JIFF: The Milky Way

The Story

Australian Premiere

“A tender and viscerally real portrayal of early motherhood.” - Kveller

Tala is a talented but broke musician and, with only her opinionated mother to help, she’s just become a mum to a beautiful baby girl. To try to support them all, Tala takes a job at ‘The Milky Way’, a breast milk dairy that supplies wealthy families with the finest, purest nourishment for their babies’ optimum health.

When a misstep gets Tala kicked out of the lactation industrial complex, she lands in the orbit of wealthy mother Nili. Glimpsing into the lives of the people she supplies, Tala must sort out her own priorities amid her misadventures.

Garnering a Special Jury Mention at Tallinn Black Nights and currently nominated in eleven categories for the 2024 Israeli Oscars, director Maya Kenig’s dryly funny, dystopian feature shows a world that feels eerily possible in this Yorgos Lanthimos-esque voyage through the ups, downs, and in-betweens of motherhood.

Festivals and Awards
Winner – Best Screenplay, Israeli Oscars 2024
Nominee – in 11 categories, Israeli Oscars 2024
Special Jury Mention – Critics’ Picks, Tallinn Black Nights, 2023
Winner – Best Screenplay, Jerusalem Film Festival 2024
Nominee – Best Israeli Feature Film, Jerusalem Film Festival, 2024

Rating

Unclassified 15+

Duration

98 min

Cast

Hila Ruach, Hadas Yaron, Tali Sharon, Samira Saraya, Maayan Turgeman, Seymor Daniel, Evgeny Moliboga, Orli Roth Feldheim

Director

Maya Kenig