"Amos is one of the best ambassadors of the ocean” – Jean Michelle Cousteau

Already world famous for his photographs, underwater still photographer Amos Nachoum is not satisfied. He seems to have lived a charmed life, having communed with sharks, killer whales and all sorts of underwater behemoths and survived.

Jaffa-born Nachoum lives close to the Pacific Ocean in Northern California, but he's hardly ever there. For years he's been in continual motion, spending just a week or two at home before setting off on yet another expedition.

In this fascinating portrait of a man possessed ("married to the ocean"), we learn what is behind the passion that drives him: his difficult childhood, his service in an elite Israeli commando unit in the bloody 1973 Yom Kippur War, experiences that combined to put him on a quest for inner peace. He calls himself a "soldier of Mother Nature" who is dedicated to "the beauty of life, rather than the misery."

But there is one animal he has never photographed the way he wants to: the polar bear, a creature considered more dangerous than a giant shark. He wants to get the "picture of his life," a polar bear up close and personal, a task considered not only dangerous, but maybe impossible.

Filmmakers Dani Menkin and Yonatan Nir follow Nachoum on his quest to the freezing Arctic waters, and we learn of the infinite patience and preparation that go into the making of his work. In the process, we understand why Nachoum feels that getting close to nature brings peace and joy.
– Miguel Pendás

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The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival is the first and largest Jewish film festival in the world. Presenting innovative film each summer in the Bay Area, the festival promotes awareness, appreciation and pride in the diversity of the Jewish people. Festival programs are meant to create community and strengthen consciousness of Jewish identity, history and culture; provide a dynamic and inclusive forum for exploration of and dialogue about the Jewish experience; and encourage independent filmmakers working with Jewish themes.