Discoveries from Israel World Cinema

When Dor Kahn can't write new jokes, he decides to enter the Fiverr website that sends him on a journey of 3 years.

A nail appointment takes a dramatic turn as Sari, Alona's manicurist and confidante, suspects her of betrayal.

Yoni and Emily, two perfect strangers, spend a once-in-a-lifetime evening together, on a passionate and unforgettable night drive. A drive that could change their lives forever.

17-year-old Nadav wants to serve in a combat unit, even though his mother does not approve. A surprising encounter with his coach changes his perspective.

Based on archive material, the film reveals the final years of Israel's founder, David Ben-Gurion. Excluded from leadership, he allowed himself a hindsight perspective on the Zionist enterprise.

A documentary that follows three Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem, navigating the world of dating and marriage through matchmaking.

Three parallel stories of immigrants in Tel Aviv during the Gulf War and about coming together while sealed in a room during the Scud attacks.

The film depicts the day where Yosi (73), the father of the Korman family, redeems the family dog Shula from agonized dying of numerous diseases by putting her to sleep. Yosi decides to take Shula's inanimate body with him and bury it in the sands, nearby home. The participants in the film (the director himself, and the members of his family) play themselves in a cinematic story based on true event.

An Israeli Mossad agent realizes he's dead and attends his own funeral.

The Dealers tells the story of Rami and Avishay, 27 years old friends that share an apartment in a small Jerusalem neighborhood. They spend their days smoking and playing in a soccer team with other losers, which its coach Zvika is determined to take the "Jerusalem neighborhood cup" with. In need for money they get entangled in a drug deal with Sagi, a local gangster, which forces them to learn the hard way about taking responsibility, loyalty, and friendship. The movie is a humorous view of the colorful, multi culture, unique and somehow funny Israeli society.

The mature and successful drag queen Susie Soufflé meets the young queen Sima Sensation on her way to the show. As they walk along Nordau Strasse, examining its present state against its glorious past, Susie discovers that Sima threatens her position and career.

An unfiltered look at Israel’s most perilous chapter in recent history, a period defined by internal divisions and political extremism. Drawing on insights from Nobel laureates, Muslim leaders, peace activists, and other prominent figures, the film dismantles preconceived notions about one of the world's most scrutinized countries. Directed by Jonathan Jakubowicz (Resistance, Hands of Stone).

A young woman gets up one day and decides to take the law into her hands.

Filled with questions about how the Occupation affects women on both sides of the conflict, Michal Aviad sets off on a journey through Israel and Palestine with two other women.

It articulates the essence of one's internal exile through the portrait of a Jewish-German refugee who arrived in Israel on the eve of World War II, started a family – but has nevertheless, yet to feel at home in his new country. He remains connected to Berlin with every fiber of his being; the city’s culture, its essence, and as far as he’s concerned, Israel is no more than a pit stop. He gradually pulls away from his wife, his son who does not get him, his sisters who are haunted by the past, and the rental flat where he’s lived all these years. He sets up shop in a budget hotel by the Tel Aviv seaside, hangs out with a group of fringe misfits, and dreams of moving back to Berlin.

Yoel, a meticulous historian leading a significant debate against holocaust deniers, discovers that his mother carries a false identity. A mystery about a man who is willing to risk everything to discover the truth.

Yishai visits his family in Israel and hopes to figure out his future. He becomes closer to his younger brother, Omer, a free spirit. Yishai finds comfort in the crazy and surprising encounters from his past, but also must consider his own future and shaky relationship with Omer.

A young Israeli suffers a personal crisis after being released from a psychiatric hospital and returns home to find that his wife has left him taking their son with her.

Smadar (Smadar Sayar) and Mirit (Naama Schendar), both 18 years old, are assigned to patrol the streets of Jerusalem together as part of their military service. Worlds apart in their personality their initial frosty relationship changes to friendship as they deal with their own emotional issues, the crushes and break-ups in their love lives, as well as the political realities.

