Discoveries from Israel World Cinema

Documentary filmmaker Yoav Shamir's depiction of the checkpoints that the Israel Defense Forces man in the Palestinian Authority.

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.

Suspense and romance between Jewish and Druze ranchers in the Golan Heights.

Four years in the life of Muhammad “Misha” Alsheikh, a teenage pianist living between Palestinian, Russian and Jewish cultures. It takes Muhammad three hours to get to his piano lessons, but his dream is bigger than borders. Between checkpoints, auditions and his father’s will that he become a doctor, he tries to fulfill his dream of becoming a professional pianist – and also of staying happy.

Avner (45) is a chief engineer at the Carmel Tunnels project. One evening, when he returns home from work, he finds a traffic report in the mailbox. But what really gets his attention is the fact that in the photo, in the car, he sees a man sitting next to Ella, his wife. The man puts his hand gently on her neck. Avner cannot see his face. Being the man he is, a man of reason, logic and hard proof, he doesn't talk to her about it, but instead he gets a recorder, and begins to secretly record her telephone conversations, turning into a spy in his own house.

For the first time, filmmaker Nurith Aviv sits down in front of the camera. As the defenders fall out, her unique life story as the first woman cinematographer in Europe turns out to be the key to her own films.

A close friendship is tested when a German woman discovers she is the Black granddaughter of notorious Nazi commander Amon Goeth and her Israeli friend realizes her grandmother was the sole survivor of a Nazi execution in Poland. This deft animation visually articulates complex questions about identity, fate and history, as well as the friends' internal conflict. Can their relationship withstand the horrors of the past?

David Ofek looks back on the first Gulf War, when he was living with his parents in Ramat Gan, Israel. They are Iraqi Jews. His parents are fascinated with news reports of the bombing of Baghdad. His grandmother comes to stay with them during the SCUD attacks. Wearing gas masks, they sit in a secure room David has rigged. When the all-clear sounds, they look at photo albums. They're visited by David's girlfriend, Eve. They talk politics; grandma disapproves of Eve. Eve leaves for Eilat for respite. David images a life with Eve after the war ends

Like lost girls on a winter's day, Alona and Hagar ramble through the streets of Haifa. One is escaping her life, the other her future.

How to get a pair of perfect breasts and stay alive? Zohar Wagners' journey of survival.

Shalom Italia tells the story of three brothers, who set off on a journey to find a cave in the woods of Tuscany. The place where they, as children, hid to escape the Nazis. But more than a search to find a geographical location, the brothers are on their way to locate the common ground of memory, the nexus where the conflicting versions of their stories can come to rest.

The Absent God is a documentary film about the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas, one of the foremost thinkers of the 20th century. Inspired by modern philosophy and ancient Jewish texts, Levinas developed the “humanism of the other”, in which people are called to listen to “the silent word of the human face”. This film juxtaposes the philosophy of Levinas with the Israeli reality of 2012, where seculars and religious, Muslims and Jews, poor and rich – live in a permanent conflict under a sky of an absent God.

Eli and Mariano Show

Sequel to the popular Israeli rap opera starring Tamir Bar. Shem Tov Heavy successfully escaped from prison and has lived under a fake identity for the last few years. When he goes on the run again, he finds himself in a fictional city called "Ya Hood", where he is praised as the "Shaliah".

Kibbutz volunteering began in an eclipse. The idealistic and rebellious 1960s generation was charmed by the old communist ideology as it came to life in the Israeli Kibbutz. The 1967 Six-Day War attracted a wave of support for Israel that the Kibbutz Movement saw as a miracle. When travel agencies started selling “Kibbutz Volunteering” packages, it was clear that volunteering also became a profitable business. The Kibbutz found itself facing unfamiliar phenomenon – drugs, alcohol and marriage with non-Jewish volunteers.

After unexpectedly losing her husband, Yehudit has no choice but to start over. In the process, she finds that abrupt and painful detours can lead to bright roads.

Two kids stand in front of an Israeli flag in an elementary schoolyard while the Remembrance Day siren is due to silence them. As it wails, enters a weary Palestinian man who plays a dangerous game with a squad of armed Israeli soldiers.

This is the story of the combat soldiers of Company C, Battalion 51 of the Golani Brigade who had fought on Mount Hermon on October 22 1973. After 30 years of silence they return to that night of battle - the conquest of Mount Hermon during the Yom Kippur War. They had not met all those years, and for the first time they put to words the horrors of the night they lost commanders, brothers in arms and a part of themselves as well.

