jewish film archive online
jewish film archive online
jewish film archive online
our main page is www.jewishfilm.com
on the line
title: on the line - a student film from the creative peace network 2006 at the gulf island film and television
year: 2006
dir/prod: alaa abu dawoud, ragheb askari, yana galfrin and pirouz nemati, with david ozier as mentor / gift-creative peace network summer film camp
country: canada
language: english
time: 7 minutes
source: http://www.giftsfilms.com/index.cfm?page_name=contact
text: israeli and palestinian high school students at summer camp discuss issues and role play and face off: (majdi saleh hafi and nir ayalon)
more films from the gulf island
www.giftsfilms.com
on the line - 2006
made by: pirouz nemati, alaa abu dawoud, ragheb askari, yana galfrin
description: a short doc about real friendship between two teenagers, one israeli and one palestinian who met in peace camp in canada. later, they meet at a checkpoint, one is an israeli soldier, the other a palestinian trying to pass.
length: 7:50
no place for dreamers - 2006
made by: inbar sofri, ira johnson, nadir abu dalu, saad mahmoud
description: a video exploration of a romantic relationship between a palestinian man and an israeli woman. using visual glimpses into their relationship, the film adresses issues in the current israeli-palestinian conflict. length: 7:55
these are my peelings - 2006
made by: haneen abu-libdeh, naama avitzur, chloe edbrooke, majdi saleh hafi
description: how both the palestinian and israeli sides look at the conflict from their own perspectives. onions represent the multiple layers behind every person. length: 3:33
(mis)interpretation - 2006
made by: nadav dan goor, bénédicte etienne, maoz nagauger, razan abdel rahman, ellis tregidgo
description: this film is a non-linear drama that takes us into the world of assumptions and presumption. length: 4:36
the carrot - 2006
made by: gideon scanlon, maya sharon, muhammed shaura, ofir vaknin
description: an animation about what is going on in the middle east. the two rabbits, one from palestine and one from isreal, fight over a carrot. as the battle wages, the carrot isn't important anymore, it is all about who's winning the fight length: 1:29
caped in mist - 2006
made by: sol kauffman, saray yehiel, alex deboer, aasem abu shtia
description: a short dramatic film about israeli and palestinian youth coexisting peacefully on a secluded island. they live in ignorance until a shipwrecked teenager arrives to reveal the historical conflict between their peoples. length: 6:25
sweet like chocolate - 2006
made by: kelsey smith, hadil yasin, nir ayalon, nadav strumtza
description: abstract visions are intertwined with future hopes. sweet like chocolate captures testimonies exploring peace, freedom and fear.
http://www.giftsfilms.com/video.cfm?video=v063207
o jerusalem
title: o jerusalem
year: 2006
dir/prod: elie chouraqui
country: france
language: english
time: 100 minutes
source: canal plus theatrical distributor (france) tf1 international theatrical distributor (france) medusa film theatrical distributor (italy) foresight unlimited
text: to paraphrase the jta... based on the 1972 book, "o jerusalem," by larry collins and dominique lapierre, "o jerusalem" is an account of the battles in and around jerusalem in israel's 1948 war of independence. it reads as a mosaic of leaders and ordinary people among arabs, jews, britons, americans and united nations officials - and the film embellishes it with several imaginary characters.. the film opens with documentary footage of the final bombing of berlin, followed by the liberation of the dachau concentration camp by u.s. soldiers. from there, the director invents a friendship in postwar new york between bobby goldman, an american jewish soldier who helped liberate dachau, and said chahine, a palestinian student in new york from the wealthy sheik jarrah district of jerusalem, whose uncle was a palestinian leader - in real life, a member of the prominent husseini clan. goldman and chahine go to jerusalem where they find themselves on opposite sides. chouraqui himself plays a role based on dov joseph, the haganah military governor of jerusalem. joseph's daughter gets only three lines in the book - when her death is announced during fighting in the south - but she has a main supporting role in the film and is played by shirel, a young franco-american singer well known in france. hadassah limpel, also mentioned briefly in the book, is given a major role in the film. played by the british-south african actress maria papas, limpel was a polish jew who walked across the soviet union to reach mandatory palestine, then died at the battle for the latrun monastery. in the film version, limpel is portrayed as a tough, angry haganah fighter with great compassion, who tells goldman how she served as a prostitute for nazi officers during the war so she could get more to eat. "this is not meant to be a pro-israeli film," chouraqui said. "it is about a legitimate struggle for both sides. i want this film to be a call for peace. i want the public to like bobby and said, to feel the emotion of their friendship in the midst of the fighting." david ben-gurion is played by ian holm. patrick bruel plays a haganah leader. a written explanation on screen at the end of the film indicates that 700,000 palestinians left their homes because of propaganda from arab regimes encouraging them to leave. the film does not shy away from deir yassin, an april 1948 battle in which right-wing jewish militias are accused of carrying out a massacre. though casualty figures from the battle are a subject of intense debate, the incident - highlighted by arab leaders who thought it would enrage the arab populace and rouse it to fight - instead contributed to the frightened exodus.
borat
title: borat: cultural learnings of america for make benefit glorious nation of kazakhstan
year: 2006
dir/prod: larry charles
country: usa
language: english
time: 88 minutes
source: 20th century fox
text: british jewish comedian sacha baron cohen's (35) film about "borat" (borat sagdiyev) a jew-bashing, chauvinistic reporter from the former ussr (kazakhstan) who travels america. (note... when he speaks kazakh.. he is actually speaking hebrew) (note 2: borat sings the lyrics from an old hebrew folk song, and identifies his country's greatest scientist, who discovered that a woman's brain is the same size as a squirrel's, as "dr. yarmulke.") (note 3: the actor's mother is israeli and of iranian jewish descent. cohen spent at kibbutz rosh hanikra and was a member of habonim dror as a youth. choen played tevye in a play while a student at cambridge). borat makes his way across america in an ice cream truck. borat makes fools of a cross-section of unsuspecting americans. his hapless foils include humor and etiquette coaches, washington politicians, feminists, gays, pentecostal revivalists, drunken frat boys, blacks, rednecks at a rodeo, a car salesman and the owner of an antiques store. but borat's favorite targets are jews, and he plays the true believer of jewish conspiracy theories to the hilt. he refuses to fly from new york to los angeles, for instance, for fear the jews will hijack his plane, "as they did on 9/11." his jew-phobia is so over the top, so wacky, that it's doubtful that even an assembly of ayatollahs would take it at face value.
one night with the king
title: one night with the king
year: 2006
dir/prod: / matthew crouch
country: usa
language: english
time: minutes
source: fox (foxfaith) for dvd sales, gener8xion entertainment
text: this film was produced by the son of mega-televangelists paul and jan crouch. it is a christian film based on the purim story, but pumped up for more adventure, etc. prior to this film, you may recall that crouch made "omega code" in 1999, financing it with a home equity loan. rabbi daniel lapin, president of toward tradition, a seattle-based ally of christian conservatives, was a consultant to the film. while the story does not follow the book of esther too closely, it does portray jews well (it omits the chapter 10 revenge story). the film was shot in a palace in rajasthan, india. the cast includes luke goss as persian king xerxes (better known as ahasuerus in the book of esther) and john rhys-davies as mordechai. jewish actor james callis plays haman, and israeli actor jonah lotan portrays jesse, a childhood friend of hadassah, the name of the heroine before she became esther.
the history boys
title: the history boys
year: 2006
dir/prod: nicholas hytner
country: uk
language: english
time: 100 minutes
source: fox searchlight
text: based on the play by alan bennet, the story of a prep school that is training its best students to take the exams to get into oxbridge. the main teacher is a old school, overweight man who teaches poetry and classics. the headmaster invites a slick young teacher to teach the class some slickness. one student plays the naďve, rural, gay, jewish teenager. adult situations.
for your consideration
title: for your consideration
year: 2006
dir/prod: christopher guest
country: usa
language: english
time: 86 minutes
source: warner independent films, castle rock
text: see foryourconsiderationmovie.com in this intelligent comedy, a frist time director takes his actors through the making of a film, home for purim, a jewish holiday reunion story. but when word gets out that the performances are oscar worthy, the news changes the status of the has-been actors and crew.
debut feature director jay berman (christopher guest), steers cast and crew through a typically tumultuous independent film home for purim, an intimate period drama about a jewish family's turbulent reunion on the occasion of the dying matriarch's favorite holiday.
when internet-generated rumors begin circulating that three of purim's stars -- faded luminary marilyn hack (catherine o'hara), journeyman actor and former hot dog pitchman victor allan miller (harry shearer), and ingénue callie webb (parker posey) -- may be perpetrating award-worthy performances, a rumble of excitement rattles the cast. once "hollywood now" anchors chuck porter (fred willard) and cindy martin (jane lynch) pick up the buzz, award fever infects the entire production.
unit publicist corey taft (john michael higgins), talent agent morley orfkin (eugene levy), and producer whitney taylor brown (jennifer coolidge) all smell the sudden potential for a sleeper hit. as does sunfish classics president martin gibb (ricky gervais), who suggests some last-minute changes to the film that he feels will broaden the film's appeal. meanwhile, purim's screenwriters, lane iverson (michael mckean) and philip koontz (bob balaban) grow steadily more horrified as they watch the first film adaptation of their work diverge from their original story.
as the hopeful purim team careens toward the end of production and the upcoming award season, tenuous relationships and brittle dreams play out in unexpected ways... the cast includes carrie aizley, bob balaban, ed begley, jr., jennifer coolidge, paul dooley, ricky gervais, christopher guest, rachael harris, john michael higgins, michael hitchcock, don lake, eugene levy, jane lynch, michael mckean, larry miller, christopher moynihan, catherine o'hara, jim piddock, parker posey, harry shearer, deborah theaker, fred willard and scott williamson.
notes: the ideas for the film? "the idea of setting it in valdosta, georgia, [came from] an experience that chris [topher guest] had where he was working in one of the southern states and ran into some jewish people who were using yiddish words with a southern dialect. it just sounded funny, so we said, 'let's set it in georgia and make it a period piece.' the story is about the kids coming home to see their mother who is dying on purim, which has always been an important holiday for the mother. that holiday is fun because you get to do costumes and things, and we just saw it as a funny little scenario around a dining room table.
tattoo jew the movie
title: tattoo jew
year: 2007
dir/prod: andy abrams and justin dawson
country: usa
language: english
time: minutes
source: go to tattoojewmovie.com
text: not to be confused with the magazine of the same name.. this is a film about jews with tattoos.
aviva my love / aviva ahuvati
title: aviva my love / aviva ahuvati
year: 2006
dir/prod: shemi zarhin
country: israel
language: hebrew w/ english st
time: 107 minutes
source: united king films. evanstone films, tel aviv. eitan evan, evanstone films ltd. 40, merkaz ba'alei melacha st. tel aviv 63824 / israel 972.3.528.1191 / (f) 972.3.528.1192 evaneitn@bezeqint.net
text: winner of the best screenplay award at the 2006 jerusalem film festival, aviva, my love is a quirky and dramatic film which questions the value of intellectual property and at what value it ought to be sacrificed. a hotel cook with an unemployed husband and rebellious children, aviva (assi levy) is at the height of financial depression-but salvation is within reach. a talented but unproven writer, aviva has the opportunity to sell the rights of her first novel to a has-been writer/professor (sason gabai). now the fruits of her lifelong labor are pitted against the well-being of her family, and aviva must make the decision of a lifetime. levy dazzles as the lead, and the supporting cast provides welcome doses of laughs and gravitas. hebrew with english subtitles. 107 min.
sixty six
title: sixty six
year: 2006
dir/prod: paul weiland / natascha wharton
country: uk
language: english
time: 94 minutes
source: working title films (uk) london
text: pg-13. it is the summer of '66, and england is about to be consumed by world cup fever. for 12 year-old bernie though, the biggest day of his life is looming: his bar mitzvah, and the day he becomes a man. however, bernie's family are increasingly distracted by the threat of losing their business and their wayward older son, and the scale of bernie's bar mitzvah diminishes daily. worst of all the cup final is scheduled to take place on the same day and when england makes it through the qualifying rounds, bernie's longed-for bar mitzvah looks set to be a complete disaster... http://www.workingtitlefilms.com/film.php?filmid=97
primo levy's journey
title: primo levy's journey
year: 2006
dir/prod: davide ferrario
country: italy
language: italian w/ english st
time: 93 minutes
source: 01 distribuzione rai cinema
text: jay weissberg in variety writes: sensitive, sobering, and tinged with respectful melancholy, "primo levi's journey" retraces the enforced peregrinations of the great italian chemist following his release from auschwitz, documenting not just levi's trek but the changes wrought in the various locales since the collapse of the iron curtain. helmer davide ferrario, no stranger to travel docus, uses levi's subjectivity as a guiding force for his own objective eye, resulting in a gently moving vision of people and lands struggling to reconcile the past with an uncertain present. docu should have no problem finding a base on arthouse screens. in 1963, levi published "the truce," a description of his physical and psychological journey from liberation at auschwitz in 1945 until his homecoming in turin, italy, eight months later. part of a large group of camp inmates shuttled across eastern and middle europe by the soviet army, levi recorded the metamorphosis from prisoner to free man during a period he called "the truce," that in-between era bookended by the conclusion of wwii and the start of the cold war. (in 1997 helmer francesco rosi shot the book as a feature starring john turturro.) ferrario and co-writer marco belpoliti begin with shots of ground zero, driving home the concept that another truce -- one that began with the fall of the berlin wall -- came to an abrupt halt on sept. 11. from the brief manhattan prologue they follow levi's footsteps -- from auschwitz through poland, the ukraine, belarus, moldova and on back to western europe -- revealing the unhappy legacy of the failed communist enterprise and the subsequent wasted opportunities. throughout these nations, the residue of soviet promises act as a dead weight to development. levi's description of the "interminable indolence" imposed on the displaced refugees, shuttled back and forth without knowing when they would get home, has its parallels with the people encountered in the docu, many likewise uncertain where they're headed.
levi's descriptions of natural beauty also find their equivalents here, but he couldn't have predicted the ghost zone of chernobyl, or the poverty in moldova that's forcing thousands to emigrate. in hungary, where levi finally felt he was back in europe, ferrario finds the perfect example of globalization in chinese manning the market stalls of budapest, and in germany a neo-nazi rally puts a chilling spin on the rise of disenfranchisement and anger in the 21st century.
