Discoveries from Israel World Cinema

Yael can neither forgive nor forget. After her father was convicted and imprisoned for sexual exploitation, she decides to change the rules of the game for the paralyzed and ashamed victim and files a precedent-setting civil lawsuit against her father. At the same time, she decides to document her events, the chronicle of her disintegrating family, and the heavy price she pays in her life.

Menahem Lang, an actor with an extraordinary singing voice, returns to Bnei Brak, the city in Israel where he grew up and a center of ultra-orthodox Judaism. Now in his 30s, Lang left the city at 20, following years of rape and sexual abuse by elder, devout family men in the community. Yet, Lang was far from being an isolated case: his conversations with other abused young men document a cycle of sexual predators and tormented lives.

A black comedy which follows Ronen Matalon's journey to overcome his anxiety of terror attacks. Ronen uses writing and guiding a tour of terror-attack sites along Jerusalem's Jaffa Street to try and break free from his trauma.

Shaul, an ex-guitarist and a serial inventor, is torn between his love for Yael and his war on the Electric Company, which has disconnected their power supply.

A man pretends to be married to his ex-wife for the sake of his mother’s sanity. But when he finds love with his secretary, and later a 17-year-old, he ends up lost in confusion.

Avram, an Hassadic hippie; Hassan, an Arab inventor; and Tex, a nonchalant Jew, with so different backgrounds and characters, share a liberal view about sexuality. In a world abiding by the strict moral derived from the Dybbuk (sacred book), the three men will go through a number of tribulations concerning marriage.

Within four walls, a daughter faces her greatest fear as she tries to get her mentally ill mother to attend a rehabilitation committee that will determine her disability status.

One night in Jerusalem, a chance encounter on Grindr brings together Iyad, a Palestinian, and Maor, an Israeli, for a mix of wild sex and a subtle power struggle. Just as things seem to fall apart after Maor’s unexpected request, a rocket siren forces them half-naked into the stairwell, surrounded by hostile neighbors. In that tense space, Iyad withdraws, but Maor gently reaches out to him. When they return to bed, the dynamic shifts—tension gives way to tenderness, and true intimacy finally emerges between them.

At the age of 88, Geizi Tsafrir reflects on his early days in the SHABAK (The Israeli Security Agency) and his involvement in a targeted assassination operation carried out by Israel in the 1950’s Gaza Strip. He discovers that the target’s daughter, Nonie Darwish now lives in Los Angeles and decides to write to her without telling her about his role in the case. Thus begins Geizi’s reexamination of the first targeted assassination that Israel conducted. As he reunites with his partners in the operation, he uncovers new and unsettling information and decides to take action – to reveal to Nonie all he knows about her father's death, hoping it will ease his troubled conscience.

An intimate portrait of late director, George Obadiah, made when Tal was a student at Tel Aviv University’s Department of Film and Television Studies. In the film, the immensely popular Obadiah who was loved by audiences and loathed by critics, sits down with Tal for an on-camera conversation, just two years before his death. Elderly, poorly, and frustrated that he is no longer making films, Obadiah opens up about his love of filmmaking and the principles that have steered him throughout his professional career.

Interviewees are exposed both physically and mentally in this irreverent look at Israeli masculinity, through a series of interviews with men from a broad range of ages and backgrounds.

Safe Space tells of a single night with a Birthright group as they spend this time in the Israeli desert, at Kfar Hanokdim. During this night, Hili, the protagonist of the film, comes to terms with her identity as both an Israeli and an American, while navigating the limits between both worlds. For her, this trip becomes the ultimate distillation of her experience in life, while also opening her eyes to the empowerment and sense of identity and belonging it gives to her American peers.

After facing difficulties with his girlfriend, Uri starts doubting the idea of love. Casual meetings with people from his past teaches him that sometimes growing up means pecking up your roots

The film opens with a monologue by a year five pupil who goes to primary school in the city of Rishon LeZion, outside Tel Aviv. He addresses the camera and a recent incident that happened in class, which helped his fellow pupils and himself learn how to better treat “new kids and new people.” Thus begins the story of Maya Kajinowski, who arrives at the school as part of the tidal wave of mass Jewish migration to Israel, following the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early ‘90s. Maya struggles to integrate and assimilate, as the native children continue to tease her, relentlessly, for her accent and looks, and flat out refuse to sit next to her. When the bullying and humiliation reach their nastiest peak, after which the children’s treatment of Maya finally starts to change, Maya too turns a corner and goes from the new immigrant and perennial outsider to a student, just like everyone else.

