Discoveries from Israel World Cinema

This documentary profiles an Israeli-born Palestinian who has immigrated to America in search of a boxing career.

The world of Hanna Mendelssohn, an 80 year old widow, disintegrates as the Kibbutz which she helped to found undergoes privatization.

The unbelievable second career of Albert Speer: How did a man in charge of 12 million slaves become “the good Nazi”? A cautionary tale about his 1971 attempt to whitewash his past with a Hollywood adaptation of his wartime memoir, “Inside the Third Reich”.

How do you face the unknown? 8-year-old deaf Ron fears his first camping trip. His mother comforts him with a story about 'Eddie the Camper,' a friendly forest monster. Despite her efforts, Ron’s fear lingers. After falling asleep, he awakens in a surreal forest and meets you, as Eddie. Together, you embark on an adventure, but there’s a barrier: Ron can’t hear, and you don’t know sign language. In this 25-minute VR journey, you’ll join Ron, learn to communicate, and navigate the forest together.

Protest at Betunia, close to Ofer prison, near Ramallah, on May 16, 2014, one day after the killing of two protestors

Exciting public masturbation and cruising in Tel Aviv, a city full of surveillance.

Ora (57) arrives to a spiritual awareness workshop in the desert, and needs to adapt to the unique dynamics of the place in order to gain some time with her daughter Tali (34). As the workshop progresses, dark elements from their past arises, and obliges Ora to deal with their implications for the first time.

Jonathan loves chocolate. One day he steals the last remaining chocolate in the jar. When his stepmother catches him and his brothers ostracize him, he decides to run away.

Joy, a young depressed woman, meets on her suicide day a charismatic and aspiring poet who makes her question her will to die.

In the middle of the night, after a traumatic breakup, Nadav goes to visit a friend he hasn't seen for many years.

A Different point from the eyss of Yuval Shamshins's life, in the modern days of the Covid-19. The movie is built upon the small moments of life, full of Metaphors and Images in order to built a cinemathic perspective.

Adam wants to prove that he can succeed alone, falls victim to a sting and loses all his money. He is too proud to ask his friends for help and pushes them away. Only after tracing the sources of the sting and discovering that the gang is planning a similar fate for his two friends, he joins forces with Shahar and Pita and together they fight back.

Pierrot is a simple clerk who's living a routine life he can't escape from. His only hope is a locked theater hall, its stage waiting for him to perform on it. When a new employee joins the office, Keren, she opens new possibilities for Pierrot to stand up for himself and to open the mysterious door that leads to the hall.

Traditional cuisine is much more than just food—it is a living expression of identity, memories, and heritage. Its ingredients are rooted in the land's geography and seasons, while its flavors reflect its conflicts and politics. Palestinian cuisine carries within it a blend of popular, personal, and feminine history; it intertwines with the narrative found in books, adds depth to it, and brings it to life. Cook and culinary historian Muzna Bishara embarks on an eight-chapter journey, one that also explores a vanishing generation of women who preserve the memory of rural cooking. Each chapter focuses on a key ingredient or raw material, its region of cultivation, its season, and a local family who works with it. Olives, sumac, akoub, and eggplants are among the foundational elements that shape the flavor of the land—stories that Muzna seeks to uncover, offering a new way to touch the tragic history of her people.

The death of Jacob Israel de Haan is commemorated annually by both the ultra-Orthodox Jews of Neturei Karta in Jerusalem, and the LGBTQ community in Amsterdam. He is a pioneer for both. In the early twentieth century, he published the first LGBTQ novel in the Netherlands. He then returned to his Jewish roots, migrated to Palestine as a Zionist, but became the spokesperson for the Orthodox community, spearheading its fight against Zionism. He was still publishing queer poetry in Dutch. He was killed in Jerusalem in 1924, and his assassins were never caught. Today, never-before-heard audio recordings shed new light upon the mystery of the first Zionist political assassination.

Rinat's wonderful adventure told through modern versions of classical music.

Yigal Borstein's experimental short film is based on Baruch Spinoza's book of the same name ("Ethics", in Latin). Spinoza called his philosophical theory "geometric"; Accordingly, the prominent visual element in this film is also the geometry. Burstein shows what is happening simultaneously on four balconies of one building. The camera films the events statically and without movement, and as time passes, the events alternate using jump-cuts. The building is a microcosm of Israeli society, whose representatives inhabit each of the balconies: the lonely writer, the young woman and her partner, the family with children who live with the grandmother, the older couple - and later also the Arabs, followed by the IDF soldiers who drive them away.