periodically accompanied by the haunting eyes of levi himself in yellowed footage, docu has its lighter moments (especially in belarus), and ferrario's sense of humor, and tongue-biting understatement, offers glimmers of needed levity amidst a generally downbeat picture. amusing soviet propaganda newsreels emphasize the failure of yesterday's promises, and music of varying genres are layered in with wry wit. shown at rome film festival 2006
shortbus
title: shortbus
year: 2006
dir/prod: john cameron mitchell
country: usa
language: english
time: 90 minutes
source: thinkfilm
text: voyeurism is participation. a group of new yorkers caught up in their romantic-sexual milieu converge at an underground salon infamous for its blend of art, music, politics, and carnality. numerous new york city-dwellers come to the exclusive club shortbus to work out problems in their sexual relationships. rob (raphael barker) and sophia (sook-yin lee) are a happily married couple, except for the fact that she has never experienced sexual climax. this irony follows her to work, because she is a couples counselor who frequently has to deal with the sexual issues other couples have. two of her patients are jamie (pj deboy) and james (paul dawson), a gay couple who have been monogamous for five years and counting. james wants to bring other men in to the relationship, and his own history with depression may hint at an ulterior motive. ceth (pronounced like seth, played by jay brannon) may be the perfect addition to their family, but caleb, a voyeur from across the street, may have his own ideas about that. at the urging of the two jamies, sophia visits severin, a dominatrix with secrets of her own to reveal. contains mostly nudity, sex, masturbation, etc. a few jewish jokes, messaging system is called yenta, a pseudo ed koch appears.
spaghetti and matzo balls
title: spaghetti and matzo balls
year: 2005
dir/prod: dave lewis
country: usa
language: english
time: minutes
source: http://www.spaghettiandmatzoballs.com/
text: parody. jewish woman has a child with the italian milman while her husband is at work. a tough jewish boy is born to the frum household. filled with comic stereotypes (the kid protects weak jewish boys, his penis is larger than others, etc). an homage to the director's son (he was married for 13 years to a woman of italian heritage)
18-j
title: 18-j
year: 2006
dir/prod: daniel burman, et.al.
country: argentina
language: spanish with english subtitles
time: 100 minutes
source: sales@primerplano.com
text: 18-j is a compilation of 10 ten-minute shorts by 10 of the most popular directors in south america . these shorts are responses to the events of july 18, 1994, the day when terrorists parked and detonated a van filled with explosives in front of the amia (argentina-israel mutual association) building. the bombing killed 86 people and wounded over 300 others-signifying the largest single act of terrorism against jews since world war ii. among the directors involved in this project is daniel burman (director of family law). directors: daniel burman, adrian caetano, lucia cedron, alejandro doria, alberto lecchi, marcelo scahpces, carlos sorin, juan bautista stagnaro, adrian suar, mauricio wainrot
51 birch street
title: 51 birch street
year: 2006
dir/prod: doug block
country: usa
language: english
time: 60 minutes
source: info@dragomanfilms.com // www.dragomanfilms.com
text: how well do we ever really know our parents? in this moving, funny and heart-wrenching documentary, filmmaker doug block delves into the hidden truths of his parent's seemingly happy 54-year marriage. three months after his mother's unexpected death, his father announces he's moving to florida to marry his secretary from 40 years before. after this curious declaration, block returns to his childhood home for one last visit and discovers three boxes of his mother's diaries, dating back more than three decades. doug struggles with the decision to read his mother's private thoughts. the result becomes an exercise in understanding, truthful and open dialogue, forgiveness, and eventual reconciliation between block and his father. although this film is an intimate portrait of the block family, it is also a remarkable example of what can happen when one's most basic assumptions about family and love are called into question.
a good joke
title: a good joke
year: 2005
dir/prod: nick fox-gieg
country: usa
language: english
time: 3 minutes
source: nick@fox-gieg.com www.fox-gieg.com
text: short video. what do you get when you have a bitter pope and a wise (or wisecracking) rabbi? this animated short is a classic set-up and punch-line
blues by the beach
title: blues by the beach
year: 2006
dir/prod: joshua faudem
country: israel/usa
language: english
time: 75 minutes
source: jackbax@earthlink.net
text: winner of the conflict & resolution award, hamptons international film fest. shown at wjff.org. this film is an unscripted, unplanned and unprecedented account of a terrorist attack at mike's place, a popular live music bar on the tel aviv beachfront. filmmaker jack baxter set out to show that terror, fear and bloodshed is not all that exists in , and selected mike's place to show the laughter and music that still resonates throughout the country. no one could have ever suspected that this location would be the target of a suicide bombing. blues by the beach highlights the effects of terror, but also shows the aftermath and the healing that takes place as the members of this close-knit community struggle to move on while still honoring those who were lost.
read interview at: http://wjff.blogspot.com/2006/12/blues-by-beach-jack-baxter-on.html
brother's shadow
title: brother's shadow
year: 2006
dir/prod: todd s. yellin
country: usa
language: english
time: 89 minutes
source: michelle@mintpictures.com www.mintpictures.com
text: forced to either return home or return to prison, jake groden (played by kissing jessica stein's scott cohen) chooses to face his family after 15 years of prison and alcohol. however, when he arrives, he learns that his twin brother (the "good" twin) has died, his father (judd hirsch) is being forced to sell the family furniture building business, his brother's widow doesn't trust him, and his teenage nephew is creeped-out by the uncanny resemblance to his dead father. knowing that without a job his parole officer will send him back to prison, jake, always the superior carpenter to his brother, convinces his father and sister-in-law to keep the shop open. things go well. there are even signs that jake might be able to reconcile with his father. but when faced with a large furniture order he can't afford to lose, jake takes desperate action that risks destroying his fragile sobriety and the family he has only recently regained.
read an interview: http://wjff.blogspot.com/2006/11/5-questions-for-todd-s-yellin-director.html
chutzpah this is?
title: chutzpah this is?
year: 2006
dir/prod: rick kent
country: usa
language: english
time: 35 minutes
source: david@emgpr.com
text: the official hip-hop-umentary charts the trials and tribulations of the jewish hip hop trio, chutzpah-starring dr. dreck as george segal (as dr. dreck?), master tav and mc meshugenah-as they try to make the music video that will save their record deal. also featuring cameos by gary oldman, debi mazar and def leppard's vivian campbell.
david + jonathan
title: david + jonathan
year: 2006
dir/prod: jan wandrag
country: usa
language: english
time: 15 minutes
source: mail@janwandrag.com www.janwandrag.com
text: an experimental short inspired by the biblical story of king david is told through an array of still photographs taken of subjects who were unaware of the camera. was screened at washington dc jcc and co sponsored by its affiliated gay organization
el cantor
title: el cantor
year: 2006
dir/prod: joseph morder
country: france
language: french and english with english subtitles
time: 90 minutes
source: info@lavieestbelle.fr
text: set in the french coastal town of le havre , joseph morder's first full-length feature film presents a reunion between two cousins who haven't seen one another in thirty years. the arrival of clovis fishermann disrupts william's life at a time when his wife elizabeth is still mourning the loss of her father and in no mood to host an unfamiliar guest. clovis seems to have returned with an agenda that he keeps to himself but brings william along with him to revisit the boyish escapades of their youth. the son and grandson of famous cantors, clovis was deliberately kept from learning the family trade after the holocaust-a legacy that haunts his travels around the quiet port city. long a fixture of the french underground cinema, and a significant influence on such modern french filmmakers as francois ozon, variety calls morder's film, "a quirky addition to the ranks of films that address the post-shoah jewish experience that one needn't be jewish to appreciate."
family law
title: family law
year: 2006
dir/prod: daniel burman
country: argentina
language: spanish w/ english subtitles
time: 102 minutes
source: emwoodburne@ifcfilms.com www.ifcfilms.com
text: official submission from argentina for the 2007 foreign language oscar.
argentinean cinema again takes center stage on opening night as daniel burman "the latin american woody allen" (waiting for the messiah, lost embrace) returns with his most mature film to date. burman's alter-ego ariel (once again portrayed by daniel hendler) is now an adult-a popular law professor at a buenos aires university and a father to a precocious pre-schooler. still, ariel feels uncomfortable in his own skin. uncertain in his role as a father and husband, ambivalent about his relationship with his own dad-a successful defense attorney and larger-than-life presence-ariel is in something of an early midlife crisis. through the course of this warm and funny film, ariel struggles to adjust to the full responsibilities of adulthood.
four weeks in june
title: four weeks in june / 4 weeks in june
year: 2006
dir/prod: henry meyer
country: sweden
language: swedish with english st
time: 100 minutes
source: gunnar.almer@sfi.se
text: winner of the crystal bear at the berlin international film festival.
sandra's life seems to have hit bottom. she is sentenced to a work-release program in a remote swedish factory after attacking her deceitful boyfriend with a pair of scissors. holed-up in a dilapidated apartment building, sandra is drawn out of her isolation by lily, a mysterious old jewish woman given to playing american swing records at odd hours of the night. their unlikely friendship seems to come at the perfect time for both of them. but when sandra stumbles upon a pack of lily's old love letters from before world war ii, uncomfortable questions arise that threaten their relationship. this intimate, understated film features outstanding performances and, at the core, a tender heart.
i only wanted to live
title: i only wanted to live
year: 2006
dir/prod: mimmo calopresti
country: italy / usa
language: italian with english st
time: 82 minutes
source: sonyas@usc.edu
text: an official selection of the cannes film festival, this masterfully crafted documentary shares the moving personal stories of eight italian survivors of auschwitz with astounding detail. director mimmo calopresti went through more than 400 testimonies of italian survivors collected by steve n spielberg's usc shoah foundation, and the result is a film replete with recollections that are strikingly intimate: the way a father's wrists looked "delicate" in handcuffs; a can of sardines creating an unlikely moment of grace; a mother who cried so much at the parting with her child that his face slipped from hers when they kissed. destined to be a classic document of survivor testimony and a work of skillful editing, i only wanted to live guards against the banality of evil with the vividness of rich humanity.
just an ordinary jew
title: just an ordinary jew
year: 2006
dir/prod: oliver hirschbiegel
country: germany
language: german with english st
time: 90 minutes
source: okalvelage@multimedia-tv.de www.multimedia-tv.de
text: a polite invitation from a semi-anonymous teacher requesting a jew to visit his social studies class inspires its recipient, hamburg-based journalist emanuel goldfarb (ben becker of the comedian harmonists and gloomy sunday) to compose a letter of refusal that transforms into a one-man debate on the post-1945 german-jewish relationship. this darkly humorous tour de force is a linguistic assault on politically correct "tolerance" and a spleen-venting critique of the subtle and not-so-subtle cultural attitudes that continue to mark german jews as "others." goldfarb also focuses his razor-sharp intellect inward, dissecting his own shortcomings as he strives to become "an ordinary german." from his childhood amidst the ghosts of lost relatives, to a failed marriage, his simple letter of refusal attempts to synthesize a life replete with contradictions. just an ordinary jew is a striking follow-up for oliver hirschbiegel, the academy award-nominated director of downfall.
kylie goldstein: all american
title: kylie goldstein: all american
year: 2006
dir/prod: eva ...
country: usa
language: english
time: minutes
source: nyevita@aol.com
text: short. kylie goldstein was born in china , now she's part of your average suburban american family
lonely man of faith
title: lonely man of faith the life and legacy of rabbi joseph b. soloveitchik
year: 2006
dir/prod: ethan isenberg
country: usa
language: english
time: 100 minutes
source: ethanise@yahoo.com
text: rabbi joseph b. soloveitchik was arguably the most influential rabbi of the 20th century and indisputably the intellectual leader of modern orthodox judaism. this first major film biography charts his life from his beginnings as the heir to a lithuanian rabbinic dynasty, to his unusual decision to pursue secular learning at the university of berlin (where he studied philosophy); through his arrival in america and subsequent rise as the leading orthodox religious scholar of his time. called simply "the rav" by his followers, soloveitchik ordained over 2,000 rabbis during his career, more than any other figure in jewish history. more impressive was his unique recognition of the opportunities and perils life in offered for orthodoxy. while embracing modernity and pushing his movement to do so, he also stood as a stalwart for tradition. walking that delicate line was no easy task, and frequently resulted in a kind of existential loneliness. by persevering he laid the foundation for a flourishing movement that continues to debate his legacy to this day.
love other: the story of claude cahun and marcel moore
title: love other: the story of claude cahun and marcel moore
year: 2006
dir/prod: barbara hammer
country: usa
language: english
time: 55 minutes
source: www.outcast-films.com
text: "i choose film and video as a medium to make the invisible, visible," veteran experimental filmmaker barbara hammer explains while telling the story of claude cahun and marcel moore. these women, two jewish stepsisters living together as lovers and artists, pushed the boundaries of expression in gender, sexuality and surrealist art in the 1920's. cahun and moore, also heroic resisters to the nazis occupation of the jersey isle during wwii, were captured and sentenced to death. through the use of photographs, archival footage, interviews with jersey isle residents who knew the women, and dramatic interludes enacted from a "found cahun script," hammer creates a full and flourishing picture of this remarkable story. shown at wjff.org in fall 2006. co sponsored by lillith magazine and the associated gay synagogue in dc.
interview with director: http://wjff.blogspot.com/2006/11/lover-other-5-questions-for-barbara.html
matchmaker: in search of a kosher man
title: matchmaker: in search of a kosher man
year: 2006
dir/prod: gabrielle antosiewicz
country: switzerland
language: german with english subtitles
time: 70 minutes
source: c-films@c-films.ch
text: director gabrielle antosiewicz is 30 years old and decides it may be time to settle down. so she sets herself the task of finding a jewish husband but is confronted by the harsh reality that in her hometown of zurich , she has only a few dozen potential mates. undeterred, she calls up old school chums and other prospects and invites them over to her house for an unusual first date-she bakes challah with them, while she interviews them on camera on what they're looking for in a marriage. while the dough rises, we meet three other families who share their accounts of looking for love: on the internet, through orthodox matchmakers and at the local car dealership. in the end, gabrielle has six freshly baked loaves, but has she found a recipe for love?
