"THE DECADE OF THE BROKEN HEARTS" — A COLLABORTION PROJECT BETWEEN WÜL TEAM AND ANIA BUKSTEIN.
‘The Decade of The Broken Hearts’
The Dawn
The setting sun paints with the vibrant soothing shades of purple, banana yellow, and the deep blue of the dimmed light. The day end is symbolic in its need and purpose to establish an end sentence, a pause, place a dot even if for a short while.
WÜL team travels to Blacklight Studio, a small warm studio in the south of Tel-Aviv, where much of the magic happens. Two months after the collaboration with Ania Bukstein on the music video for the single Dofek, we decided to catch up and talk about her experience and insights from the two shooting days.
We come together to get a deeper look into Ania’s perspective on different nuances of life and present her not only as a talented artist but also reveal as an individual. Quickly we built the set design, hang and spread nylon, bring in the old comfy chair, open the windows to let in natural light and turn on the warm 60-watt reading lamp. The interview starts with the pre-written questions short, simple answers to which we wanted to learn about.
The decisions we make shape us before the staring gaze of the outer world but what is even more prominent and important before our inner-self realization. The character that drives away on a motorbike from the setting sun abruptly stops only to turn back, return, and disappear in the horizon. The tender young woman singing the lines makes a powerful decision to end what is not working, sending a message that one is responsible for her decisions and can make a change.
The opposing forces of strength and tenderness, of difference in the view of what the future should be like with the two protagonists of the short film, creates a schism that can only be truly healed by the absolute and painful decision to break the present moment and separate it into two independent lives again. For Ania, her art and music is a way a beholder can tell the story encountered through her prism and let the emotions flow out through her voice and vision to saturate the imagination of others.
Throughout the interview, Ania’s easiness and love for what she does are infecting. She laughs and has fun answering the question, and even sings one of her favorite songs, “and it hurts with every heartbeat” by Robyn. But when we get to the more serious parts of the interview, Ania makes sure to honestly share her perception. Last year Ania became a mother to a beautiful girl Sasha who has changed her life, expanding her to become more. The success, though is tinted with a feeling of missing out. Ania is in a search to find the right balance, which we're sure she will. “I have a feeling of missing out. My life has changed so much, I have gained so much happiness, but I also feel that I have lost something, I’ve been separated from something, and I’ve missed out on something.”
Just towards the end of our open conversation, Ania reveals this piece of information, letting us to better understand her life behind the scenes. “I love to be present in the darkness. In the evening when I'm home, I won't turn on the lights if I don't have to. There's something in the darkness that is genuine. Something soothing, and then my behavior slows down.” Ania lives her life to the fullest, when she’s sad, she cries, and she cries with music to celebrate it. She loves freedom and tries to be spontaneous to LIVE LIFE.
Ania Bukstein is an Israeli actress, singer-songwriter, and musician. Ania was born in Moscow, to the family of doctors, she fluently speaks Hebrew, Russian, and English. Her latest single Dofek, Ania wrote music and lyrics to, topped the Israeli charts after the release of the video. She started her career as a pianist at an early age, though after moving to Israel with her family she decided to pursue an acting career at the age of 12. Ania was nominated in the categories of the best leading and best-supporting actress by the Israeli Film Academy and received an award-nominated as the best actress for the ‘Quiet Heart’ film in PÖFF Festival.