In the aftermath of the deadly attacks of October 7, 2023, in Israel, budding filmmaker Meyer Levinson-Blount found himself working in a supermarket, interacting with people from all types of backgrounds. He describes the period as akin to the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, with most people staying indoors and paralyzed by fear.
“The conflicts within Israeli society were very present within the supermarket — I witnessed … a lot of tension between the Arab-Palestinian Israelis and the Jewish Israelis,” says Levinson-Blount, who grew up in Yonkers, New York, before moving to Tel Aviv with his family at 12 years old. “The collective trauma and that national crisis that was happening had an effect on the Palestinian and Arab-Israeli community because there was a finger pointed at them.”
Enter Levinson-Blount’s debut professional film, Butcher’s Stain, which the writer-director made fresh out of film school with producer Oron Caspi and is now Oscar-nominated for best live-action short. The two filmmakers were on hand last week for a special THR Frontrunners screening, followed by a panel conversation and reception at San Vicente Bungalows in Los Angeles.
Butcher’s Stain is directly inspired by what Levinson-Blount observed during his time in the supermarket, following a Palestinian employee named Samir (Omar Sameer) who’s falsely accused of tearing down posters demanding the return of the Israeli hostages. The film tracks Samir as he courts unfair suspicion and doubt at every corner while simply trying to live his life day by day. “How does it feel as a human being to be accused of something that you didn’t do? How does it feel to suddenly be looked at differently and to be treated differently and to be discriminated against?” Levinson-Blount says of his motivating question. “It’s a film that’s supposed to take the conversation back to the human experience.”
Sameer, who was recommended by an agent for Arab actors in Israel, gives a breakout performance. “Omar couldn’t do the dates that we originally went for, and I said, ‘This is not going to be possible,’” Caspi admits. “Meyer insisted, ‘No, this is the guy.’ And the audition went far and beyond what I wanted.” So the production schedule was built around Sameer, who then informed the character and his world. “He taught me a lot about his community and how his community feels at this time,” Levinson-Blount says. “He was able to put in some nuances in his acting and in the dialogue.”
Levinson-Blount stresses that Butcher’s Stain is not intended as a political statement, but it’s already making waves back home. “The [Israeli] culture minister has said some things about us,” the director says, referencing Miki Zohar’s recent comments that the film (along with fellow Oscar nominee Children No More) “amplify our enemies’ narrative.” “People have gotten mad over it because they think that it’s a film that represents some sort of one-sided argument, that this side is bad and this side is good — and it’s the opposite of what the film is trying to do.”
He adds, “When people do see the film … they realize that there’s nothing to get mad at: It’s just a guy going through this situation where he is being accused unfairly.”
This edition of THR Frontrunners was brought to you by Walnut Hill Advisors.
