Discoveries from Israel World Cinema

Life and works of israeli composer Matti Caspi

Ever since they remember themselves, Dasha (22) and Natasha (21) feel unrelated, not belonging to anyone or any place. The difficult relationship between their parents in Ukraine destroyed the family. One day, without any warning, their father decided to take them from Ukraine to Israel. The girls were separated from their mother and her existence was hidden from them since. After 16 years, following their father’s death, the girls yearned to fill the empty space in their hearts, and reunited with their mother in Israel. But it was a strangers’ rendezvous. The film follows the late relationship between the mother and daughters for 3 years and raises questions about parenthood and the patterns parents pass to their children.

Bored with her life as a housewife, Irith Shor envies her lawyer friend Irith Katz. But Irith Katz has grown tired of the professional world and would like nothing more than to lead a simple life. Their solution: swap lives with each other.

When photographer Eran Barak moves into an apartment in Haifa, he spends his days observing the neighbourhood: three high-rise residential buildings under construction, forever changing the neighbourhood; a photograph of two eternally smiling teenagers killed in a car accident, taped to a small monument; an aging Nazi hunter looking for recognition. As he absorbs it all, these seemingly unrelated elements enter his apartment in the form of photographs that line his walls. Reminiscent of the work of Chris Marker, Barak’s Hunting Time is a poetic and moving meditation on memories and remembrance, history and documentation, reality and imagination.

When Elio is about to be released from prison, he discovers that his brother was murdered during a gang war in southern Tel Aviv. Now he has two missions: to buy a maftir in memory of his brother at the synagogue, and to avenge his death. Elio embarks on a grim journey among underworld figures, corrupt police officers, and treacherous friends.