naturalized
title: naturalized
year: 2006
dir/prod: julia kots
country: usa
language: english and russian with english st
time: 8 minutes video
source: julia.kots@aya.yale.edu
text: short. a russian immigrant argues with his overbearing family as he attempts to undergo the ultimate rite of male jewish identity. (circumcision)
nina's home
title: nina's home
year: 2006
dir/prod: richard dembo
country: usa
language: french w/ english subtitles
time: 113 minutes
source: capiot@tf1.fr www.tf1international.com
text: nina runs her "house of hope"-a home for jewish children displaced by world war ii-with the perfect blend of fair-minded discipline and maternal affection for her young charges. beginning in 1944, jewish children who had been in hiding throughout and western europe gathered in a run-down chateau outside paris to await the hopeful reunification with their parents. the delicate balance of the home is thrown into chaos when a group of child survivors from eastern european concentration camps arrives with their own unique traumas, along with a non-jewish hungarian guardian with questionable intentions. the film tells the stories of the children as they adjust to one another and to a world slowly emerging from madness. director richard dembo, who won the academy award for best foreign film in 1984 for dangerous moves, died towards the end of the film's post-production. he said of nina's home, "...it is quite likely the only way for me to come to terms with my own difficulty with being fully alive today."
orders of love
title: orders of love
year: 2006
dir/prod: jes benstock
country: uk
language: english
time: 10 minutes
source: jburch@brandeis.edu www.jewishfilm.org
text: short. winner of the ica award for best film, halloween short film festival 2005, this short captures the concern that director jes benstock has for his young son jacob as he goes on a quest to the darkest corners of his family tree
out of faith
title: out of faith
year: 2006
dir/prod: lisa leeman
country: usa
language: english
time: 82 minutes
source: lmdeangelis@eliezerfilms.com www.eliezerfilms.com
text: what begins as a standard profile of leah welbel, a holocaust survivor with an inspiring zest for life, becomes something far more complex when leah reveals she has not spoken to her grandson in six years because he intermarried. her granddaughter is also marrying a christian-and tension pervades the whole welbel family over what leah will do. director lisa leeman and producer mark deangelis followed leah, her children and her grandchildren for three years, and the result is an astounding documentary that illustrates the painful conflicts that occur in one family's differing approaches to intermarriage over three generations. the film eschews labeling people as good guys or bad guys in the conflict, but allows their often raw and contradictory actions to speak for themselves. as the birth of leah's first great-grandchild to her estranged grandson approaches and her own health declines, powerful emotions prevail.
sisai
title: sisai
year: 2006
dir/prod: david gavro
country: usa / israel
language: hebrew and amharic with english subtitles
time: 56 minutes
source: go2films@bezeqint.net www.go2films.com
text: winner of the best documentary award at the jerusalem international film festival, sisai follows the life of a young ethiopian immigrant in . director david gavro, sisai's adoptive brother, films the emotional and physical journey sisai takes as he learns he has a biological father still living in ethiopia. the reunion is captured beautifully and is even more poignant with the presence of gavro and his father, as they revisit the land the family once called home. with the impending birth of sisai's first child as the frame for his struggle to accept his birth father's absence, the journey becomes not just one of reunion, but of maturation.
steel toes
title: steel toes
year: 2006
dir/prod: david gow and mark adam
country: canada
language: english
time: 90 minutes
source: pdagnolo@galafilm.com www.galafilm.com
text: based on the play cherry docs by award-winning writer david gow (writer's guild of canada award), steel toes tells the story of danny dunkelman, a court appointed jewish lawyer, played by david strathairn (oscar nominee, good night and good luck) who is assigned the case of a skinhead accused of a racially motivated murder. dunkelman is initially reluctant to stay on the case, but he is challenged by his seemingly unrepentant client and simultaneously intrigued by his own belief that there is something worth redeeming in the young man. strathairn (who originated the role onstage) gives a riveting performance as dunkelman, a man whose belief in the law and in the human character drives him to pursue the case into the realm of obsession.
the unchosen ones
title: the unchosen ones - lost in the holy land
year: 2005
dir/prod: iris bahr
country: usa
language: english
time: 24 minutes
source: irisbahr@earthlink.net www.theunchosenones.com
text: featured at the cannes short film corner in 2005, the unchosen ones tells the tale of samantha goldberg, who is in on a hebe singles tour (sort of like jdate) and finds herself suddenly abandoned by the group while visiting the carmel shuk in tel aviv, only hours before the highly anticipated wife-picking ceremony. on a frantic mission to reunite with the group, she encounters a slew of strange, silly and sordid israeli and jewish characters--all played with gusto by director iris bahr (larry david's infamous ski lift companion on "curb your enthusiasm.")
the holocaust tourist
title: the holocaust tourist
year: 2006
dir/prod:
country: usa
language: english
time: minutes
source: www.jewishfilm.org (brandeis)
text: an examination of holocaust tourism, and the cottage industry that has emerged in since steven spielberg's schindler's list.
the journey of vaan nguyen
title: the journey of vaan nguyen
year: 2006
dir/prod: duki dror
country: israel / vietnam
language: hebrew and vietnamese with english subtitles
time: 84 minutes
source: go2films@beziqint.net www.go2films.com
text: vaan nguyen's story is the result of one of those quirks of history that trumps fiction. her parents were vietnamese refugees who fled the country after the fall of saigon and in 1979 were among a group of 200 "boat people" granted permanent refuge in israel by menachem begin. vaan has grown up in israel , speaking hebrew and living as an israeli-and yet she is alienated from israeli society and resents being treated as a cultural curio. when the opportunity arises for her to travel back to vietnam with her father in an attempt to determine the fate of some land that used to belong to his family, vaan jumps at the chance. she bids a less-than-fond farewell and sets off to the land of her ancestors.
the metamorphosis
title: the metamorphosis
year: 2006
dir/prod:
country: usa
language: english
time: minutes
source: logari@aol.com
text: stan leiber begins to notice a pain and pounding at the back of his head. one morning he awakens to find a growth has matured into a yarmulke
the rape of europa
title: the rape of europa
year: 2006
dir/prod: richard berge bonnie cohen and nicole newnham
country: usa
language: english, french, german and italian with english subtitles
time: 117 minutes
source: neilf@menemshafilms.com www.menemshafilms.com
text: the rape of europa is a documentary based on the national book critics circle award-winning book by lynn h. nicholas. the film tells the epic story of the systematic theft, deliberate destruction, and miraculous survival of europe 's art treasures during the third reich and second world war. the film interweaves the history of nazi art looting with the stories of contemporary restitution cases. it also tells the dramatic story of the unprecedented heroic efforts of the us monuments men who were sent to europe to safeguard and return displaced art at the end of the war.
note to programmers. when it was shown in nyc in january 2007 at the jewish museum, they paired it with a panel that included richard berge, filmmaker, the rape of europa; monica dugot, senior vice president, director of restitution, christie's; harry ettlinger, u.s. "monuments man"; and lynn h. nicholas, author of the rape of europa, winner of the national book critics circle award
toots
title: toots
year: 2006
dir/prod: kristi jacobson
country: usa
language: english
time: 84 minutes
source: neilf@menemshafilms.com www.menemshafilms.com
text: if you lived in the 40s and 50s in new york city , toots was the name to know, and his restaurant, toots shor's, was the place to be seen. this documentary by kristi jacobson, shor's granddaughter, chronicles a life that was consistently and constantly about entertaining friends, family, celebrities, politicians, journalists, athletes and even mobsters. like a character out of a frank loesser story, his ups and downs were in direct correlation to the ups and downs of his restaurant and the cultural legends who made it their second home (joe dimaggio ended his friendship with toots over some off-color comments about marilyn monroe). through the prism of one man's life, the film serves as a cultural history of new york city in the 40s, 50s and 60s. toots is a dynamic film that matches the energy of its subject. the intensity skyrockets during interviews with jackie gleason, walter cronkite, mike wallace, lauren bacall, yogi berra and whitey ford, along with many other writers, celebrities and assorted wise guys who share their memories of the man behind the bear hug.
who killed walter benjamin?
title: who killed walter benjamin?
year: 2006
dir/prod: david mauas
country: spain/the netherlands
language: spanish, catalan, english, hebrew, german, and french w/ english subtitles
time: 73 minutes
source: mauas@milagrosproducciones.com
text:, north american premiere was at wjff.org // according to the "official" version of events, on september 25, 1940 famed writer, critic and philosopher walter benjamin committed suicide in the spanish frontier-town of portbou after crossing the pyrenees to escape the nazis, only to be forbidden from continuing to lisbon because of a change in spanish legislation. he was to be deported back to france, a fate he escaped by taking his own life. but key elements of this story did not line-up for filmmaker david mauas-like the fact that the official paperwork ruled benjamin had died of "natural causes," and that the chronology of when he took the fatal dose of morphine did not jibe with his time of death. mauas consults with widely respected benjamin scholars and visits with the residents of portbou, many of whom suspect a cover-up by pro-franco fascists, to try and get to the bottom of benjamin's mysterious death. perhaps the first ever film noir intellectual historical film, mauas' documentary is at once beguiling and enlightening.
who was kafka?
title: who was kafka?
year: 2006
dir/prod: richard dindo
country: switzerland
language: german w/ english subtitles
time: 99 minutes
source: hbruhin@swissfilms.ch www.swissfilms.com
text: we all know what is meant when something is called "kafka-esque," but it is much harder to say with certainty who the man was behind some of the greatest writing of the 20th century. prolific and esteemed swiss filmmaker richard dindo (ernesto che guevara, the bolivian diary; charlotte : life or theatre) brings his trademark reliance on primary sources to this fascinating documentary about franz kafka. kafka's story is narrated by actors reading from writings by several of his closest friends and loves including max brod, milena jesenska, felice bauer and gustav janouch. these recollections from those who knew and loved him, along with kafka's own writings, infuse a cohesive jewish narrative into a biography that is widely known in its broad themes-alienated son, frustrated clerk, angst-ridden writer, prague-born, assimilated jew-but seldom felt in its intimate details as it is here. dindo's emphasis on kafka's intolerance of his father's hypocritical judaism, his frustration with the anti-semitism of prague and his ultimate attraction to modern zionism highlight what was central to his character-even as he eludes ultimate definition
wil
title: wil
year: 2006
dir/prod: jeremy weinstein
country: australia
language: english (well australian, but that is sort of like english)
time: 82 minutes
source: wil // jeremy@quixotic.com.au www.quixotic.com.au
text: winner of best feature film at independent's film festival (florida), wil introduces wilbur schindel, an accountant in a safe but boring job. the film follows his surreal thoughts after being offered a promotion that will lock him into the company for the next ten years and given one minute to take or leave the offer. this moment of truth is the catalyst for wil to reassess his life. the audience is privy to the internal journey he takes; as he retreats into his mind, enters an elevator and travels through his id, ego and superego (with a couple of loop-backs through the id). weinstein, winner of best director at the rhode island international film festival, debuts his first feature film with a brand of humor that combines portnoy's complaint with office space.
you're so pretty
title: you're so pretty
year: 2006
dir/prod: lisa alessandrin
country: france
language: french w/ english subtitles
time: 85 minutes
source: festival@exception-wb.com
text: this steamy french comedy and box office hit traces the misadventures of four friends, who are more like sisters, through their sephardic jewish families-a french desperate housewives meets sex and the city. michčle laroque (ma vie en rose) stars as isa, the edgy blonde beauty shop owner whose financial life echoes her romantic life-total chaos. through a series of hilarious events, she meets a british-jewish-biker-accountant named paul (andrew lincoln, love actually) who has the potential to help restore order to both worlds. isa's sister alice (valérie benguigui, would i lie to you? wjff 2000) is focused largely on her failing marriage to her couch-potato husband and contemplates the possibility of a new love. with wit and levity, the four women deliver insight into the daily struggles of family, friendship and love.
the 10th man
title: the 10th man
year: 2006
dir/prod: sam leifer
country: uk
language: english
time: 11 minutes, video
source:
text: how many jewish men does it take to screw in a minyan? the aging congregation of an east end london synagogue takes desperate measures to find that tenth guy.
black book
title: black book
year: 2007
dir/prod: paul verhoeven
country: usa
language: english
time: 145 minutes
source: sony pictures classics release. http://www.sonyclassics.com/blackbook/
text: sexy and irreverent, and vulgar, theis holocasut film, directed by the director of robocop, showgirls and basic instinct, takes off in september 1944. a young jewish woman, rachel stein - played by the dutch actress carice van houten - has been squirreling herself away with a christian farm family when an american bomber destroys the house. not one to let an allied payload cramp her style, rachel picks herself up, dusts herself off and flings herself into the open arms of a passing swain, the first in a series of dashing rescuers who will accompany her through tangles of intrigue and steamy romances in a holocaust story like few others. written by mr. verhoeven and his sometimes screenwriter, gerard soeteman, "black book" encompasses the best and very worst of its director's signature pulp brutalism, which means it's pretty much a hoot. rachel's body is saved from the off-camera death camps, gas chambers and ovens to become a site of negotiation, a means of survival and an erotic spectacle. abused and misused, stripped and stripped again, rachel survives by masking that body with a putatively aryan disguise. she also falls for the head of the gestapo in the hague, where rachel has landed after fleeing an ambush that claims her brother and parents. now working for the resistance, rachel signs up for the ultimate mata hari assignment and agrees to bed ludwig müntze (sebastian koch) so she can uncover gestapo secrets. she does that and more. after dyeing her hair a brassy blond, rachel insinuates herself into the superdashing nazi's confidences and, soon enough, his bedroom. it takes just one glance at the top of her head with its creeping dark roots for müntze to guess the truth. grasping her naked breasts in her hands, rachel pleads her case with shakespearean gravitas, "hath not a jew, er, eyes?" carice van houten, thom hoffman, halina reijn, sebastian koch, christian berkel, waldemar kobus, michiel huisman, derek de lint, peter blok, ronald armbrust, jeroen uijttenhout, dolf de vries, diana dobbelman, matthias schoenaerts, xander straat
jewz n the hood
title: jewz n the hood
year: 2005
dir/prod: joshua stern
country: usa
language: english
time: 5 minutes
source: poet1 at /// aol dot com
text: two rival gangs - the orthodox jews against the reconstructionists - fight it out mano a mano on the streets of brooklyn
a kiss is a kiss is a kiss
title: a kiss is a kiss is a kiss
year: 2003
dir/prod: uri bar-on
country: israel
language: hebrew with english st
time: 6 minutes
source:
text: will a young right-wing male settler and a left-wing young woman kiss for the camera? what about an israeli female soldier and a young palestinian man? with a dollop of kink, the director puts four unlikely couples to the test.
our time is up
title: our time is up
year: 2004
dir/prod: rob pearlstein
country: usa
language: english
time: 14 minutes
source: www.ourtimeisup.com
text: when therapist dr. leonard stern (kevin pollack) learns he only has six weeks to live, what does he do? treat his patients with brutalizing honesty.
