Discoveries from Israel World Cinema

Amit discovered the sea in a diving course and fell in love. The quiet, the water, the calmness, nature- it all came together and the sea returned that love to him.

For a year now, we've been supporting him behind the scenes, and today we're proud to reveal our backing for Tamir Bar, who is running for the Knesset, aiming to become a Member of Parliament and work decisively for equality, values, people with disabilities, facilities for the periphery, housing, and minimum wage. In the coming months, we will accompany his journey, which we hope will culminate in a celebratory rally at Rabin Square, featuring famous artists and merchandise.

Five anonymous letters reveal a painful story of emotional and sexual abuse by a psychologist who harmed his patients for years. The letters, which were never answered, are now exposed, allowing the victims' voices to be heard.

A short film about a young Israeli soldier coming back home from his first weeks in the army, trying to figure out his parents secret.

Tom runs away to her estranged drag queen brother, Dor. In a moment of compassion and solidarity, Dor allows Tom to spend the night. Tom and Dor explore their identity and connection, revealing truths they both suppressed.

Bedouin shepherd communities who live in the magical spaces of the Jordan Valley, have to survive in very difficult conditions and deal with a variety of pressures and threats. The communities are accompanied by Israeli human rights activists. The film follows the complexity of the 'human layer' that disturbs the peacefulness of the desert and awakens ancient struggles. All this, against the backdrop of, and perhaps in contrast to, the wonderful scenery of the desert.

11 year old Nissan has a complex relationship with her attractive but detached Mother. All the tension between them unravels on Nissan's father Memorial day. The daughter, who persistently holds on her father's image, trying to make a room for him at home and in their lives, confronts her mother, who tries to escape reality seeking comfort in her lover's arms.

A documentary film that brings testimonies taken just one week after the attack, from 7 different areas that were attacked in the events of Saturday, 10/7/23. The film is told from the point of view of the survivors. The evidence is unusually presented in the movie with the help of miniature models and animations that reinforce the hard evidence. The survivors share the survival experience they experienced during the long hours of the murderous terrorist attack. Those who ran away from the party, the houses they hid in, those who fought against the terrorists, and those who saved lives in the field. All with the choices they had to make in real-time, and saved their lives.

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?

The last thing that somehow preserves the appearance of the unity of the director's family is the apartment on the ground floor in Jerusalem. A lot has been experienced here, here recent St. Petersburg residents fought together with the ordeals of emigration, a grandson grew up here. But the family broke up, each of its members found their new way in their new homeland. And now it is not clear what to do with the old apartment, it is so difficult to refuse it, too much is connected with it. And its residents still have too much in common with each other.

Near the Central Bus Station in the northern part of Israel, in the city of Karmiel, there is a 7-story building surrounded by a high fence with surveillance cameras. About 100 teenagers who came to Israel without families from the countries of the former Soviet Union live in this building. They undergo a nine-month adaptation course, after which they must turn from "Russians" into "Israelis". Excessively long stay in a closed atmosphere produces the opposite effect.

A man sees the damage done to a creature passing by and feels the damage in himself.

“Ma’abarot” is the first documentary project unfolding the story of the Israeli transit camps. The transit camps were a controversial enterprise, housing hundreds of thousands of new immigrants from different parts of the world, transitioning them into becoming part of the Israeli cultural tapestry. The film unravels the many stories of the camp residents, examining and discovering many surprising new details, shattering common stereotypes in the current Israeli discourse.

The Israeli sensation of the 'Macho' presented in the documentary film by Aron Petinkin, caused a public uproar as it aired on the inaugural broadcast day of Channel 2. The film delves into the life of Avi Ben-Eliyahu, a carefree Gigolo from Eilat, as he strolls along the shore, pursuing romantic encounters with tourists. Throughout his meanderings, Avi candidly explores topics of love, sex, women, money, and the earring he wears on a specific part of his body.

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.

We Own the Streets follows eight graffiti artists who come from different social backgrounds in Israel.

"This iconoclastic film, midway between fiction and documentary, explores the "over-sacred" side of Jerusalem. A political gamble for its inhabitants, a myth for its visitors, Jerusalem remains a universal object of desire that borders on fetishism. The film takes its inspiration from the Jerusalem Syndrome, a psychiatric syndrome, officially recognised in the 19th century, and from which the pilgrims and tourists that visited the Holy City suffered. A camera visits Jerusalem looking for a new approach to show the city. In parallel a young boy wanders the streets and discovers one night a prostitute with golden breasts. The boy, as does the camera, becomes a victim of a violently feminine Jerusalem." - DAfilms

Fragments of a lifetime in a militant society.

