Discoveries from Israel World Cinema

A daughter uses postcards to re-create past moments for her mother, who is living with dementia

The life of a dog, trained to act as human, changes when a pack of Hounds gathers around his house.

Amalia’s life in an Israeli village revolves around the return of her favourite charming uncle – a 35-year-old Nir. After years spent in Paris, Nir comes back suffering from a mysterious disease. They share a special bond based on the mutual help as they both feel alienated from the world around them.

This film, the third in a trilogy examines Jewish resistance during World War II.

Released from military reserve duty to attend his uncle's memorial service, Omri finds himself wandering the streets of Tel Aviv during National Memorial Day, the day when Israel commemorates its fallen soldiers.

Avigail, the director of this film, is dealing with a break-up from her girlfriend and with raising a child that she had with her. At the same time, her religious family in Jerusalem is struggling with the 'demons' threatening to overwhelm their daughter Ariella. Ariella is an Ethiopian girl, who was adopted by Avigail's parents, Rabbi Daniel and Hannah Sperber, when she was four. She is the tenth child, with nine older siblings, each of whom chose a unique path to follow. But Ariella forces the family to contend with problems of another sort: alcoholism, petty thefts, and prison. Does the story of Ariella have an inevitable ending? Can she accept and absorb the love and concern that surround her?

Gili dreams of becoming an independent woman. Noam, her husband, cannot possibly think of releasing his hold of her, he loves her to death. One day Gili starts working secretly, Noam is convinced she's cheating on him. They both use their 8-year old son, Assaf, as a trading card in order to get bits of information about each other. The film 'Cheer Me Up' reveals a 48-hour glimpse in the life of a family living in the shadow of domestic violence.

It is the story of a little hair salon in the heart of the Arab community in Haifa (Israel); it is the story of a friendship between Arab and Jewish women in the city, which is considered a model of coexistence; and it is the story of Iris, the director, who worked as a hair washer at the salon so she could get to know women of the neighbourhood. Through her interaction with the women, in this unique frame, Iris wishes to tell the story of the community from the personal experience of the film's subjects, and to explore what it reflects of Israeli society.

Izkor is about the orchestration of memory. The film shows how school children of all ages in Israel are taught to pay tribute to their nation's past. It keenly observes how some memories are even physically conditioned into the future generations. "One of the most truly, most intelligent, most terrible and sharpest films about Israeli society. A film on memory and politics: this is the way that Israeli society exploits its myths to train people to have no doubts or remorse, creating the soldiers of the future wars." (Tom Segev - Haaretz)

Two years after the Six Day War (1967), doctors at an Israeli hospital try to save the lives of an Arab terrorist and Israeli officer just brought in after a border clash.

In this docu-drama, feelings of alienation characterize the experience of an Israeli Arab youth who arrives in Tel Aviv from his village in the north to seek his fortune as a construction worker. In Tel Aviv the Arab workers try to camouflage their identity in order to avoid physical and verbal abuse.

On the verge of the election, the director Avi Mograbi aims to make a documentary on the most maligned Israeli politician, Arik Sharon. Against all his prediction, Mograbi discovers that Sharon is friendly and welcoming, completely different from the man who was thought to be...

Omer navigates his first day post-breakup while stuck on a trip with his awkward family. As the journey tightens, a sudden stop forces him to confront the emotions he thought he'd left behind.

Tom Tamar Pauer's family is both Israeli and German, Jewish and Christian. When she moves to Israel with her German children after 16 years in Munich, the question of her own identity in the third generation emerges.

Raanan, a middle aged man, returns home after 30 years abroad. A chance encounter with an elderly man unlocks troubled memories, and a brief affair with a much younger man, send him spiraling through generational rifts, and force him to confront his internalized homophobia and emotional wounds of his past.

Within the disciplined and rigid world of the military, it is easy to forget the little man.  While preparing his troops for a military funeral, a seasoned military finds himself reflecting on his own life and behavior. As he instructs his cadets to conduct themselves with honor, he himself is challenged by the lack of respect he hopes for.

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?

an elderly couple visits a cemetery discussing which area is the best to be buried in

One Street in Silwan tells the story of "Batan al-Hawa" Street (East Jerusalem), which overlooks the Temple Mount and serves as a microcosm of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On one side of the street, live Israeli settlers in a house once belonging to an evicted Palestinian family. On the other side, a Palestinian family faces eviction, alongside 750 of theneighborhood’s residents , with the purpose of establishing more settlements. Told in segments through the perspectives of children and residents, the film sheds light on the chaotic realities of life on the street.

A documentary poem interweaving seven parallel stories of children on their way to school and back, Sidewalk offers a glimpse into the rare moments of true independence afforded to these young schoolchildren. Along the way we witness the playful, the stressful, the cruel, the magical and the thrilling moments of this daily journey, which become a lucid voyage into the very heart of childhood.A meditation on children’s consciousness and the rite of passage between childhood and adulthood that passes in the blink of the eye, Sidewalk challenges us to grapple with questions of how we become who we are today and how any of us managed to survive the very real tribulations of childhood.

