Holding Liat
A family’s desperate campaign to secure the release of two kibbutz captives becomes an intimate portrait of identity, grief, and political uncertainty.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Extreme
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- harrowing
- intimate
- serious
- reflective viewing
- social justice programming
What critics said
Critics broadly praise the documentary for distilling a vast and polarizing conflict into an intimate, emotionally immediate family story.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The film follows Liat and Aviv's relatives as they navigate captivity, diplomacy, uncertainty, and conflicting perspectives.
The family's ideas about identity and place in the conflict are challenged by Liat's captivity and the unfolding war.
The story uses the family's experience at the center of a global conflict rather than surveying Middle Eastern geopolitics broadly.
The family must pursue release amid changing diplomacy, war, and incomplete information about their loved ones.
Films like Holding Liat, and why
For Sama
intimate documentary perspective on civilians and families caught inside an active Middle Eastern conflict
The Rescue
real-time geopolitical crisis rendered through personal testimony, moral uncertainty, and human stakes
No Other Land
Israeli-Palestinian conflict examined through intimate lived experience rather than detached political analysis
Movie Details
- Director
- Brandon Kramer
- Release Date
- 2025-09-12
- Runtime
- 97 min
- Rating
- 6.8 / 10 (4)
Cast
- Yehuda Beinin
- Chaya Beinin
- Tal Beinin
- Joel Beinin
- Liat Beinin Atzili
- Aviv Atzili
- Mitch McConnell
- Ron Wyden
- Chris Van Hollen
- Ahmed Mansour
Common questions
- What is Holding Liat about?
- A family’s desperate campaign to secure the release of two kibbutz captives becomes an intimate portrait of identity, grief, and political uncertainty.
- What is Holding Liat like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Holding Liat as measured, its intensity as extreme and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Holding Liat violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Holding Liat as mild.
- What did critics think of Holding Liat?
- Critics broadly praise the documentary for distilling a vast and polarizing conflict into an intimate, emotionally immediate family story.
- Which films are like Holding Liat?
- Films with a similar feel include For Sama, The Rescue, and No Other Land.
- How long is Holding Liat?
- Holding Liat runs 97 minutes.