An Ethiopian immigrant, sets out on a journey through his children's homes after losing his wife. Coming to know some of life's harsh new realities, he tries to survive in his own way.

Light in the gardens of the San Francisco Arboretum, photographed in early spring. Elohim are divine beings, the energy of light as creation.

In an post apocalyptic world, the last survivor is fighting to stay alive in a ruined city. he discovers a cosmic meteor that has the power to innovate and destroy things and even give human life and take it. How will he choose to use the object?

At the age of 30, Ella receives a mysterious suitcase with home tapes from the 1990s, which have been kept secret to this day, from the life of her mother, singer Dafna Armony. This happens while Ella is helping her mother pack up and move - another move from a chain of moves forced upon her due to a complex economic reality. Through the videotapes from the past, Ella discovers that behind her mother's iconic figure hides a personal and painful story. For the first time, she is also exposed to the identity of her father - a mysterious figure around whom rumors have hovered throughout her life. It is a family portrait of two women who merge into one: the mother, a former legend, and the daughter, a filmmaker.

The boy for whom football was in his soul, grew up in Tel Aviv in the late 1960s without his parents who left for the USA. At 17, Roni Kalderon became the star of Hapoel Tel Aviv, and was regarded as the great promise of Israeli football. Then, he was invited to go to the Netherlands and play for the coveted Ajax football club. This was only the opening whistle for the real game of his life: he would soon find himself deep in international drug trafficking, constantly escaping from the law, until he disappeared off the face of the earth. The fantastic narratives woven around his enigmatic persona, and the mystery surrounding his disappearance, lead the viewer between reality and the myth around the promising footballer who became a drug lord.

Staccato is tasked with writing the final song of the Kid's Songs Festival, but when the evil Bass kidnaps his Muse, he must rescue her.

A lonely librarian in a rough neighborhood has a special relationship with a student on the verge of expulsion. Margherita's poetic world is confronted by reality as she tries to get through to Nehorai.

Yamna is an 82-year-old miracle-worker and righteous woman from Sderot. The film depicts her unique character and rituals, her eastern culture and her effort to bequeath her mystical power to the next generation

Everyone was surprised at the triumph of Hamas in the last Palestinian elelctions, but the bigger surprise was that the women were behind that victory. We follow three Hamas women to try and understand why an Islamist political party, operating in a very conservative society, allows its women to become political, social and even military leaders.

Rabbi David Buzaglo was the greatest Hebrew liturgical poet of the twentieth century. Born in Morocco in 1903, his literary output had a major impact on a community of hundreds of thousands of people. From his prolific period in the Diaspora to the years he spent in a ruptured Israel, Buzaglo's poetry initiated an abrupt shift in Sephardic liturgical writing, but it also served as a vital link between the modern era and a tradition that dates back to Spanish Jewry's Golden Age. But Buzaglo was more than just a great poet. The actions he took at seminal moments in history had a critical impact in shaping the identity of Maghreb Jews. This film is an intimate look at Buzaglo's life and career, from its roots in the rich tradition of Hebrew poetry in Morocco through the liturgical revolution in Israel.

4 friends are camping and one of them is found dead mysteriously. There is no one there expect for them and the question is who is the killer.

Daria, the mute daughter of Chaim Wortman, the dictator who rules the town ShadowHill, is no longer willing to be silent. She joins Orna, an underground journalist, in order to overthrown him.

Through stories, Memorial Day ceremonies and his letters, Ami was always a present absence for his nephew Shaked, the film's director. Following his grandmother's declining health, Shaked applies to the Defence Ministry for nursing care. His claim is rejected. Their refusal leaves him confused. Fifty years after Ami's death, a shocking truth is unveiled.

An apartment building in a small village, live human characters and funny puppets. The building moves a new family with their daughter Billie who love to discover the magical corners common building and especially the guava tree. However, there are those who are less like the guava tree, whose fruits fall directly in the territory and is rich mayor who decides to uproot the tree.

A woman’s journey to join her friends at a lake is hindered by the burden of a goldfish aquarium she must carry.

The flying dog, Before, continues an exciting trip to Europe with his friend Henry and the cute cat doll Betty. The Swiss Alps, Paris, France, Madrid and Seville, Spain, and the Netherlands, England, Scotland… Each unique adventure, cultural site, and perilous crisis await Before and Friends. Arriving in the Swiss Alps, Bipo and his friends feel a sense of crisis when they see the chocolate factory exploded due to a malfunction of the clock and turned into a chocolate mountain. At this time, Beepo, who got a brilliant idea, sets out with his friends in search of bark beetles...