origin unknown
title: origin unknown grünfeld: opphav ukjent
year: 2005
dir/prod: nina grünfeld
country: norway
language: norwegian with english st
time: 49 minutes
source: amb @ nfi dot no
text: in norway, berthold grünfeld is a well-known jewish psychiatrist, sexologist and professor of social medicine. brought up by a catholic family until he moved to norway as a boy, he knows nothing about his real mother. nor does he care to, having long ago shut out the past in order to succeed in the present. but his daughter, director nina grünfeld has a pressing need to know, and sets out to uncover her father's history. given her emotional involvement with the subject, her documentary has a clarity and focus that is stunning
the lace peddler
title: the lace peddler / dantelaci
year: 2005
dir/prod: eytan ipeker
country: turkey
language: turkish / ladino / greek w/ english subtitles
time: 15 minutes
source: eytan_ipeker at yahoo dot
text: a jewish lace peddler struggles to adapt in the changing istanbul of the 1950's
warsaw-paris / varsovie-paris
title: warsaw-paris / varsovie-paris
year: 2002
dir/prod: idit cébula
country: france
language: french with english st
time: 30 minutes
source: fidelite productions, 8 rue lincoln, paris 75008 france phone 33-1-5534-9808
text: a family reunites in paris at the funeral of grandfather surdutowicz in this sorrow-burdened but surprisingly humorous short, featuring actress emmanuelle devos (read my lips).
and then, who are we? et nous, qui sommes-nous?
title: and then, who are we? et nous, qui sommes-nous?
year: 2005
dir/prod: barbara schuch, sophie sensier
country: france
language: polish / english / french w/subtitles
time: 58 minutes
source: sunday@sundaymp.fr
text: co-directors barbara schuch and sophie sensier's finely wrought exploration of the kaleidoscopic nature of identity begins as a personal documentary -- with schuch's questioning her own sense of self as a french woman of polish-jewish descent. the film morphs into a rich and complex investigation of jewish life and identity in poland, where schuch finds a community whose members have radically divergent understandings of what it means to be a jew.
food for love: a shtetl that's no longer there / een sjtetl die niet meer bestaat
title: food for love: a shtetl that's no longer there / een sjtetl die niet meer bestaat
year: 2004
dir/prod: heddy honigman
country: netherlands
language: dutch with english st
time: 26 minutes
source: distribution@ideale-audience.fr
text: as she prepares vrennekes, the director's mother tells stories of her native village in poland, of losing relatives in the holocaust, and of her own escape to peru.
roots: families for sale / bednye rodstvenniki
title: roots: families for sale / bednye rodstvenniki
year: 2005
dir/prod: pavel loungin
country: russia
language: russian with english st
time: 107 minutes
source: www.intercinema.ru post@intercinema.ru
text: a riotous black comedy from russian director pavel loungin (taxi blues), roots is the heritage tour from hell. a smooth-talking scam artist charges jews $50,000 to be reunited with their long-lost relatives in a particular ukrainian town. the town doesn't exist anymore, but, hey, for the right price anything can be manufactured, including folks who play "long-lost relatives" and a mayor willing to re-name his town. hilariously, everything unravels.
wrestling with angels: playwright tony kushner
title: wrestling with angels: playwright tony kushner
year: 2006
dir/prod: freida lee mock
country: usa
language: english
time: 98 minutes, 35mm
source: greg @ balconyfilm. com
text: as seen at sundance 2006. a passionate political activist, proud homosexual, relentless creative spirit, and lightning rod for controversy, tony award-winning playwright tony kushner (angels in america, caroline or change, homebody/kabul) is surely a national treasure. academy award-winning director freida lee mock (maya lin: a strong clear vision) brings the point home by weaving interviews with leading theatre artists, personal moments from the artist's life, and scenes from his plays into a spellbinding whole. includes tony's jewish wedding to his male partner. includes tony and his brother traveling back down south to their hometown and a visit to their synagogue, where tony's paintings he did as a teenager still hang in the rabbi's office.
sisters - hermanas
title: sisters - hermanas
year: 2005
dir/prod: julia solomonoff
country: argentina
language: spanish with english st
time: 88 minutes, 35mm
source: http://www.latidofilms.com/proyectos.catalogo.ficha.do?idproyecto=5&opcion_izquierda=1&opcion_superior=1
text: the two levin sisters reunite in texas in 1982 for the first time since natalia levin (ingrid rubio) fled argentina for spain in 1975. argentina's dark past -- its military dictatorship, the dirty war it waged against its citizens -- is the backdrop for director julia solomonoff's masterfully constructed family drama about memory, displacement and the american dream during the reagan years.
gorgeous! (aka you're so pretty!) comme t'y es belle!
title: gorgeous! (aka you're so pretty!) comme t'y es belle!
year: 2006
dir/prod: lisa azuelos br>
country: france
language: french with english st
time: 85 minutes, 35mm
source: http://www.commetyesbelle-lefilm.com/
text: lisa azuelos's insouciant comedy tells the story of four very au courant sephardic women living in paris. all aspects of their lives eventually become intertwined, from their romances and children to their beauty-parlor business and yo-yo dieting. each woman is quirky yet recognizably archetypal, and the connection they share when they are together is both female and jewish. we are pleased to be presenting the us premiere of the film, which will be released in the future under the english title gorgeous!
frozen days
title: frozen days / yamim kfuim
year: 2005
dir/prod: danny lerner
country: israel
language: hebrew w/ english st
time: 90 minutes, 35mm
source: www.bleibergent.com
text: this dazzling puzzler won the award for best israeli feature at the 2005 haifa international film festival. cat-like anat klausner plays miao, a tel aviv drug dealer who assumes the identity of a man with whom she had a fleeting sexual encounter. says variety critic richard kuipers, "wow is the word for...newcomer klausner."
holding leah / wäre leah alt geworden?
title: holding leah / wäre leah alt geworden?
year: 2005
dir/prod: myriam halberstam
country: germany
language: german with english st
time: 7 minutes video
source: mimihalberstam at aol dot com
text: myriam halberstam, looking at her beautiful baby, ponders the difficult choices mothers had to make during the shoah.
tovarisch i am not dead
title: tovarisch i am not dead
year: 2007
dir/prod: stuart urban
country: uk
language: english
time: 90 minutes
source: www.tovarisch.net +44 208 878 7404 (office) +44 208 876 4591 (fax)
www.cyclopsvision.co.uk 31 vicarage road, london, sw14 8rz, uk
text: a true and harrowing story, tovarisch, i am not dead is a valuable legacy of historical fact, available to all as both book and film. the film is on the life of garri s. urban, an extraordinary man who experienced extreme hardships in the gulags of stalin's russia. he wrote in his own words from his own memories about his experiences in a vital, fascinating and enthralling book, which is almost impossible to put down. from the first invasion of the german forces into his homeland in 1939, the story follows garri's courage in the face of adversity, torture, separation from his loved ones, imprisonment and finally, one of the most daring escapes ever to be documented. his story illustrates the struggle against the oppression of stalin's soviet state at the height of its powers and the will to survive that is so often found in mankind, even at the very darkest times. the film encapsulates the life of a remarkable man and provides an opportunity for the lessons he learnt to be shared. in addition to providing information about garri urban and the life he lived, we will in parallel be chronicling the journey of this documentary. garri left a massive and important legacy that thanks to his own memoirs and his son's film, will never be forgotten. when he died in 2004, garri's passing was noted by the world's media, a significant testament to the important role that he played in the lives of not only his loved ones, but also in the broader historical sense.
nuremberg: the nazis facing their crimes
title: nuremberg: the nazis facing their crimes
year: 2005
dir/prod: christian delage
country: france
language: english, french, german, and russian, with english subtitles
time: 90 minutes
source: thomas saignes delphis films 225 roy st. east, suite 200 montreal, quebec h2t 1t3 canada tel: 514.843.3355 x233 fax: 514.843.9574
tsaigns@delphisfilms.com
text: us premiere at the ny jewish film festival, january 2007. christian delage's gripping documentary reconstructs the international military tribunal in nuremberg, germany, using rare footage from the national archives. judge robert jackson interrogates some of the most notorious nazi war criminals including hermann göring, rudolf hess, joachim von ribbentrop, julius streicher, and albert speer. the film also gathers insight from contemporary interviews with holocaust survivors and former prosecutors. narrated by christopher plummer. when the ny jewish film fest screened the film, they paired it with a panel, featuring christian delage, filmmaker, nuremberg: the nazis facing their crimes; istvan deak, seth low professor emeritus, columbia university; and
budd schulberg, screenwriter and novelist
the holocaust tourist: whatever happened to never again?
title: the holocaust tourist: whatever happened to never again?
year: 2006
dir/prod: jes benstock
country: uk
language: english
time: 10 minutes
source:
text: jes benstock (orders of love) takes viewers on a whistle-stop tour of kitsch judaica in krakow and tour buses in auschwitz.
yippee: a journey to jewish joy
title: yippee: a journey to jewish joy
year: 2006
dir/prod: paul mazursky / paul mazursky
country: canada
language: english, hebrew, yiddish and russian w/ english st
time: 73 minutes
source: tecolote
text: ummm.. 75 yr old film director has made this documentary about the 25,000 jews who visit uman in the ukraine each year and pray at the grave of rabbi nadhman of breslov (bratslav). reviewers have reported that it is more a film about mr. mazursky, as he cracks jokes along the way, and is more like a home movie. you be the judge.
janem, janem
title: janem, janem
year: 2005
dir/prod: haim buzaglo
country: israel
language: hebrew w/ english st
time: minutes
source: bouzagloh@bezeqint.net
text: aldi, a high-school teacher and a class tutor, 40 years old, is in a midlife crisis. he just returned from a long army reserve service in jenin and informs the school's principal that he is not coming back to teach. his midlife crisis is blended with a trauma caused by the loss of his friend, in front of his eyes, killed by a gunshot of a sniper in an observation post. his wife, a psychologist, offers him to get away for a long vacation. aldi goes for a journey in his own country. incognito...15 years after his previous journey he travels through israel 2003. the arab laborers were replaced by turks and romanians; the hotel from the previous journey has become a shabby hostel accommodating paperless immigrants. an unknown world appears to him in the middle of tel aviv. aldi examines the new situation; he is attracted to the hotel receptionist, a russian girl escaping from an israeli who had "bought" her to be his wife. gradually he is drawn into the world of the foreign workers, while observing them from their own point of view.
things behind the sun
title: things behind the sun
year: 2005
dir/prod: yuval shafferman / uri sabag and einat bickel
country: israel
language: hebrew with english st
time: 100 minutes
source: paralite inc, nachmani 39 tel-aviv, paralite@bezeqint.net
text: things behind the sun' offers a glimpse into the grossman's family life, each struggling to find love and intimacy while insisting on sealing themselves from each other. when abraham, the grossman family's grandfather is hospitalized in a grave manner, itzhak, his only son, finds himself confronted with a father whom he hasn't spoken with in many years. itzhak seems incapable of expressing his inner distress, even to his closest. meanwhile, smadi, itzhak's wife, has her first gallery exhibition which exposes for the first time dark family secrets. didush, the family youngest, is set to decipher each of her family members' riddles. by secretly visiting a grandfather, whom she has never met and constantly asking questions none of the grossman's wishes to answer didush will embark on a journey set to reach, touch and piece together those so close yet so detached from her, or even their own selves. stars asi dayan - yizhak; sandra sade - smadi; tali sharon - naama; tes hashiloni - didush; zohar strauss - amit
wolves' moon / yareach shel zeevim
title: wolves' moon / yareach shel zeevim
year: 2006
dir/prod: shay kanot / mirit toovi, mosh danon. gaby rosenberg, avi armoza
country: usa
language: english
time: minutes
source:
text:. review by variety directed by shay kanot. written by gudis schneider. with: liron levo, ilana berkovitch, rodie kosolovsky, eli altonio, maya engler. shay kanot's atmospheric made-for-tv movie, "wolves' moon" could almost be renamed "brokeneck mountain." a couple of israeli cowboys bond deeply -- not through desire but due to guilt over a car crash that left one paralyzed. death in myriad forms stalks the film's frame-lines, as sharpshooting hero stakes out dead calves to lure marauding wolves into his gun sights. ironically, this laconic israeli western comes closer to dealing with the nation's ongoing political tension than does much israeli cinema nowadays. nevertheless, distrib prospects for this genre anomaly appear iffy. ruggedly handsome, markedly heterosexual guy (amos gitai regular liron levo) raises cattle with his mother (maya engler), his younger brother (eli altonio) and best friend yoav (rodie kosolovsky), riding herd, corralling steers and camping out in an old school bus. one night, driving home after a few beers, guy swerves, forcing an oncoming car driven by yoav off the road and down the hillside. after spending a year in prison on a dwi charge, guy returns home consumed with guilt. not only is he responsible for yoav becoming a paraplegic, but he was sleeping with yoav's girlfriend netta (ilana berkovitch) just before the accident, and yoav is still unaware she dumped him for guy. guy's mother (maya engler) cannot forgive him, but yoav will if guy will do him one small favor: kill him. the bulk of the picture finds guy trying to resolve his moral dilemmas, morosely riding the range and staring into the eyes of marauding predators. not quite as splendiferous as the wyoming (via alberta) backdrops of ang lee's tale of anguished buddyhood, the golem heights, transformed by moonlight and haunted by wolves, projects its own loopy mythos.
ilona, upstairs
title: ilona, upstairs
year: 2005
dir/prod:melissa hammel
country: usa
language: english
time: 25 minutes
source:
text: documentary. in melissa hammel's loving portrait of her eccentric greenwich village ny upstairs neighbor, ilona sings, dances, orates, paints, swims and smells the roses but will not, under any circumstances, face her youth in nazi europe, which she can only describe using such colors as gray. one never sees her entire face. shown at reel jews
ju tang clan
title: ju tang clan
year: 2006
dir/prod: adam ullian
country: usa
language: english
time: 13 minutes
source:
text: interviews and performance footage of members of the jewish parody rap group ju tang clan. shown at reel jews
and these are jews
title: and these are jews
year: 2005
dir/prod: ruth goldman
country: usa
language: english
time: 49 minutes
source:
text: a documentary. christmas-tree trimming? ham on passover? jews who do not want thear hebrew spoken or prayed. synagogues that prohibit yarmulkes? and these are jews documents the german-jewish community of cincinnati, ohio, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, examining sometimes shocking and often humorous stories of prejudice against polish jews, assimilation, religious practice and identity.