A portrait of a Palestinian-Israeli author – prominent in modern Arabic literature – during the last weeks of his life. Habibi, a resident of Nazareth, was an MP for the Israel Communist Party for nineteen years and an Israel Prize for Literature laureate. This travelogue confronts Habibi at significant places in his life: Haifa, Jerusalem and Acre (important for his homecoming after 1948). The title echoes the memorial words on his tombstone in Haifa.

In this docu-drama, feelings of alienation characterize the experience of an Israeli Arab youth who arrives in Tel Aviv from his village in the north to seek his fortune as a construction worker. In Tel Aviv the Arab workers try to camouflage their identity in order to avoid physical and verbal abuse.

Three interwoven stories of women on the verge of a mental breakdown, seeking a way out of their misery, while confronting secrets that will change them forever. All three women are named the same - Naama. A man who longs to be a woman A painter revealing a portrait of a married woman A university graduate desperate to have a decent life All three women are a part of a bigger picture; a picture that is worth unveiling...

On the verge of the election, the director Avi Mograbi aims to make a documentary on the most maligned Israeli politician, Arik Sharon. Against all his prediction, Mograbi discovers that Sharon is friendly and welcoming, completely different from the man who was thought to be...

Since 1947, "La'Isha" has been Israel's top women's weekly. This film explores the 78-year bond between the magazine and its readers. From its male-led early years and beauty pageants to its feminist evolution, the magazine provided a "room of one's own" while fueling body image debates.

Maor and his younger brother Dolev live with their father in a quiet, middle-class neighborhood. On the eve of a holiday, during a game of hide-and-seek, Dolev mysteriously disappears.

The tragic story of Haim Arlosoroff, a jewish leader fighting for his principles and values in the early stages of Zionism.

A film about the work and persona of the artist Yaacov Agam, using a display of movement, form, and rhythm.

Inside look into the Israeli pornography industry

A war recreated for the filming of a movie leads to the fleeing of an entire village in the Golan Heights; weapons are planted in the home of a Palestinian family in East Jerusalem to stage an action scene; and a props and weapons man is revealed to be suffering from PTSD while dealing with moral trauma. The trilogy examines the ethical aspects of reenactment and how militarism's grip on Israeli society (also) corrupts cinema.

A documentary poem interweaving seven parallel stories of children on their way to school and back, Sidewalk offers a glimpse into the rare moments of true independence afforded to these young schoolchildren. Along the way we witness the playful, the stressful, the cruel, the magical and the thrilling moments of this daily journey, which become a lucid voyage into the very heart of childhood.A meditation on children’s consciousness and the rite of passage between childhood and adulthood that passes in the blink of the eye, Sidewalk challenges us to grapple with questions of how we become who we are today and how any of us managed to survive the very real tribulations of childhood.

The authors of the film violated the boundaries of what was permitted by choosing a deliberately provocative topic for their work: tense interethnic relations within the framework of one single family, where a native of the former Soviet Union and an Ethiopian girl were preparing for the wedding. The question is legitimate whether the son-director had the right to bring rubbish from the hut to a wide public court. These are the most intimate details of the relationship with your own mother, is one of our fundamental commandments about respect for parents violated here?

A Palestinian refugee visiting his ruined village is documented in an Israeli film. Amazingly, out of pure coincidence the same person is filmed again returning to his village in a different film, thirty years later. Will it be possible to film the return scene for the third time?

A cinematic investigative journey to a story hidden by the IDF for 50 years - a brutal massacre of 17 Israeli prisoners by Syrian soldiers in two tragic events on the Golan Heights front. An event shrouded in secrets and lies that is a metaphor for the first days of that terrible war that caught the State of Israel in its weakness and disgrace .

Debbie Lasri celebrates her 51st birthday in the psych ward. Riva, her partner, arrives at the ward with Michal, her video-therapy student, hired to make a personal video with Debbie. Michal is drawn into Debbie's world but her story is full of gaps. As curiosity and over-motivation become an obsession, Michal crosses the lines looking for answers. Following Debbie's trail of crumbs, she locates all the sub-characters of the story. The pieces of information revealed to her camera suggest that there is more here than meets the eye.

The songs "The 16th Sheep" and "This Kid Is Me", along with the children's songs of Arik Einstein, Chava Alberstein, Matti Caspi and others, have long been Israeli classics. Almost everyone can quote at least a line or two from "The Prettiest Girl in the Kindergarten", "Closed Kindergarten", "Lightning and Thunder", and "How is a Song Born"; Or close your eyes and see in your mind's eye the painted windows in the series "And This Kid", in which Yehuda Atlas told us in honest and touching verses, what the world of a child really looks like. Through interviews with Yehonatan Geffen, Yehuda Atlas, Yoni Rechter, Chava Alberstein, Matti Caspi and others, the film brings the untold story of the creation of the children's songs we grew up with. Along with the interviews, home movies and archive materials are shown, and the viewer embarks on a musical journey to the early days of the "me" generation.