Thirty-eight-year-old Alice spends her days sleeping. Working nights at a rehabilitation center provides her with an excuse for her fatigue and emotional apathy. Yigal, Alice’s husband, feels lonely and tormented by her chilly attitude, while his anger gradually heightens. Eli, her nine-year-old-son, is desperate for her love. The rehabilitation center houses thirty young women who have suffered emotional crisis. Alice prefers as little communication as possible with the girls and performs only the basic demands of her job: handing out medication, supervising meals, and overseeing shower time. After the lights go out, Alice meets with Yoel, her lover. On the narrow single bed, a passion for another kind of life, or for what might have been, is aroused.

Russian immigrant Natan finds out that his wife had an affair with his best friend. He travels to Russia intending to kill his friend and regain his honor, but his son and the local “mafia” bring it all to a romantic end.

Michal is obliged to interrupt her journey in India because her grandmother is hospitalized. In the internal medicine department Michal must cope with the facts: grandmother is not herself anymore but mum is quite the mum she always was. A romantic triangle between mother, daughter and grandmother.

A few hours before Hadar leaves to study in another country, her best friend Yotam takes her for a last hangout through the places they like the most. Suddenly, before it all ends, these intimate moments make them see each other in a new light.

A comedy about Moishe, a soldier in the army whose nickname is Moishe Air-Condition.

Can a leader succeed in influencing the world? Or is he, as any other human being, only a nutshell tossed to the waves of history with no ability to affect it? Tolstoy pondered this question in War and Peace. Ehud Barak, controversial former prime minister and a decorated commander on the battlefield, contemplates it in this film. Twenty years after he was forced to resign from the premiership due to the failure of the 2000 Camp David summit, 78-year-old Barak observes his own history and the history of the State of Israel with disillusioned clarity, while trying to figure it all out - "What if?"

The film tells the story of a sensitive and complex relationship between a mother and her ailing son. Like in Hans Christian Anderson's fairy tale "The Loveliest Rose in the World" where a prince must search for a rose to save his mother, who is dying in bed, "Tied Hands" sees a reversal of roles as a desperate mother goes out to find marijuana, to ease her son's pain. In her, turbulent journey in the streets of Tel-Aviv, old truths from her past come back to life and threaten to break down a wall of denials behind which, she's been hiding all her life.

Raveh does not only document the past, he documents a future that will never be, and the films that Amrani did not live to create. Researching Amrani's documents, Raveh found several short screenplays, and sought out three directors of Amrani's generation to bring them to life. The short films are interwoven throughout the documentary - "The Boat", directed by Nir Bergman, "Albert and Ronit", directed by Dover Kosashvili, and "Sabbath Eve", directed by Joseph Cedar. The warmth, intensity and drama of family life; issues of Persian ethnicity; tradition and the desire to break away from tradition; the competition and camaraderie of boys and men; the search for love; a persistent spiritual search and a love of the sea - all these are reflected in the brief yet intriguing vignettes, imbuing the film with a sense of Amrani's vision as a filmmaker and how his presence might have influenced the Israeli film scene.

This story is about a 9 year old American Jewish boy, David, and Kamal, also a 9 year old and a poor street urchin of Arab descent selling postcards to tourist in the stone enclosed Old City of Jerusalem. At a first glance, Kamal seems bright and energetic but in reality, he's suffering under the tyrannical presence of his grandfather who oversees the living of his family, his mother and two sisters.

When Itay discovers that his girlfriend changed her name to Silver and is coming out as gender fluid, his world shatters, testing their relationship.

A film director is out to get what he wants at any cost, even if it means murder, oblivious to the fact the woman he trusts is actually working against him.

Yes and No are in the middle of the desert. Yes lies on a mat and eats strawberries from a straw basket and No hands tied behind her back with a red rope. Yes believe they should be together forever and no thinks otherwise.

Lonely and forgotten, Edna (72) finds herself at the beach. An unexpected meeting with an abandoned dog, black as death yet full of joie de vivre, will revive her feminine body and upend the symbiotic relationship with her daughter Yael (40).

