In October 2023, two weeks after Israeli-American teacher Liat Atzili and her husband Aviv were kidnapped from their kibbutz in southern Israel by Hamas forces, filmmaker Brandon Kramer, a relative, follows the experiences of Liat's family, providing an intimate and real-time portrait of their conflicting views, emotions, and strategies to secure their release. Disappointed and angered by Israel's response to the attacks, Liat's father, Yehuda, lobbies members of Congress to prioritize the release of the hostages, criticizes Netanyahu, and advocates for a peaceful reconciliation with Palestinians; Netta, Liat's son (who narrowly escaped an attack), expresses anger toward Hamas and anti-war protestors; and Liat's mother Chaya and younger sister Tal both clash with Yehuda and want politics left out of the equation. Balancing compassion for the family with varying opinions about the objectives of the current leadership in Israel and the USA, HOLDING LIAT is “a valuable work, not least for showing us that Israel and Netanyahu are not synonymous. ” – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian (UK)