Tom is a teenager who lives with his single mom in a small southern Kibbutz, and deals with his (and other’s) sexuality.

At the time of the first Covid19 lockdown in Israel, a couple of artists - the first is a director; the second is an aspiring actress - are joined by another couple (the actress' sister and her partner of choice). The actress who just got accepted for her first significant role only to find herself again without a job must find a way to live with their unwanted visitors. The Director is stuck with a film he has been working on for the past eight years, and his troubles just seem to grow.

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.

This is the story of a man, an activist from way back, who finds himself exiled from his own country, from his hometown of Haifa. He moves to Beirut, but he does not feel at home there. Beirut belongs to everyone. He cannot feel at home in his own country, or anywhere else.

Tonight Maggie is "doing it" for the first time. She meets Kobi, a guy cute enough for the purpose. They head for his apartment, Where Kobi will discover what Maggie's real intentions are.

היהודים בהופעה, כפי שהוקלטה במועדון התיאטרון ביפו בינואר 2003. ה-DVD כולל שעתיים וחצי של ההופעה (הלהקה ידועה בעיקר בזכות הופעותיה האנרגטיות). ההופעה כוללת את להיטי הלהקה (כגון "הימים שלנו", שהופיע במקור באלבומם הראשון והמצליח ביותר, "מציאות נפרדת"), חלקם בעיבודים מיוחדים וגם שירים בהשמעת בכורה בימתית.

The Magic Bowl is a children's animated movie, featuring three toddlers named Jennifer, Cindy and Sammy Joe who get potty-trained.

Very few details are known about Rabbi Shalom Shabazi, but 400 years after his death, Shabazi is as popular as ever and is considered one of the greatest Yemenite poets. The film takes the audience on a journey through the extraordinary life of one of the greatest Hebrew writers.

Documentary on the life of Hebrew poet Rachel Bluwstein, known simply as Rachel, considered a national poet of Israel. Includes interviews with literary researchers, poets, historians, and biographers.

A family is looking for a stone. A stone that is suitable to be used as a tombstone on their prodigal son’s grave. The search turns into a journey. The loss brings back that which was repressed.

Dust to Dusk is a short film that follows the transformation of Billy Beckett, a young man navigating a life of crime in the American West, as he evolves toward becoming a hero.

In the days of the Second Temple, when the Roman Empire ruled the ancient Land of Israel, a Hebrew prisoner manages to escape his captors. The man belongs to violent fundamentalist sect known as the Sykariki – a fringe group that sought to end Roman occupation of the land and usher in independent Jewish rule. The escaped Sykarik teams up with his mates and finds shelter with a Jewish family – in a tent which the other Sykarikis then force their way into and settle in.

Even though more than seventy years have passed, the state refuses to open the files of the investigative committees that conducted the question that haunts many: Who threw the grenade at the Shem Tov synagogue? The grenade, thrown in 1951, killed five, wounded about twenty, and is considered the major attack that led to the rapid immigration of most of Iraq's Jews in Operation "Ezra and Nehemiah." For years, a large portion of immigrants believed that the State of Israel was behind the affair, because it wanted to induce the affluent class of Jews to immigrate. But recently, a box of documents and testimonies was found at a university in the United States, intended for the "future researcher of the material," and deals with the question "Who threw the grenade?"

The true story of an Israeli Jewish woman who left the country after being forced, by tragic circumstances, to give her only daughter up for adoption, her child from a Muslim-Bedouin man. Driven by her guilt and low self-esteem, the heroin allows abuse by the men in her life and goes through her own "Via Delorosa".

Carol bristles at an unexpected proposal from her girlfriend Ray. Matters worsen as disturbing changes take hold of Ray, and Carol must decide how to respond.

A short animated film depicting a surreal and humorous tale involving fish and unexpected events.

After being threatened by bullies, Rafael must make a moral choice towards his grandfather

In a Jaffa bra shop's fitting room, women's love-hate affair with their bosom buddies unfolds. As each heroine struggles to find the perfect bra, she bares not just her chest, but her soul, sharing tales of triumph, tribulation, and the occasional wardrobe malfunction. For breasts aren't just fleshy accessories-they're the protagonists of our life's epic. From the awkward moment they first break out, to the sobering reality checks of mammograms, our relationship with our "girls" is a bouncy roller-coaster of ups and downs because life, much like a poorly fitted bra, is full of surprises. This film unravels the mystery, myth, and full support between women and their breasts. It's a story that's written on our bodies, in every curve, contour, and stretch mark.

Finding an apartment in Tel Aviv is never easy, especially on Memorial Day. Nevertheless, Yael has no other choice but to leave her home.

Assaf Kroll was an artist who painted his soul. He painted the three significant and difficult periods in his life. He did not reveal the paintings to the world but kept them to himself. After he died of cancer at the age of 39, his parents set out on a journey where they try to learn and get to know their son – Assaf.