Israeli film director Asher TIalim, originally from Tangier, Morocco, poses a question to all of us, even those apparently not directly affected: What do we - the generation after - have to do with the Holocaust? Focusing on the Akko Theater Center's award-winning performance, ARBEIT MACHT FREI, also featured in the German documentary, BALAGAN (see listing), he documents the actors as well as the audiences over a three-year period, scrutinizing their souls. Tlalim travels with the Israeli actors to Morocco, to the Czech Republic and finally to Germany, where they compare one society that chooses to remember with one that chooses to forget.

Amir is traveling through his own dream, meeting a species of creatures called the Moonchkins. He befriends a female Moonchkin called Ding-Ding, and together they work to celebrate his half-birthday, trying to get away from the schemes of our antagonists.

A comic drama that examines how far a young couple from Ramle will go in order to save their house from confiscation. Beny and Esty love each other very much but they are unfortunate. One day, they find themselves unemployed, and if that's not enough, the bank is about to confiscate their apartment in a housing project, if they don't settle their mortgage debt within a month. The two search for creative solutions to obtain the money, while each of them believes that his solution is saner. As the confiscation date approaches, the relationship is marred, but their deep love holds in store a very precious surprise.

Zalman Shoshi, born in Haifa to Holocaust survivors, grew up in a home marked by violence and trauma. As a teenager, Zalman ran away from home and survived by working as a sex worker. Later, Zalman reinvented himself as Shoshi, Israel's first transgender celebrity, who was both revered and feared. Their path also led to Berlin: a divided city where Holocaust survivors reopened bars, brothels, and peep shows, and where Israeli trans women found both refuge and danger.

A psychological thriller, unfolding the toxic relationship between Leah, a young personal assistant, and her former employer, a renowned author. Past and present events collide, as Leah’s grasp of reality blurs.

Black Jack is the coming-of-age story of Jacky, a young, frivolous adventurer, searching for an identity and thirsty for love. As he is swept into the world of crime, he falls in love with a beautiful casino dealer and learns from her that in order to survive he must remain true to himself, and take responsibility for his own life.

Avi and Asaf, a Tel Avivian couple, are about to break up. Avi suggests they try just one more thing. A rendezvous with Eden will shed light on their relationship, forcing Avi to decide if they still stand a chance.

Shalom, the rhinoceros at the Jerusalem Bible Zoo, is a crowd favorite. At 45, Shalom has grown old and weary. The caretakers who lovingly tend to him discuss euthanasia while war breaks out beyond the zoo’s walls.

In 1933, Dr. Karl Schwarz, who had founded the Jewish Museum in Berlin, was invited by then-Mayor of Tel Aviv, Meir Dizengoff, to manage the first art museum in Palestine—the Tel Aviv Museum. Accordingly, he left the cultural world of Berlin and arrived in Tel Aviv, only to discover, to his surprise, that the museum in question was housed in three small rooms of the mayor’s private residence. The film by acclaimed director Arnon Goldfinger (The Apartment, 2011) is a compilation of archival materials and artworks that unfolds the story of the founding of the Tel Aviv Museum and reveals the disconcerting link between its growth and the tragedy that befell European Jewry in the 1930s and 1940s.

several parallel plotlines set on the eve of the Six-Day War. The stories play out concurrently as a way of conveying the reality of life in Israel, where the national and political are forever invading the individual’s space.

Liat and Kobi, a young Israeli couple, live in the city of Tel Aviv with their dog, Rickey. Without telling Liat, Kobi takes Rickey to participate in illegal dog fighting, after winning the first fight, Rickey gets away. Kobi tells Liat that their dog ran away, but fails to mention what occurred before. Soon enough they receive a phone call from a guy who claims he found their dog. The guy doesn't give too many details about the find and leaves the young couple unsure whether the dog was really found. Kobi feels uneasy about the guy and decides to go and meet him by himself. But then, a mysterious phone call turns everything upside down.

A married couple at their forties sit in their living room. Together they recalls their first meeting, but while he remembers the lights on the dark river, she remembers the wind that blew through the sunny field.

The story of the bohemian holiday village established by Rafi Nelson on the Sinai border, caught in a border conflict between Israel and Egypt. Nelson, a colorful figure, goes to defend his land. An absurd look at the conflict in the Middle East through one square kilometer of passions.

In a bland, utilitarian world of order, one worker finds his inner jazz

A civil servant desperately tries to hide a corpse.