As he turns 50, filmmaker Pini Schatz sets out to explore his life-long obsession with the band Sparks (the brothers Ron and Russell Mael). Pini charts the impact of Sparks on his life while meeting with fellow Sparks fans, among them famous musicians, in Tel Aviv, London, Berlin, Rotterdam and NYC. Structured as a personal quest of the filmmaker to prove that Sparks are the coolest underrated band in the history of popular music, this docu-comedy explores the universal themes of growing old and being an outsider, the importance of art in daily life and the power of non-conformism.

Tuli is a very confused and challenged doll who goes on an adventure with her friends to learn how to speak properly.

Haifa on a sunny day. Moshe is a crumbling man walking up the Carmel Mountain on yet another work day. Will this day mark his collapse? Uri walks down the mountain to board a ship and leave behind all the things he loves and despises. His sense of belonging is losing ground. He is likely to miss his military reserve service-call, thus risking jail. Will the two collide or pass through one another? An existential comedy, where the overbearing mountain with its endless stairs takes control over destinies in this unique panorama of the Mediterranean port city.

In the summer of 1990, six years after the first and successful reunion of Kaveret, the band members reunited for another concert tour under the title "Kaveret Returns". The film "Kaveret - Photos from the Life of a Band", released in 1992, documented this concert tour held in Yehoshua Gardens Park in Tel Aviv, in Caesarea Amphitheater, in Arad and in Eilat. The late director Zvi Shissel accompanied the members of the band on their journey across the country, heard stories and memories from them from the beginning of the journey and documented Kaveret on stage and behind the scenes.

In the small and historic suburb of Mazkeret Batya, two sarcastic, rebellious teenagers dream of escaping their boring reality with their rock band. But when their disloyal bandmate unexpectedly quits, the two embark on a surprising journey that challenges their intense friendship.

In the magical forest, the elephants dance and shake the whole jungle. The monkeys at the top of the trees make faces at the sly snake and the pack of wolves is joined by a new member - his name is Mowgli. Mowgli, a baby who is alone in the jungle, is adopted by the pack. The viewers follow Mowgli, how he survives, how his friends Bagheera the panther and Baloo the bear manage to save him from Shirkhan, the terrible tiger who wants to kill him. And finally the meeting with the human daughter, Mowgli's falling in love with Bana and the difficult decision to leave the forest.

In the 1990's a million former USSR Jews arrived in Israel. The immigrants were despised by the local population who feared their 'invasion'. While many embraced the Israeli lifestyle, others chose to live in self-made Russian ghettos. These ghettos were a fertile ground for the creation of self-hating Jewish skinheads. 'White Panther' is the story of Alex, a young Russian immigrant who joins a skinheads' gang, led by his older brother. An unexpected meeting with David, a religious Moroccan Jew, gives Alex a chance to pursue his longtime dream of becoming a boxer like his father. Alex finds himself torn between his two father figures - his violent older brother and his new Jewish trainer, only to find out the truth about those he so admires.

A comedy about a postal worker Samson who suddenly discovered his talent for basketball.

An interview-based collage probing the situation of Israeli exiles who have chosen Berlin as their new home. Stylish, postmodern and provocative in its intertwining of politics and sex, it offers a wild ride.

A group of Israelis and Palestinians come together in Oslo for unsanctioned peace talks during the 1990s in order to bring peace to the Middle East.

The year is 1983 and Yaakov Cohen, the owner of a Jerusalem printing press, is tired from being pushed around. It seems that he was born on the wrong side, with the wrong family name and in a moment's decision he decides to establish a Sephardic-ultra-Orthodox list that will run to the Jerusalem municipality. He gathers two friends, and together they improvise a campaign - no means, no connections, no money, but with much rage, passion and a sense of justice.

What will Riki do after Asher, her fiancé, tells her that he got second thoughts regarding their wedding?..

Natasha (21) is participating in an organized trip to encourage immigration of Russian speaking descendants of Jews to Israel. On the second day, the group arrives to the desert. Two Israeli soldiers join them for the night and the girls all fall for Shlomi, the handsome combat soldier. When Natasha manages to catch his attention by revealing her plan to permanently stay in Israel right after the trip, her friends grow jealous and things turn ugly.

