Hagai Levi, the director behind Scenes From a Marriage and The Affair, took a conscious step away from the usual Holocaust film look. His new series Etty, based on the diaries of Etty Hillesum, is set in a deliberately contemporary-feeling Amsterdam rather than being locked into the 1940s.

A modern take on Etty Hillesum

The show keeps clothing, technology and locations visibly modern. The main character wears jeans and moves through spaces that feel like a big city now, not a museum version of the past. Levi says that choice came from how the diaries read to him. He felt they spoke with a modern voice and deserved a contemporary staging.

Why this mattered to Levi

Levi has described Etty as a passion project. The diaries were recommended to him by his therapist about 15 years ago and became a book he kept by his bedside. They trace Etty Hillesum’s life as a politically aware Dutch Jewish student who began writing in 1941 while seeing an analyst named Julius Spier. The diaries cover her shifting beliefs, a relationship with Spier, and the worsening violence until her deportation to Auschwitz and death there.

How the series came together

The project evolved over many years. Levi originally imagined a film, then converted the idea into a six-episode series. He was willing to pause his broader deal with HBO to finish it. The project gained fresh urgency after October 7, 2023, and cameras rolled in the Netherlands a few months after that date.

  • Levi says images from recent conflicts made certain Holocaust visuals feel painfully present again.
  • He wanted to avoid a period-piece obsession that shows horror without asking what it means for viewers today.
  • He has noted inspiration from Jonathan Glazer’s film The Zone of Interest for finding new ways to handle this material.

Making the show feel contemporary

Levi was careful with costume choices, dialogue and the general tone to keep the series feeling immediate. He wrote in plain English and relied on translators and collaborators to adapt dialogue into German and Dutch since he does not speak those languages. His approach was practical: focus on correct energy and rhythm rather than literal fluency.

Casting and language work

Austrian newcomer Julia Windischbauer plays Etty. Levi says he knew she was right for the role from her audition. Windischbauer spent four months learning Dutch for the part. Sebastian Koch plays Julius Spier.

Where audiences will see Etty

Etty is airing on the French broadcaster Arte and is being marketed partly as a theatrical experience. It has screened in cinemas, including a showing in Tel Aviv, and has other city events planned. Levi still thinks of the work as closer to a film than a standard TV show, and he believes audiences feel it speaks to their time and concerns about signs of creeping authoritarianism.

Levi on Israel, the local industry, and boycotts

Levi has not worked in Israel for about a decade, focusing mostly on projects in Europe and the United States. He was briefly detained at a protest against judicial reform before October 7. He now expresses concern about the state of the Israeli film and TV industry under current political pressure.

He put it bluntly: "The industry in Israel is in deep s**t." He worries funding is being steered toward productions that fit right-wing positions and that this could stifle creative voices.

Levi also criticized broad international boycotts aimed at Israeli festivals, cinemas and production companies. His argument is practical and political at once. He says many Israeli creators are actively protesting the current regime and that blanket boycotts risk hurting the very artists who oppose what those boycotts intend to challenge. He called for a more selective approach to cultural boycotts so that dissenting creatives are not punished.

Bottom line

Etty is an attempt to connect a historical personal testimony to contemporary life. It trades historical costume for immediacy and hopes viewers will find that choice helps the story speak across time. At the same time, Levi is using the project platform to warn about political pressures on art and to argue for nuance when critics call for cultural isolation.