the darien dilemma
title: the darien dilemma
year: 2006
dir/prod: erez laufer
country: israel
language: english st
time: 90 minutes
source: http://www.erezlauferfilms.com/index.php?go=film&id=darien
text: the darien dilemma explores the previously untold story of 1,000 viennese jews stranded on the frozen danube river in 1941 as they awaited rescue by the newly created mossad (israeli secret service), which had purchased a ship - the darien - for this purpose. when the ship is then sold to the british, the mossad's agent, ruth klieger, must decide whether to let the ship go to the british or defy her orders and rescue the desperate refugees. director erez laufer weaves together interviews with the survivors, archival film and dramatic re-enactments. a father and his filmmaker son explore the untold story of 1000 jews from vienna stranded on the frozen danube river in the winter of 1941 as they await the life or death decision of their rescue by ruth klieger and other mossad agents who control their fate. in a hotel in istanbul ruth klieger and her fellow agents from the newly created mossad (israeli secret service) have spent months planning the rescue of the stranded jewish youth. they bought a ship, the darien, to transport the youth from yugoslavia to palestine. but days before the ship is set to sail, ruth receives word from the leadership in tel aviv that the darien has been sold to the british to be used in a sabotage attack against the germans. a heated debate ensues among ruth and the other agents: do they hand over the darien to the british as ordered, or do they defy their leaders in tel aviv and rescue the desperate refugees waiting along the banks of the danube? laufer nachum, the father, set out to tell a story about his mother's escape from europe when he came upon the story of another woman, ruth, "the lady of the mossad." his obsession with ruth takes him into the bowels of his country's secret past. erez, the filmmaker son, creates a unique story within a story, weaving together documentary footage of his father's quest to tell ruth's story, with the moral dilemma facing ruth, performed by actors and written by his father. blurring the lines between documentary and fiction, reality and obsession, the darien dilemma is a story about a son's homage to his father's search to understand a woman's life and death decision and the history that connects them all
young jewish and left
title: young jewish and left
year: 2006
dir/prod: konnie chameides and irit reinheimer
country: usa
language: english
time: minutes
source: www.youngjewishandleft.org info@youngjewishandleft.org
text: does the legacy or grandkids of jewish socialists, anarchists, feminists, yippies, hippies, organizers, and agitators of the past century lives on? in the fall of 2004, the filmmakers traveled north america and interviewed over five dozen jewish activists who are not part of the organized jewish mainstream and acronym organization. this film portrays 25 of these activists and their triumphs and failures and their struggles with gender, zionism, judaism, secular yiddishkiet, queerness, racism, spirituality, and other issues. meet shira hassan. after she and her trans-gender partner (female to male) "were literally laughed out of synagogue" when he stood in the men's section of the shul, she created a radical machzor (prayer book) for the high holidays and organized her own queer-positive celebration. listen as loolwa khazoom, an iraqi jew and editor of flying camel: essays on identity by women of north african and middle eastern jewish heritage, recounts her experience in a u.s. hebrew school when the rabbi told her it was a sin to use a sephardi (non-european) jewish prayer book. and follow micah bazant as he praises the feminist possibilities within jewish masculinity. as these community organizers, playwrights, artists, and rabbis speak of building progressive organizations, new rituals, and more inclusive communities, it is clear that their inspiration is drawn from a proud jewish past. inspired by the warsaw ghetto uprising, the workmen's circle, and by their own communist & socialist grandparents, these jewish radicals are creating a more just future by learning from and identifying with a collective, rich jewish heritage of reform and rebellion. at a time when religious fundamentalists take power in the us and around the world, this documentary is an inspiration. grab your bubbe (grandmother) and your habibi (loved one) and check it out. music by mirah, nomy lamm, and the divahn.
more than 1000 words
title: more than 1000 words
year: 2006
dir/prod: solo avital / oliver berben
country: israel
language: hebrew with english subtitles
time: 78 minutes
source: telepool munich www.happyzoda.com
text: documentary. ziv koren's memorable photographs are icons that have helped shape our perceptions of the conflict in the middle east. in ...more than 1,000 words, director solo avital follows ziv for the two years leading up to israel's withdrawal form gaza, filming during riots, terror attacks and secret meetings with wanted militants. variety writes: each picture taken by photojournalist ziv koren is assuredly worth "...more than 1000 words," especially as seen in this slick, hard-hitting docu from multi-hyphenate (and aptly named) solo avital, which captures koren's intensity in regard to both the arab-israeli conflict and the ordinary demands of being a husband and father. pic would make valuable viewing in kid fests and a variety of political-minded contexts, as well as on pubcasters worldwide. a labor of love for avital, peripatetic feature follows koren, over several years, on rounds which turn out to be both extremely dangerous and highly circumscribed by israel's increasingly walled-in borders. along the way, tall, shaven-headed photog puts tricky situations in context, whether sticking up for a palestinian journalist under attack or shooting magazine covers for newsweek and time. further commentary is provided by editors and colleagues, who have come to expect the impossible from him, and from his gorgeous actress wife, galit gutman, whom he admittedly keeps in the dark re his day-to-day pursuits. pic crams in too much by following koren to a tokyo showing, but overall shows its subject as much more than meets the eye. supported by: the new israeli foundation for cinema & tv
chronicles of a professional eulogist
title: chronicles of a professional eulogist
year: 2005
dir/prod: sarah jane lapp / colette sandstedt
country: usa
language: english
time: 7 minutes
source: cinemagoat@yahoo.com
text: in this hand-drawn animated film, a rabbi-who prefers to think of himself as a "grief facilitator"-candidly shares trade secrets.
my mexican shivah
title: my mexican shivah
year: 2006
dir/prod: alejandro springall
country: mexico
language: spanish, hebrew, and yiddish, with english subtitles
time: 102 minutes
source: 35mm
text: family and friends sit shivah in mexico city for moishe tartakovsky, a much beloved patriarch. mourners include a catholic ex-lover, an orthodox ex-convict grandson, and a troupe of mariachi musicians. two yiddish-speaking spirits wryly observe the mourners while accounting for moishe's soul. my mexican shivah is a charming comedy based on a story by ilan stavans and produced by john sayles and maggie renzi, featuring an original score by the klezmatics.
chronicle of a jump
title: chronicle of a jump
year: 2005
dir/prod: zohar lavi
country: usa
language: hebrew with english st
time: 12 minutes
source:
text: a relaxing picnic turns tense when a young israeli tries to prove his courage.
and therafter ii
lee hosup
korean doc. on korean bride and u.s. soldiers.
example of what happens when the doc. director hates his film's subject
rotterdam 2007
sonia
title: sonia
year: 2006
dir/prod: lucy kostelanetz
country: usa
language: english
time: 96 minutes
source: www.soniathemovie.com
text: lucy kostelanetz explores the life and art of her great aunt sofia (sonia) dymshitz-tolstaya, a russian avant-garde painter and utopian visionary. born into a wealthy jewish family in st. petersburg and inspired by the promise of the russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917, sonia risked everything to make a better life for herself and others. using interviews, archival footage, and innovative animation sequences, kostelanetz captures the spirit of a bohemian who continued to make art under the oppressive soviet regime. featuring the voice of maria tucci as sonia.
love and sacrifice
title: love and sacrifice
year: 1936
dir/prod: george roland
country: usa
language: yiddish, with new english subtitles
time: 76 minutes
source: the national center for jewish film at brandeis
text: a restored film print. based on a book by isidore zolotarefsky, love and sacrifice is a prime example of shund-escapist melodrama born on the yiddish stage. shot over two days in a new york city loft on a miniscule budget, the film portrays a long-suffering middle-class matron who goes to prison for shooting the man who compromises her. producer joseph seiden described it in his original advertising copy as follows: "you'll see a tender yet mighty picture drama. hot with a living breath of a story as old as the ages, new as tomorrow!" love and sacrifice was restored by the national center for jewish film. stars esta salzman
nina's home
title: nina's home
year: 2005
dir/prod: richard dembo
country: france
language: french, german, and yiddish, with english subtitles
time: 109 minutes
source: 35mm www.lamaisondenina.com
text: in this compelling drama, nina is the tireless director of a children's shelter in france at the end of world war ii. when a group of young polish and russian survivors arrive from concentration camps, cultures clash and chaos ensues. despite differences in language, religious observance, and experiences of war, the children gradually discover the courage to live again in the wake of catastrophe. nina's home is the late director richard dembo's final film and stars the riveting agnčs jaoui, director of look at me. see also the related film our children.
hungry hearts
title: hungry hearts
year: 1922
dir/prod: e. mason hopper
country: usa
language: silent with english intertitles and a recorded score
time: 80 minutes
source: the national center for jewish film
text: a restored classic. based on the short stories of anzia yezierska, the first writer to bring stories of american jewish women to a wide readership, hungry hearts focuses on a family fresh-off-the-boat from eastern europe. with scenes filmed on the lower east side, this bittersweet classic captures the hopes and hardships of jewish immigrants. hungry hearts features a new score created by the university of southern california's thornton school of music. hungry hearts was restored by the national center for jewish film.
113
title: 113
year: 2005
dir/prod: jason brandenberg
country: switzerland
language: swiss deutsch with english st
time: 19 minutes, 35mm
source:
text: time is running out for an abandoned house and its hidden secrets.
our children (unzere kinder)
title: our children (unzere kinder)
year: 1948
dir/prod: natan gross and shaul goskind
country: poland
language: yiddish, with new english subtitles
time: 70 minutes, 35mm
source: the national center for jewish film at brandeis university
text: in this last yiddish feature made in poland, virtuoso comedy duo shimon dzigan and israel shumacher play all the parts in a dramatization of sholem aleichem's story kasrilevke is burning. the audience consists of children from the helenowek colony, an orphanage and school for holocaust survivors near lodz. when audience and performers exchange roles, the kids demonstrate the healing power of music, dance, and storytelling. j. hoberman writes that our children is "not only among the first films about the holocaust, it is also the first to critique its representation." our children was restored by the national center for jewish film.
white terror
title: white terror
year: 2005
dir/prod: daniel schweizer
country: switzerland/france/germany/finland
language: french, english, german and russian, with english subtitles
time: 90 minutes, 35mm
source: www.whiteterror.com
text: the documentary white terror reveals a new generation of racist and anti-semitic publishers, music producers, and internet entrepreneurs who exploit the benefits of globalization, new technology, and youth culture. daniel schweizer infiltrates three skinhead strongholds: a center of propaganda production in stockholm; a community of white power families who gather for sunday barbeques in dallas; and in moscow, an underworld of street gangs and ex-soldiers united under the pretext of slavic nationalism.
i have never forgotten you: the life and legacy of simon wiesenthal
title: i have never forgotten you: the life and legacy of simon wiesenthal
year: 2007
dir/prod: richard trank
country: usa
language: english with some german hebrew and polish
time: 106minutes
source: moriah films of the simon wiesnthal center
text: shown at berlinale 2007. written by trank and marvin heir... umm.. so one would assume that it is a glowing portrayal of wiesenthal. but, why should it not be? it is entertaining and informative. it documents his life and adventures well. tracks him from his birth in 1908 until his recent death. narrated by some newcomer wannabe actress named nicole kidman.
ruah sheked
title: ruach shaked (spirit of shaked)
year: 2007
dir/prod: ran edelist / itay landesberg
country: israel
language: hebrew with english st
time: minutes
source: channel 1
text: doc follows israel's elite shaked battalion from the 1950's to the present, including 1967. there is no admission in the film to an unfounded report that the battalion killed 250 egyptian prisoners in 1967. the prodcers translated the film into arabic is order to show it to the egyptian parliament and others
bil'in my love (bil'in habibti)
title: bil'in my love (bil'in habibti)
year: 2007
dir/prod: shai carmeli pollak
country: israel
language: hebrew w/ english st
time: 85 minutes
source: www.claudiusfilms.com
text: seen at rotterdam 2007. peaceful demonstration by villagers, israelis and foreigners against the construction of the wall, that runs through the middle of this old palestinian village.
this is a film about how one loses fear of an oppressive army, about the palestinian struggle to maintain their land and demand their freedom and about an israeli film maker who crosses the line and befriends a palestinian village. shai carmeli pollak did not come to bil'in as a film maker, but as an activist to take part in the protest against the land theft caused by the separation barrier. for a year and a half, he used his camera to document the moments of despair and hope, danger and courage and the birth of true partnership between palestinians and israelis. during this period, the village has become a symbol of the joint struggle against the barrier and the occupation. the director focuses on two central figures: mohamed, a member of the village's local committee against the barrier, and wagee, a farmer and father of ten, who is losing the majority of his land to the barrier and to the settlement. the film exposes the extraordinary relationship formed between the villagers and a group of israeli activists, against the backdrop of their struggle. the conflict that arises between shai and the soldiers serving in the area is not only between a director and the subjects he is documenting, but also the conflict between a former soldier turned peace activist and the entire military organization.
day night day night
title: day night day night
year: 2007
dir/prod: julia loktev
country: usa
language: english
time: 94 minutes
source: scalpel
text: seen at rotterdam 2007. not a chechen, not a palestinian, not an iraqi, but a white american emerges as a suicide terrorist. after meticulous preparation, meticulously filmed, she stands on times square in new york with a bomb in her backpack. that sounds exciting and it is. and why is she actually doing it?
a clear yet puzzling and therefore exciting film about the greatest of subjects in today's world: terror. a young woman, a girl really, prepares for a suicide attack. with a bomb in a backpack in the heart of new york city. in great detail the film shows her, the suicide bomber, and her handlers making preparations for a gruesome act. many details, but no motive. a white girl who speaks without an accent and apparently has no political aim in mind. this makes her both indefinable and intriguing, just as the film also keeps its secret and remains fascinating right up to the end.the film follows a day and a night from the girl's life - or maybe she is a woman after all, because of her mature determination to make this the last day and night of her life. she makes her preparations cold-bloodedly. when carrying out her plan, at first she still seems to be cold-blooded, but in the end she turns out to have nerves. maybe technology won't let her down - a common problem for suicide terrorists - but her unknown motivation will. in the end, a girl is left alone with a bomb in new york. without god on her side.day night day night has been made with great self-assurance. with meticulous control over cinematographic means. one could even say it is faultless.
dear edmond (edmond yakiri)
title: dear edmond (edmond yakiri)
year: 2007
dir/prod: amit goren
country: israel
language: hebrew with english st
time: 82 minutes
source: ruth diskin films. ruthfilms.com
text: family and urban history writing in one: a filmmaker fills the streets where he lives, rothschild boulevard in tel aviv, and the pregnancy of his wife who is expecting triplets.