A new and experimental perspective about a dog running after a ball in the park. My film is about feeling united with the universe, we are all one: humans, dogs, tennis ball, nature, particles.

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.

This is the story of the "Midrashia", the flagship of Religious Zionism in Israel, "the mother of the high-school yeshivas." This is a story about an educational start-up that was founded before the establishment of the state, and trained thousands of high-quality students who worked in all the centers of power in the State of Israel. This is a story about a school that, in a complex and surprising process, changed its face, and became an elitist and luxurious high school that produced successful and dedicated students - to an anarchic and disordered place. It is a chilling and unbelievable story about a sublime educational vision that has collapsed, about brotherhood, loss of control and maturation, and about the nature of the human soul, in which good and evil, cruelty and kindness, are mixed up.

At the age of 73, Benjamin Netanyahu embarked on the 11th election campaign of his political career, which was also the fateful one of his life. With three charges pending against him in court, there was only one option for him: a landslide victory. Netanyahu went out into the field and brought himself to the voters in person on a transparent truck called the "Bibiba". The director, Itai Asher ("Dukotime"), closely follows this journey and documents a historic campaign, one that has hardly been covered by the media.

Follows the production of Static's debut album "Liraz", as well as the events that took place in 2022 in Static's life, mainly the dissolution of the duo Static and Ben-El Tabori and the divorce from his wife Sarit Polak in 2022.

Stuck in existential boredom, two high school students start a bold and complex project: kidnapping their entire school. What was supposed to be an end-of-year film will become a chilling documentation of the chain of events that follows.

Dana, whose hospitalised father is waiting for a heart transplant, falls in love with Oren, a rebellious woman who is also waiting for a heart transplant in the same ward. When a heart is found, Dana is torn between the two who need it.

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

A stunning animated film depicting the inner dialogue of a woman converting to Judaism as she first undergoes the mikvah process.

Through lines of poetry and psychological dance, Hagar tries to persuade her partner out of the closet.

A journey to the backstage of the Declaration of the State of Israel: The last living witnesses to this historic event and the creators of the legend reveal what really happened during the 32 minutes of the ceremony and reflect on the place of the past in Israel today.

A fourteen year old Jewish girl from Poland is sent by her family to Israel on the eve of the second World War. Her story is told in through the eyes of her grand daughter who animates her story.

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.

Following the disclosure of the protocols of the committees that investigated the case of the missing Yemeni children. A difficult picture unfolds of the manner in which the establishment behaved towards the Yemeni immigrants at the beginning of the establishment of the state. The film, which for the first time presents filmed testimonies from the committee, leads to the conclusion that the continued silence is almost a crime.

A frustrated street artist makes a face that unknowingly moves on to people's faces and conquers the city.

From 1941-1944, 300,000 Jews were killed at the hands of Rumanian officials in Transnistria, an area of southern Ukraine bordering Rumania. Dubbed the "land of exile" by the Rumanian Jews herded there, hundreds of ghettos and concentration camps dotted the landscape. Unlike the "killing industry" of Auschwitz, Rumanian death camps used the "old methods" of "long drawn-out deaths": shooting, starvation, freezing, and illness. Of those who survived, only the children are left. Now adults living in Israel, these orphans of Transnistria give testimony with their memories, paintings, letters, and photographs. Scholars, including Dalia Ofer, Leon Wallovitz, and Shmuel Ben-Tzion, discuss the history of Transnistria and probe the reasons why this area has become known as the "Forgotten Cemetery."

In 1970, after their wedding in Buenos Aires, Ron and Jacqueline set off for the Andes, with backpacks and still cameras. While crossing Bolivia, on their way to Cuzco, they discovered the city of Potosi. 29 years later, they return to the same places, this time with their three daughters and a Super 16 camera. A road movie, which is both a depiction in real time of Potosi and the Andes and a journey of introspection for the filmmaker and his family. Potosi, at an altitude of 4,100 metres, was once one of the largest and richest cities in the world. But for the millions of indigenous people who were forced to work in the depths of the mountain, Potosi was the gateway to Hell. After its silver mines were exhausted, Potosi was abandoned, poor and forgotten. As in his previous film, Fragments - Jerusalem, Ron Havilio also uses personal material to draw a portrait of an Israeli family on the road, the generation gap, and a meditation on the passage of time.

