Wednesday, May 20 | 2:00 p.m. | Berney Theatre | Asper Jewish Community Campus
Documentary | Israel | 2025 | Director: Tomer Heymann | Hebrew with English subtitles | 54 Minutes |
Orna and Ella, an interesting poignant Israeli documentary by filmmaker and director Tomer Heymann is about the decision of Orna Agmon and Ella Schein to close down their beloved neighborhood restaurant in Tel-Aviv , titled “????? ????” (Orna and Ella).Together the two women began an enterprise selling pastries, fresh breads, croissants, and their legendary sweet potato pancakes (or latkes), opening their iconic restaurant on 33 Sheinkin Street in 1992. The closing of the restaurant was covered in the Israeli press.
The film is really about the nature of being in a business partnership, especially when there is a friendship that precedes the decision to enter into a business partnership. It’s about a break-up after 26 years of being dedicated to one another in business, after building up a reputation and becoming a “home “ for many of regular customers. . The two partners first met when they were young waitresses. As in any partnership, there is usually one partner who wants the break-up to occur more than the other.
In this case of this restaurant, Orna is the partner who is ready to move on and has according to her son been ready to do so for many years. She went into the business as she didn’t know what else she wanted to do with her life and she’s exhausted from the day to day grind of the restaurant with no time off. She is looking forward to starting a new chapter of her life. . Ella , a kibbutznik, who initiated the idea of the restaurant making its own baking, would not have chosen to end the business. It has provided her with a sense of a shared community (as did the kibbutz) a sense of purpose and the mission, of belonging to something larger than oneself, and she is not sure where she will go from here.
Each of the two partners brought their unique talents to the enterprise and remained friends , notwithstanding in the final days there are scenes of them bickering. The two women make the decision to close the business down, rather than sell it as a going concern, which would have made sense economically.
The film is universal in its appeal is it is really about confronting major life changes and transitions which may not be fully expected at the time.
Together they built an enterprise selling pastries, fresh breads, croissants, and their legendary sweet potato pancakes (or latkes), which quickly became their signature as they opened their flagship restaurant on 33 Sheinkin Street in 1992.Tomer Heymann-who worked there for six years ant the restaurant and for whom it was much more than just a workplace documents the intense dynamics of the last days of the restaurant.