dear edmond is both a very personal history of film maker amit goren and the history of the city where he lives: tel aviv. amit goren has been a passionate amateur film maker ever since he was thirteen. he used to make stills, super-8 films and videos. he was - and still is - obsessed with the possibility of capturing and preserving a moment, trying to understand the phenomenon of time, maybe trying to stop it with his camera. in dear edmond he follows the early pregnancy of his partner who is expecting triplets, their dilemmas and their common growth into this new kind of life. it is a jewish family history. at the same time, the director shoots from his balcony and captures daily life on rothschild boulevard where he lives. rothschild boulevard is the heart of the first hebrew city from which tel aviv evolved in 1909. the triplets, when they get older, will walk on its pavements. the developments in the director's own personal life alternate with pictures of old and young inhabitants of the boulevard, memories and archival footage of the city. the identity of the family as well as that of the city is being revealed. a wonderful, sensitive and in-depth view of the film maker's life and the life of the city he loves.. rotterdam 2007
a declaration
title: a declaration
year: 2007
dir/prod: yael bartana
country: israel
language: hebrew with st
time: 8 minutes
source: my-i.com
text: a man, a boat, an old harbour. a personal, poetic short.
a poetical short film with a man in a boat and the old jaffa port (tel aviv) in the background that ends with a personal declaration and the exchange of symbols
eight twenty eight (shmoneh ezrim veshmone)
title: eight twenty eight (shmoneh ezrim veshmone)
year: 2007
dir/prod: lavi ben gal
country: israel
language: hebrew with english st
time: 60 minutes
source: claudiusfilms.com claudius films ltd tel: +972-3-629-4665 fax: +972-3-629-4665 claudia.levin@claudiusfilms.com
text: what's left of the ideals of the kibbutz? former kibbutz resident and lavi ben gal returns with his camera and goes looking for the community feeling of old. filmmaker and camera become increasingly restless.
what's left of the ideals of the kibbutz? former kibbutz resident lavi ben gal returns with his camera and goes looking for the community feeling of old. a close and personal poetic look at what is left of the essence of the kibbutz today. the film is made up of impressions, feelings and random conversations with old acquaintances and friends of lavi ben gal, the filmmaker, who once used to live here himself. according to kibbutz regulations, at 28 each member has to decide whether to stay or leave. lavi left but comes back with his camera. on the paths of the kibbutz he meets people who share their feelings and fears with him regarding the many uncertainties in their new lives. the kibbutz is no longer what lavi remembers it to be. the fundamentals on which it was built have slowly been blurred in modern times. the partnership and the socialist ideas have been replaced by capitalism. the community is no longer the pumping heart feeding its limbs - everyone is on his own. anonymity and individualism have reached the core of this communal society. though always present in each frame, lavi is never seen. his bodily absence is meant to increase the sense of a search for the home that lives in his longing postcards.eight twenty eight is a journey to a home one cannot leave, but to which one can never really return.
en attendant ben gourion (waiting for ben gurion)
title: en attendant ben gourion (waiting for ben gurion)
year: 2007
dir/prod: norma marcos
country: france, palestinian authority
language: english subtitles
time: 30 minutes
source:
text: during a forced stay in bethlehem, the filmmaker records the life of her niece near the wall.
israeli border formalities forced norma marcos to spend several weeks in bethlehem with family while her film crew was waiting for her in vain elsewhere. the film maker used the time to record everyday life near the wall, primarily by interviewing her little niece, who thought that was pretty annoying occasionally.
a hebrew lesson (ha'ulpan)
title: a hebrew lesson (ha'ulpan)
year: 2006
dir/prod: david ofek
country: israel
language: hebrew with english st
time: 120 minutes
source: cinephil or www.edenproductions.co.il
text: israel, seen through the eyes of immigrants attending hebrew lessons. ironic and heartwarming documentary you won't forget, by the maker of melanoma my love.
a hebrew lesson is a humorous, smart and exciting mosaic of a mixture of immigrants of various nationalities and their teacher. it is a film that gets under the skin of its participants as well as that of the audience. one of those whose characters won't let you go even days after having seen it - and actually you don't want them to leave. chin left her daughter in china and came to israel to make a living there. she cleaned ehud's house, and they fell in love. sasha never considered immigrating to israel. but four years after his wife left russia with their daughter, he understood that life without his child would be worthless. he abandoned a thriving business, only to find himself in tel aviv's worst neighbourhood. marisol grew up as a jewish princess in lima, peru and came to israel to learn something about life. an unplanned pregnancy alters her plans. these and other characters meet in a hebrew language ulpan, where their personal stories melt with the complexities of israeli reality. the immense effort of learning a new language is revealed through their encounter with a strange culture and an unfamiliar environment. israeli society is revealed through the foreigner's eyes. this gaze - at times funny, at times sad - paints daily reality with irony. but beyond the obvious differences, the human common denominator of longing and love triumphs time and again.
the mall (hakanyon)
title: the mall (hakanyon)
year: 2007
dir/prod: jonathan ben efrat
country: israel
language: hebrew with english st
time: 12 minutes
source: cinephil
text: an empty shopping centre in tel aviv provides shelter for hundreds of illegal palestinian workers.
on week days, one of tel aviv's abandoned shopping malls is home to hundreds of palestinians, illegal workers in israel. they live here underground, among the foundations, without light, air or water. in the suffocating stench, their personal belongings are spread out over the floor - trying to maintain some human dignity
power / lochamim
title: power / lochamim
year: 2007
dir/prod: ayelet bechar
country: israel
language: hebrew w/ english st
time: 15 minutes
source: cinephil
text: why is saker, a moslem bedouin from northern israel, so eager to join the israeli army?
saker, a muslim bedouin from northern israel, volunteers to join the israeli army. his mother objects, calling him a traitor. but he is determined - he believes that only by joining the army will he be able to secure basic rights for his family and help his little sister
the roof (alsateh)
title: the roof (alsateh)
year: 2006
dir/prod: kamal aljafari
country: palestinian authority
language: english subtitles
time: 63 minutes
source: seen at rotterdam 2007. tag/traum
text: a palestinian filmmaker who lives in germany travels to his fatherland.
the roof is a very strong and personal documentary directed by the palestinian film maker kamal aljafari, who lives in germany and returns back to his homeland to see the present life of his closest and further family. he then talks with them about the past and leaves a question mark for the future. the film maker shares everyday life with his parents and sisters in ramle where he was born and where his father's family comes from. later on he visits his uncle and the family in jaffa where his mother's family is from. we learn the family history together with the history of the palestinians from jaffa from the grandmother's memories about 1948. the film's beginning and its end are framed by dialogues with another palestinian friend with an israeli passport - a young lady working in jerusalem who wants to become a judge. first the two of them talk about the imprisonment of the teenage film maker and his memories of the period, later on they drive and walk along the growing separation wall in jerusalem. the leitmotif joining all the scenes is the concept of home and its strong emotional values that we all carry with us. homes, walls and roofs mingle with peoples and their destinies, the identity questions hover above them. diego martinez vignatti's camarawork as well as the film's beautiful sound track both emphasise and strengthen the pace and the content of this wonderful small documentary masterpiece.
tolya
title: tolya
year: 2007
dir/prod: rodeon brodsky
country: israel
language: english st
time: 10 minutes
source: sam spiegel school
text: sensitive portrait about the power of homesickness. tolya from belorussia is a guest worker in israel, but in his mind he's back home with the family. tolya is a man of around fifty from minsk and one of the many foreign workers in israel. he is earning money here but longs for home, his wife and his family. the film is a sensitive portrait of the great emotional power of longing for one's home
pigeon
title: pigeon
year: 2004
dir/prod: anthony green
country: canada
language: english
time: 11 minutes, 35mm
source: amelia klein, program manager www.avodaarts.org
text: based on a true story, this short film recounts a startling act of kindness during world war ii. set in remies, france in 1941 and based on a true story, pigeon recounts a rare and startling act of resistance. this 11-minute film by filmmaker anthony green was an official selection of the 2004 toronto international film festival and grand-prize winner at the 2005 new york jewish student film festival. shown at avoda arts and the bronfman center for jewish student life at new york university.
four weeks in june
title: four weeks in june
year: 2006
dir/prod: henry meyer
country: sweden
language: swedish and english, with english subtitles
time: 112 minutes 35mm
source:
text: in a remote swedish town, sandra, a troubled young woman, develops an unexpected friendship with lilly, a secretive holocaust survivor. although lilly bears the memory of forbidden love during wartime, she encourages sandra to open herself up to the attentions of a handsome worker from poland. awarded a cyrstal bear at the 2006 berlin international film festival, four weeks in june features nuanced performances by tuva novotny and celebrated danish actress ghita nřrby (freud leaving home).
what a wonderful place
title: what a wonderful place
year: 2005
dir/prod: eyal halfon
country: israel
language: hebrew, english, russian, and tagalog, with english subtitles
time: 104 minutes
source:
text: set in a dreary border town in the negev, what a wonderful place interweaves an ensemble of characters in a multi-layered narrative concerning foreign workers in post-intifada israel. franco is an ex-cop turned human trafficker who develops an intimate friendship with jana, a ukrainian prostitute. zeltzer is a melancholy landowner whose only honest relationship is with one of his thai workers. aloni, a tough ranger who persecutes the thai farmers, depends on eddie, his father's filipino caretaker. eyal halfon's bittersweet and disturbing film features brilliant performances by uri gavriel (the syrian bride) and evelyne kaplun (yana's friends). winner of four israeli academy awards.
matchmaker: in search of a kosher man
title: matchmaker: in search of a kosher man
year: 2005
dir/prod: gabrielle antosiewicz
country: switzerland
language: swiss-german and french, with english subtitles
time: 70 minutes
source:
text: new yorkers complain about the paucity of available jewish men, but try finding a hebrew hunk in little switzerland! in this witty documentary, filmmaker gabrielle antosiewicz gets to know her most promising suitors by inviting them to bake a challah. while the dough is rising, viewers learn about the travails of internet dating and the secrets hidden beneath an orthodox woman's wig.
the longing: the forgotten jews of south america
title: the longing: the forgotten jews of south america
year: 2006
dir/prod: gabriela bohm
country: usa
language: english and spanish, with english subtitles
time: 75 minutes
source:
text: the longing is a moving documentary portrait of south americans who, after discovering that their jewish ancestors converted to catholicism during the spanish inquisition, undertake profound, personal journeys of faith. dismissed by local jewish authorities, these determined men and women choose to study via the internet with an american reform rabbi who ultimately arrives in ecuador to complete the conversion.
matzes
title: matzes (matzas to we americans)
year: 2004
dir/prod: margien rogaar
country: netherlands
language: dutch with english st
time: 14 minutes
source:
text: in this dutch treat of a short film, a young boy is apprehensive about his first passover seder.
david
title: david
year: 2002
dir/prod: alexsey fedorchenko
country: russia
language: russian with english st
time: 30 minutes
source:
text: juxtaposed with rare newsreel from the russian state archive, a man describes his incredible odyssey as a teenager in auschwitz, an internment camp in cyprus, and a soviet gulag. this film is a remarkably sensitive portrait of survival.
the transparent kipa
title: the transparent kipa
year: 2006
dir/prod: yanay ofran and oren harman
country: israel
language: hebrew with english st
time: 53 minutes
source: check with yivo.org
text: in 2006, the two filmmakers, in their 30's, residents of jerusalem, but now living in ta, made a series of films exploring israel. in this film they explore the phenomenon of a growing number of israelis who do not feel at home with 'observant' jews or the secular majority. too worldly to lead a fully religious life in the way one thinks orthodox jews would, but too spiritually minded to remain wholly secular. we meet them in this film
o, my homeland
title: o, my homeland
year: 2006
dir/prod: yanay ofran and oren harman
country: israel
language: hebrew with english st
time: 49 minutes
source: check with yivo.org
text: in 2006, the two filmmakers, in their 30's, residents of jerusalem, but now living in ta, made a series of films exploring israel. in this film we meet israelis who speak hebrew perfectly, who know israeli culture intimately, but the are arab. they are shunned by palestinians in the occupied territories because they are israeli and they are not wholly a part of israeli life since they are arab. they are fighting for their place in the middle eastern sun.
the great communist bank robbery
title: the great communist bank robbery
year: 2004
dir/prod: alexandru solomon
country: france/romania
language: english, romanian, and french, with english subtitles
time: 75 minutes
source:
text: in 1959, a car belonging to the romanian national bank carrying $1.6 million in cash was allegedly held up at gunpoint in bucharest. six jews, all former elite members of the communist party, were arrested. to avoid a death sentence, they agreed to play themselves in a propaganda film and re-enact the crime and the investigation. cameras continued to roll at the trial, but the accused were promptly executed. while exploring various theories on the robbery, filmmaker alexandru solomon deconstructs the tragic and complex history of romania.
news from home/news from house
title: news from home/news from house
year: 2005
dir/prod: amos gitai
country: israel/france/germany/belgium
language: arabic, hebrew, english, and french, with english subtitles
time: 97 minutes
source: www.amosgitai.com
text: the final production of amos gitai's documentary trilogy concerns a west jerusalem house and its palestinian and israeli inhabitants. gitai returns to observe the changes of the building's residents and of the neighborhood portrayed in his 1998 work, a house in jerusalem. like an archaeologist digging under multiple layers, gitai reveals a complex labyrinth of destinies.
the first time i was twenty
title: the first time i was twenty
year: 2004
dir/prod: lorraine levy
country: france
language: french, with english subtitles
time: 97 minutes
source:
text: it's the swinging sixties in the suburbs of paris. hannah, a zaftig 16 year-old played by the charming marilou berry (look at me), auditions for her school's all-male jazz band. though the odds are against her, she uses her brains, talent, and perseverance to overcome sexism and anti-semitism. lorraine levy's impressive debut feature celebrates misfits, underdogs, and outsiders everywhere.
such great joy
title: such great joy
year: 2004
dir/prod: michelle kramer
country: usa
language: english
time: 15 minutes
source:
text: megan comes home to join her jewish family for shabbat dinner with an important announcement... she's a lesbian and she's engaged to her girlfriend, christina. but her well-intentioned family has already planned a celebration for her... they think she's engaged to her best friend, markus. as megan puts off breaking the news to her family, things quickly spiral out of control. who knew telling the truth could be so... complicated?