Eliya takes his sick mother Naomi to visit a psychic medium who lives near the Dead Sea, doing everything in his power to strengthen her. But the visit does not go as planned, causing the son and his mother to confront their future.

As Nicolai watches the end of Communism from his tiny village in deepest Romania, he realises one thing: he must emigrate to find work overseas. Before long he finds himself alongside thousands of other migrant workers in Israel – alone, exploited and far from his pregnant wife. Desperate to better his situation, he escapes and is arrested as an illegal worker, before a chance piece of information transforms everything in ways that he never dreamt possible.

The film tells the story of Christian African Women from Sudan and Eritrea, who fled persecution at the hand of Muslims in their countries and are seeking asylum in Israel. The film follows their attempt to build a new life over a period of 5 years - in Israel and Uganda - while living under constant threat of deportation. They know that their journey is far from being over.

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.

A casual encounter on Tinder between Michal – a film student, and Alex – a local guy from Sderot, takes an unexpected turn, while the two embark on a poetic journey between Sderot and Paris.

An experimental retrospective by Israela Shaer-Meoded.

In this abstract animated short, a cityscape rises, falls, and morphs to a galloping jazz soundtrack by musician Jason Lindner.

A date at the beach turn wrong after a homophobe try to attack the couple. Part 1 of Rage Trilogy.

“The Neighbour before the House” is a series of video probes into the landscape of East Jerusalem. Shot with a security camera, these images show that before and after instrumental "surveillance", there is inquisitiveness, jest, memory, desire and doubt that pervades the project of watching. In these specific times and places, camera movements and live commentary become ways in which Palestinian residents evaluate what can be seen, and speak about the nature of their distance from others.

Guy Ben-Ner, one of Israel's foremost video artists, gained international recognition with a series of low-tech films, starring his family in absurdist settings carved out of their intimate spaces and their everyday surroundings. Many of his videos are inspired by screenplays for films, folktales and novels. Analyzing these literary and cinematographic passages allows him to exploit the conventions of film narrative: how to tell a story, captivate an audience through a tale, sustain a degree of tension and entertainment, and so on. At the same time, he corrupts the magic of fiction by openly showing us the entrails of everything he records, without worrying about revealing the tricks of the trade. A large part of his filmic oeuvre features a conglomeration of cinematic and literary references which the artist quotes, adapts or interprets. Ben-Ner self-referentially links the great themes and their literary, cinematic and artistic realization.

Eitan works security in the Dead Sea Works factory. On his way to a night shift he is sexually assaulted by his bus driver, thus begins a dream-like journey on the silent beaches of the Dead Sea.

Director Oren Gerner ponders aging and family in a time of transition in this inventive quasi-factual feature about an elderly man (played by Gerner’s father) seeking purpose and meaning as the years tick by.

This mockumentary shows the mourning events after the assassination of Slawomir Sierakowski, leader of fictitious Jewish Renaissance Movement in Poland.

Yidel, an Israeli businessman, is flying for a meeting overseas. The plane, mid-flight, encounters technical difficulties, and the pilot prepares for an emergency landing. Unsuccessful in the attempt, the plane crashes into a remote valley, far removed from civilization. Three passengers, Yidel included, survive the ordeal, yet the tragedy is far from over. They must now contend with inhumane conditions in addition to the lack of food and water. Yidel's hope is what keeps him going, as he sincerely believes that Hashem will rescue him from this terrible calamity. THE FILM CONVEYS THE POWER OF HAVING EMUNAH IN HASHEM, EVEN WHEN THE OUTCOME LOOKS BLEAK.

A boy meets a girl, meets a pita.

Rachel, a religious and single woman in her forties, gets a lift from Haim - a secular and married farmer, and father of six. This encounter leads to the birth of Yair. Thirty years later, hoping to understand the secret affair that brought him to this world, Yair takes two separate trips with his parents: his dad takes him on a pleasure cruise, during the Israel-Gaza 2014 conflict, while his mother flies with him to the Ukraine, following the lives of "Great Hebrew Authors." Yair is now exposed to two completely conflicting narratives, which make up one story - funny, whacky, full of lies, grandeur, wretchedness - and love.

A gay sauna encounter between a young man and an older man becomes an unexpected lesson about love.

Assi Azar, who married his partner this last summer in Barcelona, is out to examine the possibility of bridging the gaps and tension between same-sex relationships and Judaism. Could Jewish symbols be a part of the wedding? What occurred when Assi confronted Benzi Gopshtein, the leader of the right-wing extremist group LHV'A