War Diaries

The German actress and director Nadia Migdal and the Israeli actor and theatre maker Uri Fahndrich live in Tel Aviv with their four-month-old daughter Alma. On the Saturday morning that Hamas attacked Israel, the small family was at home – and just an hour later they were torn apart for a long time. Uri was called up as a reservist, Nadia moved with the baby to friends who have a shelter at home. Without yet suspecting the traumatic times that were to come, the two decided to keep a diary.Three weeks later, Uri enters the Gaza Strip as commander of a company of 80 soldiers. The couple are separated by radio silence…

Nadia and Uri have developed a theatrical and performative documentary for the asphalt Festival based on their war diaries, which looks at the realities of war from different perspectives. On the Israeli side alone, over a hundred thousand parents have been spending their days on a battlefield as soldiers since 7 October. What happens to a society under such conditions? Generations will have to deal with the traumatising consequences of the war. By incorporating personal video and sound recordings made in Gaza and Israel, a powerful testimony of everyday life in war is created, revealing its destructive power.

Uri Fahndrich was born in Jerusalem in 1993 and graduated from the Nissan Nativ Acting Studio in Tel Aviv. He works as a freelance actor, producer and theatre maker at various theatres in Tel Aviv.

Nadia Migdal, born in Herne in 1984, works freelance for theatre, film and television and lives in Tel Aviv and Bochum. She has performed at numerous theatres in Germany, Austria and Switzerland . Since 2018, she has been working increasingly in Israel and has received invitations as artist in residence in Herzliya and Arad. In 2011, she was nominated for best young actress in the trade magazine Theater Heute, and in 2020 and 2021 she received the Korso-op. Kollektiv award for best production.

Swiss-Israeli actor, musician and performer Meni Gross also graduated from the Nissan Nativ Acting Studio. He creates rich, immersive soundscapes for theatre productions and realises his own projects.