unsettled
title: unsettled
year: 2007
dir/prod: adam hootnick
country: usa
language: english
time: 80 minutes
source: http://www.resonancepictures.com/
text: during the gaza withdrawal of 2005, three young israelis will be forced from their homes, two soldiers will be sent to evict them, and one activist will try to help her country avoid a war. can one generation change history?
winner at slamdance 2007 for best documentary. unsettled tells part of the story of israel's unilateral withdrawal from gaza in 2005. israeląs largest military operation in decades the withdrawal from gaza was a mission against its own citizens. for an entire generation the pullout from gaza will change the meaning and for some the very location of home. told in their words and from their perspectives, unsettled is the story of kids on the front lines of a conflict where the lines are blurred, in a society where the first battle for peace must be fought at home. unsettled is directed by adam hootnick. adam hootnick has covered politics and international affairs as a producer at mtv news & docs, nbc news and msnbc, covering stories in india, south africa, cuba, and israel, where he lived in 1997-98. adam is a graduate of harvard college and harvard law school. unsettled is adamąs first film.
hot house
title: hot house
year: 2006
dir/prod: shimon dotan
country: israel
language: hebrew with english st
time: minutes
source: http://www.frif.com/new2006/hot.html icarus first run features
text: winner at sundance and berlin. at once chilling and humanizing, "hot house" provides an unprecedented look at how israeli prisons have become the breeding ground for the next generation of palestinian leaders as well as the birth place of future terrorist threats. north american premiere. sundance writes: nearly 10,000 palestinians are incarcerated in israel today. most israelis regard these "security prisoners" as murderers and criminals. to the palestinians, however, they are freedom fighters, heroes, and martyrs in the making. granted extraordinary access to the highest-security institutions, renowned filmmaker shimon dotan uncovers a startling truth: israeli prisons have become a breeding ground for the next generation of palestinian leaders and a hotbed for terrorist plots. dotan focuses his camera on everyday prison life. what emerges is a surprising glimpse of the prisoners as informed thinkers who are immersed in the details of the centuries-old conflict through newspapers and television. dotan interviews inmates who are committed to negotiations as well as others who are shockingly unrepentant about their participation in suicide bombings. the cold-blooded testimony of a female hamas leader, proudly serving 16 life sentences for blowing up a sbarro restaurant in jerusalem, is perhaps the most chilling. israel's prisons have evolved into virtual incubators for palestinian nationalism, strengthening inmates' ideology and forging a political force that impacts far beyond their walls. eschewing the simplistic "white hat, black hat" mentality that dominates discussions of terrorism today, dotan's brilliantly constructed, disturbingly provocative film is both a humanizing force and an alarming wake-up call. shimon dotan was born in romania, grew up in israel, and is currently working in canada, israel, and the united states. dotan, a fellow of the new york institute of the humanities at nyu, is an award-winning filmmaker with 10 feature films to his credit. his film the smile of the lamb received the silver bear at the berlin international film festival and the award for best director at the israeli academy awards. dotan has taught filmmaking at nyu, tel aviv university, and concordia university in montreal.
naturalized
title: naturalized
year: 2006
dir/prod: julia kotz / frederick bouchardy and craig difolco
country: usa
language: english
time: 8 minutes
source:
text: cast: jeremy rishe, albert makhtsier,tatyana zbirovskaya, gregory korostishevsky. a russian immigrant argues with his overbearing family as he attempts to undergo the ultimate rite of male jewish identity.
the unchosen ones: lost in the holy land
title: the unchosen ones: lost in the holy land
year: 2006
dir/prod: iris bahr
country: usa
language: english
time: 24 minutes
source: http://www.irisbahr.com
text: written by: iris bahr. featured at the cannes short film corner. the unchosen ones tells the tale of samantha goldberg, who is in on a hebe singles tour (sort of like jdate) and finds herself suddenly abandoned by the group in the carmel shuk in tel aviv, only hours before the highly anticipated wife-picking ceremony. on a frantic mission to reunite with the group, she encounters a slew of strange, silly and sordid characters--all played with gusto by director iris bahr (larry david's infamous ski lift companion on "curb your enthusiasm.") the unchosen ones is ms. bahr's directorial debut. she was raised in both the bronx and tel aviv by spanish-bulgarian-israeli parents, one of whom has since remarried a catholic from minnesota. a critically acclaimed performer and writer, ms. bahr's accomplished work has encompassed theatre, film and television. her one-woman show "planet america" about immigrants in nyc ran for over a year and was nominated for best solo performance award by la weekly. in addition, ms. bahr has starred on friends, the drew carey show, king of queens, the agency, dragnet, strong medicine, gaydar, significant others, the rerun show, coupling and star trek voyager. her film credits include princess shebrew, reality school and exit 8a, which debuted at sundance 2004. as a stand-up comic, she has performed as a new face at the prestigious montreal comedy festival, at the boston comedy festival and at clubs in ny and la on a regular basis.
ms. bahr served for two years in the israeli military. upon her release at the age of 20, she embarked on a solo journey through asia and south america that lasted almost a year. she chronicles these experiences in her new book, dork whore. she is a magna cum laude graduate of brown university.
chicago 10
title: chicago 10
year: 2006
dir/prod: brett morgen
country: usa
language: english
time: minutes
source: www.brettmorgen.com
text: sundance opening film, january 2007. chicago 10 is from river road entertainment and participant productions and was produced by vanity fair magazine's graydon carter and morgen. the executive producers are william pohlad, laura bickford, jeff skoll, diane weyermann, peter schlessel and ricky strauss. so... what is jewish about chicago 10 ? well, perhaps it is a film of jewish interest, because judge julius hoffman, defense attorneys william kunstler and leonard weinglass, some defendants (including abbie hoffman and jerry rubin), some un-indicted participants (including stew albert), and others were of jewish heritage. voiceovers in the film are by actors including include voice overs by lev schreiber, hank azaria, mark ruffalo, dylan baker, nick nolte, roy scheider and attorney leonard weinglass.
at one point in the trial, abbie hoffman, in a new england jewish accent, said to the honorable judge hoffman, "shanda fur de goyim!"- "you disgrace the jews for the sake of the gentiles!"
speaking of jewish aspects of the trial, pnina lahav once published an essay titled, "the chicago conspiracy trial as a jewish morality play" as well as "the chicago conspiracy trial and law's role in shaping american jewish identity." the former focuses on attorney william kunstler and the two battling hoffmans, judge julius and abbie, and explores a common american condition, that of ethnic identification -- "the phenomenon of the hyphenated-american identity and its interaction with law." lahav weaves a fascinating tale, well told, of three individuals involved in the "chicago seven" conspiracy trial at the end of the sixties, "one a staunch republican, wealthy, conservative; the second, a civil rights activist with a long record as a fighter for racial equality; the third, a philosopher clown, a self-appointed spokesperson for the counterculture and founder of the yippie movement." for judge hoffman, law became a means toward assimilation in the broader elite culture of america; for bill kunstler, a means toward employing the special jewish sense of injustice toward expanded civil rights; for abbie hoffman, a means toward exaggerating his outsider status
crazy love
title: crazy love
year: 2006
dir/prod: dan klores
country: usa
language: english
time: minutes
source: http://www.crazylovefilm.com/
text: sundance 2007. an amazing, insane, mesmerizing film about two jewish new yorkers and their extrememly weird love affair over 5 decades. an unsettling true story about an obsessive relationship between a married man and a beautiful, single 20-year-old woman, which began in 1957 and continues today. this head-scratching, yet unforgettable, portrait is a true story of two inimitable new yorkers--burt pugach and linda riss--that was played out in the headlines of the tabloids but resonates with lessons about love and relationships. at once romantic but very disturbing, dan klores's crazy love is a multifaceted exploration of the pathology of our emotional lives. the beautiful liz taylor-like linda first met the successful older attorney burt in the late 1950s when she was 21, and he seemed to be the fulfillment of all her romantic dreams. but, when it became clear that he was not quite what he purported himself to be, the life they might have shared changed forever. obsession, forgiveness, contrition, and cruelty are all the subject of klores's exquisitely rich and reflective examination. nothing could and did keep burt away from linda...friends, family, prisons, or publicity. open in june 2007 in nyc
sweet mud / adama meshugaat
title: sweet mud (crazy land, crazy earth ?)
year: 2006
dir/prod: dror shaul
country: israel
language: hebrew with english st
time: minutes
source: cinephil.co.il
text: sundance 2007. on a kibbutz in southern israel in the 1970's, dvir avni realizes that his mother is mentally ill. in this closed community, bound by rigid rules, dvir must navigate between the kibbutz motto of equality and the stinging reality that his mother has, in effect, been abandoned by the community. sundance writes: while the israeli kibbutz has been idealized as a paragon of utopian movements, sweet mud tells a darker, more nuanced tale of a community ill equipped to cope with individuality and deviations from a rigidly defined norm, and of an adolescent boy stretching to compensate for what the collective cannot provide. amidst lush fields and the idyllic landscape of a kibbutz in 1974, 12-year-old dvir is entering his bar mitzvah year--a time for many initiations and trials. dvir's father is dead, his brother is away in the army, and his mother, miri, suffers from emotional instability. while the collective handles the practical needs of every family, the intangible moral support one expects from a close-knit cooperative is scarce, and dvir is left to care for beautiful, fragile miri. when miri's kindly boyfriend, stephan, arrives from switzerland, it seems that miri, blissfully in love, may actually recover. but the "kibbutzniks," already resentful of a "noncontributing" guest, cast stephan out after he tussles with another resident to defend dvir. the loss shatters miri--and dvir must pick up the pieces. vividly capturing the vagaries of '70s kibbutz life with gorgeous, glowing camerawork, sweet mud is the painful coming of age of a child who marshals all his resources to nurture his own parent. the story also becomes a wrenching allegory for the casualties of any society that fails to tend to its members' vulnerabilities.
despite his youth, writer/director dror shaul is considered one of the leading talents in israeli cinema. his first feature, sima vaknin, witch, was released theatrically in 2003 and has enjoyed great success on dvd. shaul's second feature, the 1950s comedy operation grandma, is one of israel's most popular cult films. it won the israeli film and television academy award for best drama and was a finalist at the banff world television festival. shaul is one of very few israeli filmmakers to participate in the sundance directors lab, where sweet mud was developed.
for the bible tells me so
title: for the bible tells me so
year: 2006
dir/prod: daniel karslake
country: usa
language: english
time: minutes
source:
text: sundance 2007. new york based and scranton born daniel karslake creates this documentary about gay christians and their families. grounded by the stories of five conservative christian families, the film explores how the religious right has used its interpretation of the bible to support its agenda of stigmatizing the gay community and eroding the separation between church and state. features a few rabbis discussing the hebrew bible.
checkpoint
title: checkpoint
year: 2006
dir/prod: ben phelps
country: australia
language: english
time: 11 minutes
source: slamdance
text: an encounter ends in tragedy when a lebanese-australian family is stopped by a group of soldiers at a checkpoint on a deserted outback road.
slamdance
3 times divorced
title: 3 times divorced
year: 2006
dir/prod: ibtisam marana / nitza gonen, timna goldstein
country: israel
language: hebrew with english st
time: 70 minutes
source: gon productions nitza gonen tel: +972-3- 6915614 fax: +972-3- 6953787
gonprod@netvision.net.il
text: doc. when khitam's arranged marriage to an arab israeli man ends in divorce, muslim law requires that their six young children are awarded to her husband, despite his abusive past. the situation is further complicated when the gaza-born khitam is denied israeli citizenship, and she finds herself battling a patriarchal court where women are disadvantaged, and a state where she is considered an illegal resident. as her dickensian custody and citizenship battles with the courts persist, and khitam is no closer to a resolution, she decides to kidnap her children. with remarkable access and an unflinching lens, award-winning filmmaker ibitsam marana captures the extremes of this frustrating and volatile situation with sensitivity and purpose. cinematographer: ibtisam marana editor: erez laufer hotdocs
9 star hotel
title: 9 star hotel / malon 9 kochavim
year: 2006
dir/prod: ido haar / edna kowarsky, elinor kowarsky
country: israel
language: hebrew w/ english st
time: 78 minutes
source: www.edenproductions.co.il
text: doc. filmmaker ido haar's parents live in the central israeli town where he remembers seeing a "line of desperate males dashing across the highway...and i wanted to find out why are they running." this powerful vérité film, more personal than political, explores the relationships that form between a group of palestinian men working illegally in israel. building luxury condominiums by day, and hiding in makeshift tents to avoid the authorities at night, they share food, bond and, over the course of four years, grow from boys into men. it is in these hardscrabble conditions, comically referred to as their "9 star hotel," that we meet the two central characters, ahmet and muhammed. says haar, "...one of the hardest things in this film was to see young men with a passion for life and a lot of vitality, but a potential that is being suppressed at all times, not only by israel, but by cultural concerns." hotdocs.
