Former Child Star Perach Bar Minali Reveals Trauma Behind New Directorial Debut

Former child star and actress from the hit series "Kofiko", Perach Bar Minali (25), is stepping into the spotlight as a director with a deeply painful and personal confession. Ahead of the screening of her short film "A Weakness for Difficult Cases" at the Jerusalem Women's Film Festival, Minali revealed the severe personal trauma that inspired her cinematic creation, stemming from a complex relationship in her youth.

"When I was in high school, I dated a combat soldier and was madly in love with him," Minali recounted with rare openness about the incident, which occurred when she was only 17 years old. She described the traumatic moment that changed her life: "I went to a party with him and his friends, and at that party, he sexually assaulted me. From there, the idea for the film was born, and working on it was my way of processing what happened in a healing way."

• Minali explained that the film deals with sexuality in gray areas and the social pressure exerted on combat soldiers to demonstrate machismo. "I realized there is a similarity between teenage girls and soldiers," she noted. "When you are growing up, you don't know how to say 'no', and with combat soldiers too, there's no such thing. In hindsight, I understood that sex was a way for him to show control, and that led to sexual abuse."

The fictional film, created as part of her studies at the Sam Spiegel Film School, stars Rona Sobol and Amir Banai, offering a deep female perspective on relationships, boundaries, and consent. After nearly 20 years in the acting world, ranging from her childhood in "Kofiko" to roles at the Gesher Theatre, Minali is charting a new and promising professional path behind the camera.