt I'll keep doing it in the future, and I'll keep on the hard work, I'll keep walking in my path... And I think that I'll try to put myself more targets as much as I can and achieve them. With learning and with the toold we're given at 'Yetsirati', I hope so”.

Do you see yourself in Hollywood?

"Yes. But I take it slow, first I need to go through it here... First I need to learn here, you can't just go straight to Hollywood. Once you learn and you get the right tools, I'm sure anyone who'll put an effort into it, can reach the stars”.

Thank you for this interview, we hope to see you soon.

"Thank you, it was fun”.