The Cemetery Club

10 oclock, Saturday morning. A group of elderly women and men carry plastic lawn chairs across the Mount Herzl National Cemetery in Jerusalem. In the shade of an old pine tree, they sit down, in a circle and discuss matters sublime and elevated.For over two decades, the “Mt. Herzl Academy has held its weekly meeting at this cemetery. Seated between the graves of the nation’s dignitaries, they debate the history of modern philosophy, read poetry, eat lunch and determine the fate of the Jewish nation.Director Tali Shemesh has been following the “Academy” for the last 5 years, focusing on two members: Minia, the director’s grandmother, and Lena, her great aunt.The film unravels the jagged, intense, almost impossible relationship between these two extremely different women, who each bereaved of the man she loved remain bound together by history and Fate.As death decimates the group that has given meaning to their lives, the film explores the conflicts between Lena and Minia, and the family secrets that haunt them. The result is a poignant, intimate, sometimes hilarious portrait of the Holocaust generation like youve never seen it before.