Sarai Golden sets out on a mission to change her fate. She will do whatever it takes to land a job she is considerably under qualified for. Even if it means she does it in a not so conventional manner.

A lively, contemporary, funny, and moving musical for the whole family, bringing to life the classic story of Esther (Rinat Gabay), who was crowned queen in place of Vashti (Ruslana Rodina). Through her wisdom and courage, and with the help of her uncle Mordechai the Jew (Guy Friedman), she succeeds in saving her people from the evil decree of Haman (Udi Gotshalk) and restoring peace to the kingdom of Ahasuerus (Aviad Bentov). The celebrations of joy and victory turn into a grand carnival of happiness, costumes, and laughter, and have since been known as the holiday of Purim.

Based on the stories and songs of Haya Shenhav.

While investigating the destructive relationship of his parents, Efim, the filmmaker, stumbles upon a dark secret concealed from him. This revelation rocks his world and he sets out on a cinematic journey to heal his wounded soul.

Two shape shifters, a wolf and a crow are trying to survive the end of the world. Will they be able to find a place to call home?

A strange awkward relationship develops between Or, a 30-year-old wheelchair user after an injury, and her new physiotherapist that brings new breeze of desire to her daily routine rehabilitation at her mother’s house.

In 1976, Aulcie Perry was playing basketball in Harlem when scouts from Maccabi Tel Aviv spotted and signed him. A year later, he led the team to their first European Championship, converted to Judaism, and become an Israeli citizen. His rise to fame was precipitous, and his relationship with supermodel Tami Ben Ami became the subject of relentless media attention, solidifying his status as one of Israel’s biggest stars. But behind the scenes, he had a growing drug addiction that culminated in his arrest and imprisonment, and since his release he has committed himself to uplifting those suffering from drug abuse and addiction. Dani Menken’s documentary tells the story of this legendary athlete.

How do you tell someone their loved one has been killed in combat? With a knock on the door, the life of the family will never be the same.

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In the city of Sderot in southern Israel, 10-year-old Or lives with his parents and his newborn brother. Since his brother's birth, the household dynamics have changed, and Or must adapt to the new situation where his mother is experiencing postpartum depression. Through his young eyes, he is exposed to moments that will force him to choose between his own desires and the well-being of his family.

After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a queer family leaves Moscow in a hurry and finds themselves in revolutionary Sri Lanka. Amid the search for a new home and the struggle to stay together, questions of identity and belonging emerge — could this be their lucky break?

theater student tries to find inspiration for his new role and gets lost between reality and fiction

A film produced by the Hasbarah Authority and the Ministry of Development. A Somewhat avant-garde attempt to present the generation, distribution and use of electricity in Israel. The means of electric generation are presented against a backdrop of images related to the sectors the consume the electricity, in industry, water distribution and urban-commercial use. Contrasting with all of these are images of a “backwards” rural community, combining attributes of the local-Palestinian and the Mizrahi-Jewish.

In March 2020, at the very beginning of the kovid pandemic, filmmaker Boris Mafzir conducted a series of online interviews with Israelis who emigrated from the Soviet Union in its final year. What was life like for this generation of Jews? What did it mean to be a «Soviet Jew"? And how did the «fifth point» — the nationality column — define and subordinate the entire social, professional and personal life of Soviet Jews? From these conversations, from the analysis of chronicles and newspapers, the story of the last generation of Soviet Jews is woven together — and the environment in which they had to live becomes clear.

A Israeli diplomat from France begins sending flowers and romantic love letters anonymously to a romantic comedy translator who dreams of love whose business card he found by chance. After a few weeks of letters, he sends her a plane ticket to Paris and she goes to meet him at his apartment which changes everything.

The main battle in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising occured on Muranowski Square, during which a blue and white flag was raised over the roofs. However the story of those fighters disappeared from history books, but why? We are going exactly to find out along with their stories.

"Korban HaAhava" is an independent feature film, a film by Yemin Masika and Yarmi Saints, owned by the "Eastern Productions" company. At the center of the plot is the impossible love story between the poor Oriental Bitter deprived of southern Tel Aviv and Maya, the rich Ashkenazi towering north of Tel Aviv.