A documentary about the work and personality of Meir Ariel, as never revealed. A film trying to crack the enigma called Meir Ariel and understand how the abundance of the creation that was caused by him expressed his stormy soul.

The three anonymous protagonists of the film are each sent to a different type of community a kibbutz, moshav, and moshava, to learn about their special characteristics and the different lifestyles of their residents, and also meet a mysterious girl along the way. In this part, we follow our hero (Hanan Yovel) who was sent to a moshav.

Vincent, who is invited to a nice and calm Parisian dinner by his sister Elizabeth and her husband Peter, brings news of his and his wife Anna’s unborn son. The name chosen by the soon-to-be parents strongly offends the others for many reasons. The dispute between the guests quickly escalates and before long the resurgence of old grudges and hidden secrets is unavoidable…

A woman gets a death certificate.

Based on David Grossman’s Itamar Stories series.

A short animated film about two friends who watch together as acid rain washes over the city. The stormy weather outside reflects the feelings of Ariel, who realizes that this is her last chance to confess her feelings to Sophie. Before Sophie leaves the apartment, Ariel plucks up courage and the two kiss against the background of the brightening view outside the window.

Two lifelong friends who grew up believing the army was a good thing face the harsh reality after serving time.

Two corrupt IDF officers who resale lands in the West Bank put pressure on a Palestinian family man.

A photo found by the filmmaker at her grandmother’s house after her death seemed strange. She has a pregnant belly. But she had told the story of adopting the director’s father because she was not able to conceive. Her old friends explained the kibbutz decided state-building efforts preclude giving birth, and she had an abortion that damaged her womb. This set the director’s curiosity about her biological grandmother. The adoption file told of Shoshana, 16, an Iraqi immigrant who got pregnant out of wedlock. Her sister revealed that the family abused her but she refused to give up the baby, who was eventually taken from her. Both suffered patriarchal oppression and remained silent. The grandmothers’ stories led the filmmaker to confront her parents about her own silence on sexual abuse in the family. For the sake of the three, she must break silence.

The saga of a restless and relentless Anglo-Jewish Family which according to its founding fathers, served as God's gift to Zionism, is exposed by the director, a member of the family himself, from an alternative humorous angle.

Yariv is a shy photographer charged to take photos at a family birthday. The photographs he takes highlight his problematic relationship with his brother, and increasingly intertwine to his extreme sexual experiences at the gay sauna.

The meteoric rise of Avigdor Lieberman was the first sign of a new era in the state of Israel - and with it, the fall of "the old elites," the right wing trend, and the emergence of "the second Israel" as the dominant political force. But Lieberman himself, who immigrated at the age of 20, without a penny in his pocket, remains a mystery.

During the ‘Iron Swords’ war, Eival finds her dolls, which underwent a punk makeover when she came out of the closet, in the shelter. Filming the restoration process brings across thoughts about the connections between sexuality, gender, media and the war.

A documentary on Ethiopian immigrants in Israel.

The main character of the film is Ophira (Dina Limon), a drawing teacher, who is retiring. With the daily routine no longer needed, she decides to fulfill a long-held dream of becoming an artist. Ophira asks her husband to clear out one of the rooms in their house to create a studio, and she asks her friend, a renowned gallery owner, to organize an exhibition for her future paintings. Despite not receiving much support from either of them, she starts working on her art. However, it soon becomes clear that Ophira doesn't really know what to paint about. The film explores the refusal to age and the aspiration to understand oneself at any age.

Amal (Hope) is a film co-directed by Arab and Jewish filmmakers and inspired by true events. Amal is a mother who sets out to rescue her son Samer from his preordained fate. When her son is involved with a shooting incident in the village, Amal acknowledges that if the warring clan is not stopped, her son will become the next victim. She fights with all her might for a “Sulha” (reconciliation). But the threat of chaos looms large, and Amal faces powerful forces that tear her apart and engulf the entire village. In the end, fate proves stronger, and Amal is swept into the bloodshed she has fought so hard to prevent.

The whole world was enthusiastic about Esther, but the Germans were hypnotized. Esther and Abi Ofarim appeared to them not only as representatives of a musical internationalism… but above all as messengers of Israel and a new generation that might find ways of reconciliation.

A fifteen-year-old Bukharan immigrant in Israel pursues her ambitions through a relationship with a twenty-one-year-old Russian newcomer, forcing her to confront the true cost of social climbing.