Yaron Zilberman's "wonderful, heartwarming" (LA Times) film Watermarks narrates the story of the champion women swimmers of the legendary Vienna sports club Hakoah. Founded in 1909 in response to the notorious Aryan Paragraph, which forbade most Austrian sports clubs from accepting Jewish athletes, Hakoah rapidly grew into one of Europe's biggest athletic organizations -- and its women's swim team virtually dominated national competitions in the 1930s.

An uplifting tale of survival and friendship, Watermarks focuses on the stories of the club's surviving members, while also faithfully recounting a historical period where prejudice and violence forced these brave women into exile. Now, sixty-five years after their escape, seven of Hakoah's female swim team athletes leave their respective homes across the globe and re-unite for the first time at their old Vienna swimming pool.

"The images of them swimming together after all those years are beautiful and a little holy: They look like angels in the water." - Wesley Morris, The Boston Globe

"As these women tell their stories in a tone of wonderment, Watermarks becomes more than a pointed footnote to the Holocaust. It emerges as a surprisingly encouraging reflection on the distance between youth and advanced age." - Stephen Holden, The New York Times

Winner of 5 Film Festival Audience Awards!
Winner, Best Cinematography - Jerusalem Film Festival
Winner, Grand Prix -Contact International Documentary Film Festival, Kiev

Written and Directed by Yaron Zilberman
Israel, 2004
Documentary, Jewish History, Sports, WWII
English, Hebrew, German (with English subtitles)
77 minutes