Two love stories develop in a world that follows traditional norms: young Zaza loves Zehava, as they bond in a magical world. The beautiful and independent Madea is in love with the charming neighborhood thug. Watching over is the patriarch grandfather, fighting to bind everyone to the old rules.

The story of the Druze community in the Golan Heights—conquered in 1967 and annexed by Israel in 1981—is told through two characters from Majdal Shams: 19-year-old Aya, who dreams of joining Israel’s national hockey team and is willing to accept Israeli citizenship to achieve her goal, and her older uncle Ayoub, a journalist and farmer who identifies as Syrian and firmly rejects Israeli citizenship. Filmed overthe course of three years, the documentary explores the deep identity crisis of a lost community striving for a peaceful life on its ancestral land while caught in the grip of a turbulent fate.

In a closed apartment, sealed to the outside world, an aging polar bear tries unsuccessfully to communicate with his daughter.

For centuries, Hebrew was a sacred language, a written language of prayer and scripture. But today it is also the language of everyday life in Israel. Nurith Aviv, Israeli writers, musicians, actors and a Rabbi/philosopher from varying countries and ethnic backgrounds discuss the relationship between their mother tongues and Hebrew. Featuring: Aharon Appelfeld, acclaimed for his literary explorations of the Holocaust; actress Jenya (Evgenya) Dodina; Rabbi and philosopher Daniel Epstein; poet Salma-n Musa-lahah; poet and translator Agi Mishol; singer Amal Murkus; poet and Professor of Jewish Thought Haviva Pedaya; and Meir Wieseltier, a member of the early Sixties "Tel Aviv Poets" group.

Oded, a 17-year-old boy suffering from loneliness and trauma, lives with his brother Amit in the city of Sderot. After a news report about a monster desecrating graves, the two set out into the forest to check on the grave of their beloved dog, Bobby. What begins as a mysterious adventure quickly becomes a psychological journey, as Oded is torn between fear, memories, and illusion. As the journey deepens, reality starts to unravel.

In a utopian world based on artificial intelligence, a young woman who dislikes the reality in which she lives and dreams of life as a theater star, loses everything when her robotic pet doll steals her dream role.

A young woman attends an art opening, desperately trying to fit in. She puts on audio-guide headphones and observes the exhibit. Suddenly, the narrator starts giving her wild instructions until she does the unspeakable.

At 42 Dr. Bloch, a profiler, wants a child. A future. Her only way is to find a surrogate mother. At the same time, her groundbreaking algorithm designed to identify individuals planning to carry out terror attacks fails and a young Palestinian woman assassinates the Israeli minister of Space and Tourism. In order to ‘fix the bugs’ in her algorithm, Nurit faces the assassin in person. The sessions between these two brilliant women raise questions about their past, while the sessions between Bloch and the potential surrogate challenge Bloch’s decision about her future.

Jacob Kulp, 40, bald and low, works as a watchmaker, feels exhausted from his life. He has no wife and the person who is closest to him the most is his mother, who died while expressing bitter disappointment from him. At the lowest point of his life, he tries to put an end to them, when the Queen of Sweden who came to visit at the Land of Israel notices him and promises him a hug and a joint dance ...

"On Air" (aka "Zman Avir") is a 1999 Israeli film directed and written by Isaac Zepel Yeshurun. The film is an allegory of the complex Israeli society and tells the story of a former member of the Shin-Bet with family problems who leaves on a secret mission.

Max and Rudy are a couple living a decadent lifestyle in pre-war Berlin, enjoying the nightlife and hedonistic parties: cocaine, orgies, and drag shows. After the rise of the Nazi party to power, Max is caught and sent to a concentration camp, where gay prisoners wear the pink triangle and have a status inferior even to Jewish prisoners. Max disguises himself as a Jew and wears the yellow star, hoping that his sexual orientation will not be revealed. Within the daily oppression of the concentration camp, Max meets Horst, a fellow prisoner to whom he confesses his true identity. Soon a forbidden love develops between them.