At dawn on October 7, 2023, thousands of Israelis were awakened by a seemingly routine rocket terror attack from Gaza. Within a few hours, their world would change forever. Using personal accounts of the fates of seven survivors, the documentary reconstructs the darkest day in modern Israeli history, when 3,000 Hamas terrorists and their murderous followers invaded civilian communities in southern Israel, stormed an electronic music festival, and killed 1,195 people. Among the contemporary witnesses who speak is Yuval Raphael, a survivor of the Nova Music Festival massacre, who had to hide among corpses in an air raid shelter and, after overcoming the trauma, will represent Israel at the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest with her magnificent singing voice. But Mazal Tazazo, Millet Ben Haim, Hadar Or Elmakias, Guillermo Rochman, Guido Kohan and Shye Weinstein also describe their sad experiences.

Itai Gal is on a funny, sad and strange journey of self discovery, and dives with a lot of humor and absurdity into difficult topics such as sexual issues, suicidal thoughts and the fear of moving on.

After 30 years of failed efforts, Tahel finally persuades her younger sister Tzipora to leave Abarbanel Psychiatric Hospital and move in with her. A 16-year documentation of a struggle with the existence of a raw, unspeakable traumatic excess.

Photo Farag recounts the emotional tale of a big family from Iraq who immigrated to Israel and revolutionized photography, from their rise to their downfall. Using rare footage nephew Kobi Farag tells the story of this family of photographers.

The story of various journeys through the West Bank and Gaza Strip occupied territories during the months leading up to Israel's invasion of Lebanon.

Assaf, a cynical boy frustrated by the death of his older brother Uri in Lebanon, refuses to join his family for the Memorial Day ceremony. Out of his longing, he has imaginary conversations with Uri.

We are far from the war that summoned us. As time passes, fog turns to frozen snow. Guilt mounts, the personal cost cuts deeper, and trust begins to fracture. Is this what war looks like? Are these its heroes?

In the heart of Tel-Aviv's Neve Tzedek neighborhood stands an old house that operates as a shelter for youth from broken homes. Jackie, a young man who finds himself running the shelter after the sudden death of its legendary founder, discovers that the old house actually belongs to the municipality of Tel-Aviv, and has been bought by a businessman who's planning to demolish the house and build a boutique hotel on its ruins. Together with the house's at-risk youth, and with the help of a social worker who comes on board, Jackie launches a relentless struggle against the municipality's representatives, to save the house, which, for the youth it shelters-- is their last refuge, their last lifeline.

The singer Dudu Fisher is the kindergarten teacher that came to the kindergarten and changed it into a more musical kindergarten.

A deep relationship crisis facing pious couple. Just before detachment, a strange dream brings hidden line.

On his way to his debut performance, a young musician takes a wrong turn and finds himself trapped in a bizarre encounter with an old man searching for his lost dog.

After Ivan lost a lot of money to the criminal boss Franco he must work for him. First task is to guard the apartment where young girl Nika from Ukraine is forced to work as a prostitute.

An English-speaking advertisement film produced by the Information Center (Hasbara) in cooperation with the Israel Government Tourist Corporation, intended to promote international tourism to Israel’s coasts and four seas: the Mediterranean Sea, the Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea and the Red Sea. The film presents to potential tourists the options for a beach and sea vacation in Israel, whether in the coastal cities along the Mediterranean such as Nahariya, Acre and Tel Aviv where one can fish, swim or sail, a visit to Tiberias to the shores of the Sea of Galilee where water skiing developed in recent years, and a vacation in the Dead Sea. Upon visiting the southern city of Eilat with its shores along the Red Sea, one can experience the beauty of diving, as depicted in the underwater photography of the coral reefs in Eilat.

The deceptive and surprising story behind the shocking headlines about the Jerusalem pedophile network. Have more than 100 ultra-Orthodox children been sexually abused? Or was there a witch hunt here that ended in murder?

My Stills, 1952-2002, David Perlov's last film, is based on his still photographs. It is formed as a triptych: the first part takes the viewer on a journey to the very roots of the image, the frame, the angle, the light, and the frozen movement of people, and contemplates stills and cinema photography. The second part revolves around three photographers whom Perlov deeply admired: David Seymore, Henri Lartigue, and Henri Roth (the latter's photographs served as evidence in the Eichmann Trial)

At the end of his 20’s, disturbed by the feeling of fleeting time, Asaf woke up on The morning of Purim, after dreaming of Galit Kobremintzki from elementary school. Him and Nadav go to a costume party where they surprisingly run into Galit. Apparently she has been dreaming as well. Will their dreams ever meet?

When an intelligence unit soldier starts to spy on a gay couple, he is lead to confront his own sexual identity.

A fairy helps children face their fears and gives them a friend.

Odelia, a talented screenwriter, and her father,a well-known author, have a bond that is both complicated and demanding. The agonies of writing make it difficult for Odelia to bridge the gap between the buzz of creation and the the depths of despair, and the frustration affects her romantic relationship.