Name: Namuch
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2005-03-10
Duration: 50 min
Rating: 7.6
Cast: Idan Alterman, Dror Chajaj, Roy Florentin

Israeli comic-turned-director, Idan Alterman, boldly confesses his height complex and tries to figure out whether his experiences as a height-disadvantaged teenager has made him turn to comedy, where he could stand out and make his short-comings his forte. Because this issue is so personal to him, Alterman's sincerity manages to extract fantastic sound bites from Israeli rock stars, world renowned politicians, award winning photo-journalists and fellow comics and actors of the stage and screen, who "come out" and confess the trials and tribulations of being "vertically disadvantaged". I wonder if Tom Cruise would have had the guts to sit down to be interviewed on this matter by Mr. Alterman. Although the tone is light and very humorous, this 50 minute long festival crowd-pleaser has a deeper layer to it. Being short is only one aspect of it. It's about being different, being singled out, feeling socially awkward and finding strengths within to compensate it, to become a happy, functioning individual, complex free (I am short, but my husband is tall, and I found his eyes moist and glistening in the dark by the film's end, it has touched him as well. Later, he told me that's the story of his childhood as well, with the "slight" difference that he was the tallest kid in class, and not the shortest). "Namuch" ("Short" in Hebrew) follows two Israeli teens of different backgrounds who currently struggle to gain the respect of their classmates, peers and prospective girlfriends although they are "the tiniest kids in class". One of them goes so far as to participate in an experimental medical program, and to inject daily doses of growth hormone into his thigh in hope that this will help him grow taller. The kids' frankness, as well as the lush cinematography, the brisk pace and the film's analytical structure make "Namuch" a moving experience, that makes you swell up with tears, right before you burst into laughter. Absolutely lovely. (Screened at the Israeli Film Festival 2006, New York).

The documentary is a form of non-fiction storytelling that aims to present factual information, insights, and perspectives on real-world subjects, events, issues, or people. Documentaries can cover a wide range of topics, including history, science, culture, social issues, nature, biographies, and more.

Dziga Vertov in Man with a Movie Camera (1929)

Through personal interviews, conversation with teenage boys, meeting with experts and considerable humor and self exposure, Edan Alterman sets out to examine how height affects men who are shorter than others. Are shorter men funnier? Does short stature created tall character? Why do girls only want to date tall guys? And who do the short guys go out with? The film follows two short- statured boys who still dream of getting tall, and short- statured adults who have learned to live with a world that at times teases them but generally just blocks their view. Short is a personal, moving and entertaining documentary that will add a couple of inches to the ego of short people. "Short is just the film I was missing as a teenager. As the shortest kid in the class, I felt lonely and an outsider. I could only have wished that someone would have made a documentary about shorter than average people (5 foot 5, in my case) and answer the thousands of questions that tormented and frustrated me, but perhaps also made me who I am..." (Alterman)

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