An illustrated biography, employing the unique language of Ishihara test used for detecting color blindness.

A lonely walk home is intertwined with an underwater fantasy world. The relationship between reality and fantasy is portrayed in a love letter addressed to an imaginary "perfect" man. The film displays a critical, female point of view on the idea of romantic modern love in western society. Its main purpose is to dismantle the "knight in shining armor" myth.

The tranquility of a small Tel-Aviv family is shattered as Benjamin, a concentration camp survivor, is forced to choose between two figures from his past. A beautiful Berlin woman who represents to him Germany's beauty and culture, and a capo (a Jew forced by the Nazis to aid their horrific deeds) who he suspects to be responsible for his father's murder.

In Galil-Yam the colorful fabrics produced in the kibbutz’s factory are displayed, as well as Dr. Paul Reich’s large collection of butterflies, collected from all around the world. And in Givat Brenner, rehearsals are being held for International Workers’ Day on May 1, and the performers – the youth of the kibbutz are practicing the demonstration exercises.

Iman, an Iranian refugee who fled fearing for his life, arrives on the refugee-filled Greek island of Lesbos. There, he joins as a theater teacher at a school for refugees established by a group of young Israelis. The children soothe his scarred soul, and he becomes a source of hope and security for them. Together, they create a theater performance that depicts the refugee experience. But just when Iman feels he has found true refuge, the situation on the island escalates and reaches a climax when fascists burn the school to the ground. Iman must decide whether to surrender to the external and internal pressures that threaten him or whether he can find the strength to continue and provide the children with the shelter and hope they desperately need.

Matan Peretz with a new stand up comedy special about one time he went skydiving.

It is the 1982 war in Lebanon. Palestinian militias capture eight Israeli soldiers, but their fate remains unknown for over a year. At the same time, a PLO colonel, married to the former Queen of Jordan, Dina Abdul Hamid, is lost on the battlefield. Two women desperately search for their man, Dina, on the other side, and Iris, the young wife of an Israeli soldier, on the other. Against all odds, both women become pivotal players in a prisoner exchange deal.

Goni is nine. She always runs faster than the boys. Always scores more goals. Until one day, they decide they’ve had enough. Goni’s brother finds her in the yard, rinsing blood from her knees. He carries her into the desert. There, he teaches Goni how to defend herself among red rocks and wide silence. Fifteen minutes of quiet rupture, about the cost of being who you are, when that’s exactly what no one wants to see.

The film follows Amit, Christopher, and Guy during their holiday at the Dead Sea on October 7th, 2023. The experience is depicted through three timelines intersecting from denial to moments of rupture. Thus creating a “split space” which portrays reality versus fantasy.

tests, the main character was not found. And suddenly at the auditions for a girl's role in the second plan appeared Tal Sompo — a young girl with no acting experience. Trachtman was so impressed by her natural game and behavior on camera that rewrote the script, making her the heroine, ten-year-old Eden.

Seven years after his death, Motti Kirschenbaum’s eldest son Cana'an decides to open the great archive left behind by his father. The archive clips, old films and photos paint a picture of one of the most important and busy television producers in Israel. The son traces Motti’s long career, along the way he meets journalists and actors who worked with Kirschenbaum over the years and reveals the lesser-known sides of his personality, his function as a spouse, father and friend.

When the father of the family kills himself; one son chooses to get straight, while the other chooses a life of crime

A look into the complex and contradictory personality of Yossef Nachmani, the man largely responsible for the first Zionist settlements in the Galilee. As director of the Jewish National Fund office in the Galilee, Nachmani acquired as much land from Arabs as possible to establish Jewish settlements upon it. The film focuses on events in Tiberius, Nachmani's hometown, a mixed community where Arabs and Jews coexisted harmoniously. Nachmani left behind a fascinating series of diaries that shed new light upon events in the Galilee during those years. Through these diaries, the film examines the critical early years of Zionism and the beginning of the Jewish-Arab conflict from his unique perspective. This provocative historical documentary is sure to become a significant document in the ongoing debate about the basic foundation myth of Israel.

A multi-generational journey exploring the archives of the director's grandfather Ephraim Erde, an official Zionist photographer from the 30s, confronted with the director's current vision in an attempt to create an utopia of her own.