eden productions 84 arlozorov street tel aviv 62647 israel +972 3 5273403 +972 3 5236076 info@edenproductions.co.il www.edenproductions.co.il
souvenirs
title: souvenirs / souvenirim
year: 2006
dir/prod: shahar cohen halil efrat
country: israel, the netherlands
language: hebrew with english st
time: 75 minutes
source: sharon shamir for sirocco productions ltd. see below
text: doc. once he was done with his film studies, 36-year-old israeli filmmaker shahar cohen was unemployed for quite some time, so his 82-year-old father suggested that he make a film about his experiences in wwii. shahar wasn't so crazy about the idea, but he reluctantly agreed to attend a meeting of veterans of the jewish brigade, where old men give accounts of their training in libya, their fights in the italian countryside and their post-war stay in the netherlands. only when cohen heard them bragging about the "souvenirs" they left with their dutch sweethearts - in the form of babies - did he become motivated to make a film on the subject. father and son retrace history by car, from israel to italy and the netherlands. the result is an entertaining as well as touching road movie interspersed with archive footage. they laugh, argue about inconsequential things and grow closer and closer to each other. while the younger cohen's initial interest was to search for potential half-brothers and sisters, the journey eventually provides him with much more, as he gets to know the hero from his childhood and the fault-finder from more recent years a little better. music: shai bachar. involved tv channel: nik media; world sales: cinephil screening copy: sirocco productions ltd12 tyomkin st. 65783 tel-aviv
israel +972 3 5661218 +972 3 5661481 sirocco@zahav.net.il
yedidiah's collection / haosef shel yedidiah
title: yedidiah's collection / haosef shel yedidiah
year: 2005
dir/prod: noam demsky and mordi kershner
country: israel
language: hebrew w/ english st
time: 18 minutes
source: www.nfct.org.il
text: ten-year-old yedidiah lives with his parents and siblings in the jewish settlement of morag in the gaza strip. he has a strange hobby - he likes to collect shrapnel, bullet casings and other remnants of weapons. his collection gives an unpleasant picture of the bombardments that the colonists have been through in the years that they've lived there. yedidyah doesn't let it get to him, though, and he plays with his friends to his heart's content. what he does worry more and more about is the imminent evacuation of morag. all of the colonists have to move away, and where they will go is unclear. yedidiah is scared of losing his parents, and of having to leave his friends, house and belongings behind. then the day comes for them to evacuate. soldiers arrive on the scene to remove the colonists from their homes. and if they refuse to go willingly, the soldiers won't hesitate to force them out. with the second television and radio authority. world sales: go2films. screening copy: the new foundation for cinema and television, 112 hayarkon st. 640030 tel aviv
israel +972 3 5220909 +972 3 5230909 info@nfct.org.il www.nfct.org.il
bridge over the wadi / gesher al havadi
title: bridge over the wadi / gesher al havadi
year: 2006
dir/prod: barak heymann and tomer heymann
country: israel
language: hebrew w/ english st
time: 57 minutes
source: heymann brothers films 37 zvulun street 60665 tel aviv israel
+972 5 22742445 +972 3 5181492 barak@barakfilms.com
text: in 2004, arab and israeli parents embarked on a joint initiative to establish a bilingual elementary school in kara, a village in israel's wadi valley. some fierce debates preceded the opening of the school in september of that year. although the initiative was idealistic and noble, the reality of it was that parents still had some major hurdles to overcome. in addition, they were forced to defend their decision in the face of opponents and sceptics. the school, which is called bridge over the wadi, has room for 50 jewish and 50 arab students, but is located in the arab part of the valley. in a sober manner, the filmmakers observe how students, faculty and parents struggle to coexist peacefully during the first exciting year. teachers spend a lot of time teaching mutual respect, and they arrange field trips to the mosque and the wailing wall in jerusalem. some parents feel the reciprocal integration goes too far when students are asked to participate in each other's religious festivities. an arab teacher has more and more difficulties with what parents expect of her. by the end of the year, it would appear that they have succeeded in establishing a foundation, however shaky and unpredictable it may be. in 2005, twice as many students signed up to attend the school.
the cemetery club / mo'adon beit ha'kvarot
title: the cemetery club
year: 2006
dir/prod: tali shemesh / assaf amir & guy lavie for norma productions ltd.
country: israel
language: hebrew w/ english st
time: 90 minutes
source: world sales: cinephil screening copy: norma productions ltd. 18 levontin st. 65112 tel aviv israel +972 3 5609311 +972 3 5609443 info@norma.co.il www.norma.co.il
text: even before the title appears on the screen, director tali shemesh's great-aunt lena tells her that she cannot call her film the cemetery club. after all, the discussion group of old israelis gathers on the field next to the graveyard on mount herzl - the pantheon of israeli heroes and dignitaries. the title appears on screen anyway, but lena keeps meddling in shemesh's plans. she is stubborn and unrelenting, a chatterbox who refuses to be contradicted. not even by shemesh's grandmother minia, also a member of the club. the two women clash on a regular basis as the unobtrusive camera films them, but we see that they are also inseparable. they met as little girls in the jewish ghetto in poland, and now they are family, as lena was married to minia's brother. both of their husbands are now deceased, and the club mourns the loss of several other members in the five years that shemesh spends following them. the club's regular meetings determine the rhythm of the documentary. shemesh interviews lena and minia about the past and the present, filming their get-togethers with a good sense of drama and humour. the elderly holocaust survivors discuss poetry and politics, and together they keep loneliness at bay.
goal dreams
title: goal dreams
year: 2006
dir/prod: maya sanbar and jeffrey saunders
country: usa / palestinian authority
language: english
time: 86 minutes
source: http://www.goaldreams.com
text: the palestinian national soccer team consists of players of all different nationalities. there are a few from chile, one from the united states, from lebanon, and some from gaza. their coach is the austrian alfred riedl. it is his demanding task to prepare the team in a training camp in the egyptian city of ismaďlia for the international match against uzbekistan, which should pave the way to the world cup. the film follows the team in the weeks leading up to this key game. there are many problems along the way: for example, it is almost impossible for the players from gaza to travel. despite an official document that permits them to travel to egypt, they have to wait for days before being allowed to cross the border. meanwhile, tensions mount in the training camp. there is a confusion of tongues, as everyone is speaking a different language and the interpreters are not all that competent. it also proves difficult to gear the very different playing styles to one another. the training seems doomed to fail, but the players keep up the morale. after all, this team is more than just a soccer team: it is one of the few ways for the palestinian people to propagate their identity and promote their national identity and pride.
intimate stranger
title: intimate stranger
year: 1991
dir/prod: alan berliner
country: usa
language: english
time: 60 minutes in 16mm
source: jane balfour services
text: joseph cassuto was working on his autobiography when he died in an accident in 1974. in intimate stranger, alan berliner picks up where his maternal grandfather left off and reconstructs cassuto's life. the film is at once a biography, a home movie and a photo montage. cassuto was a palestinian jew, and before the war he worked for a japanese cotton company in cairo. after wwii, he moved to new york to be with his american wife and children. there, cassuto built strong ties with japanese businessmen, and before long he had become indispensable to the nichemen corporation, a gigantic company based in osaka. he often spent 11 months of the year in japan. by telling the life story of his grandfather, alan berliner is also painting the picture of japan's post-war economic history. in the process, he tries to figure out why his grandfather's fiery devotion to japan's recovery from the war generated so much bitterness and confusion in his family. he also attempts to understand why his grandfather saw himself as an ambassador of goodwill between japan and the rest of the world. according to berliner, intimate stranger takes the middle ground between airing his family's dirty laundry and singing their praises.
martyrs and killers martiri assassini
title: martyrs and killers martiri assassini
year: 2006
dir/prod: stefano rizzelli / piero a. corsini for rai 3 c/o rai educational
country: italy
language: italian w/ english st
time: 50 minutes
source: via ettore romagnoli, 30 137 rome italy +39 06 36868173
p.corsini@rai.it www.educational.rai.it
text: what is going through the mind of a shaheed, the arabic word for martyr? what would possess him or her to say goodbye to his or her loved ones and go into a crowd wearing a bomb, hoping to kill as many people as possible? martyrs and killers looks for answers to these questions and others. in a bombardment of images accompanied by lots of music, we travel from the palestinian territories to new york and chechnya. these are the places where attacks were perpetrated and/or where martyrs grew up and were recruited by terrorist organisations. the mind of a martyr would seem less simple to fathom than researchers initially thought. the israeli secret service has spent years studying this phenomenon. at first, people assumed that suicide terrorists were always poor and uneducated, but the opposite appeared to occur just as often. furthermore, religious motivations are not always the primary reason for plotting an attack.
the way back home al tarek ela albayt
title: the way back home al tarek ela albayt
year: 2006
dir/prod: ghada terawi / marwan qasem for point of view productions
country: palestinian authority
language: arabic with english st
time: 33 minutes
source: kleine gartmanplantsoen 10 1017 rr amsterdam the netherlands +31 20 6273329 +31 20 6385388 janvrijmanfund@idfa.nl www.idfa.nl
text: how does a palestinian in the diaspora remember his homeland? in the way back home, we meet several artists who paint or make theatre about their intimate feelings and memories of palestine. they are refugees who left their country a long time ago and try to recollect even the smallest details of what it was like, including rituals, songs, dances, smells and colours. these people are also faced with difficult questions: should they go back? should they join the political struggle? can they ever be happy living somewhere else? living in the diaspora can make people feel like they are missing something important in their lives. the way back home addresses these issues, in part through interviews with palestinians who have recently returned to the land of their parents. music: mahmoud yasin.
kike like me
title: kike like me br>
year: 2007
dir/prod: jamie kastner
country: canada
language: english
time: 86 minutes
source: www.cave7productions.com
text: at once a mischievous provocation and a thoughtful essay, kike like me is filmmaker jamie kastner's idiosyncratic exploration of what it means to be perceived as jewish in the world today. kastner receives a shotgun bar mitzvah from hasids in brooklyn, and gets kicked out of pat buchanan's virginia mansion. he causes a near-riot in a parisian suburb simply by asking what people think about jews. he meets the "dominatrix" behind berlin's largest memorial to dead jews, and enjoys lunch at the hot dog stand at auschwitz. this film is as apt to make you cry as laugh in its unique, surprising and universal revelations about identity.
the last days of yasser arafat
title: the last days of yasser arafat
year: 2007
dir/prod: sherine salama
country: australia
language: english
time: minutes
source:
text: questions of fate and destiny have always been beating at the heart of the israel-palestine conflict. so it's perhaps no surprise that when sherine salama, a palestinian filmmaker living and working in australia, wakes from a dream one night in september 2003 convinced that yasser arafat is going to die, she is compelled to leave immediately for ramallah to try and speak with the palestinian leader. she tries for weeks, then months, to penetrate the battery of press secretaries surrounding arafat's compound. her efforts become comical as she ingratiates herself with arafat's aides, lobbies officials and recruits palestinian friends. out of the blue, her year-long quest finally comes to fruition and her interview is granted. it is a probing and pleasant conversation. arafat is friendly, even sprightly. but it will prove to be the last interview he ever gives. a month later he will be dead. capturing the frenzy, turmoil and uncertainty of great historic events as they unfold, the last days of yasser arafat tells the final chapter in the story of one of the most controversial public figures of our time.
super amigos
title: super amigos
year: 2007
dir/prod: arturo perez torrea/ arturo perez torres, heather haynes
country: mexico, canada
language: spanish w/ english st
time: 82 minutes
source: www.superamigosmovie.com
text: director arturo pérez torres (whose city idol is also in this year's festival) returns to his hometown to show that superheroes do exist. in mexico city, five real-life "social wrestlers" have capitalized on the popularity of mexico's larger than life lucha libre wrestlers to fight for social justice rather than trophies. wearing custom masks, costumes and capes like the wrestlers who inspired them, these anonymous grassroots superheroes protect their metropolis against injustice. super animal challenges bullfighters to leave the bulls alone and fight him instead. after a savage beating kills his boyfriend, super gay becomes a champion of gay rights, fighting rampant homophobia. ecologista universal battles environmental destruction of every kind, all on foot. super barrio is the defender of poor tenants, helping them resist evictions by slumlords cashing in on gentrification. with a mixture of live action, comic book-style animation and a surf guitar soundtrack inspired equally by mariachi music and batman, super amigos shows that with a little imagination, a good heart and the right mask, anyone can activate their communities to triumph over evil. in spanish with english subtitles.
usa vs al-arian
title: usa vs al-arian
year: 2007
dir/prod: line halvorsen / jan dalchow
country: norway
language: norwegian with english st
time: 100 minutes
source: www.nfi.no
text: a passionate activist and pro-palestinian, professor sami al-arian was charged with terrorism and held in prison without trial for two-and-a-half years. usa vs al-arian is an intimate family portrait that documents the strain brought on by al-arian's trial, a battle waged both in court and in the media. a tight-knit family unravels before our very eyes as trial preparations, strategy and spin consume their lives. this is a nightmare come to life, as a man is prosecuted for his beliefs rather than his actions. director line halvorsen presents democracy in a new light-in a post-9/11 culture of fear, "security measures" trump free speech and punishment is meted out in the name of protection.
cement
title: cement
year: 2006
dir/prod: nehama goldstein / nehama goldstein, zahiye kundus, abir zinati
country: israel
language: arabic, english & hebrew subtitles
time: 26 minutes
source: docaviv 2007. cement tel-aviv university department of film and television noa hen tel: +972-3-640-9008 fax: +972-3-640-9935 sffoc@tauex.tau.ac.il
text: with a large family to support and her eldest son incarcerated, 12-year-old ziad's mother is dependent upon the sixth grader for the family's livelihood. the film follows a family on the fringes of the israeli-palestinian conflict and their life in the east jerusalem village of al azariyeh, walled in by the separation wall, a reality where children have to grow up all too soon.
dance your life
title: dance your life
year: 2007
dir/prod: sandy raischer / sandy raischer, tomer ben azar
country: israel
language: hebrew with english st
time: 54 minutes
source: docaviv 2007 sandy raischer tel: +972-77-663-0141
fax: +972-54-314-4041 stm.sandy@gmail.com
text: sensuous dancing and rhythmic music characterize the 'salsa craze' that has engulfed the world - and israel. super-photogenic, the salsa scene accepts all. but its fluffy veneer aside, salsa also satisfies much more basic human needs, drawing people from all walks of life, who find a common denominator in the music. the movie follows three dancers, all preparing for the international salsa congress in eilat: eli, a former orthodox jew, has to deal with his family; maya, who has broken up with her husband, has to juggle being a single mother and her work; yoni, a new immigrant from france, has to deal with the hardships of assimilation, leaning on his wife-to-be, shahaf. we're all looking for love, recognition and a way to deal with life - wouldn't you try out something that promised you all that?
eight twenty eight
title: eight twenty eight
year: 2007
dir/prod: lavi ben gal / claudia levin
country: israel
language: hebrew with english st
time: 60 minutes
source: claudius films ltd. docaviv2007
text: a personal and poetic look at one of the most fascinating social experiments in human history - the kibbutz. the film follows the director as he reencounters, after a long absence, the kibbutz where he grew up. having reached the age of 28, kibbutz regulations require that he make up his mind whether to remain a member or leave within the next year. he sets out with his camera to examine his kibbutz and himself, preparing to make the most important decision of his life. eight twenty eight is his journey to a home he cannot leave - and one to which he can never really return.
eli mohar - soul player
title: eli mohar - soul player
year: 2006
dir/prod: david ofek / ami amir, naama pyritz
country: isrel
language: hebrew with english st
time: 52 minutes
source: docaviv 2007 matar doc naama pyritz
tel: +972-52-244-3078 naama@mac.com
text: an intimate meeting between director david ofek and poet and columnist eli mohar, the film follows mohar in the last two months of his life, painting a moving profile of the artist in the process of his artistic production. it allows for a 'long exposure' and adequate breathing space with mohar, centering around his relation with musician yoni rechter and his beloved city, tel-aviv. this is one episode from a series of eight bringing together documentary directors and artists whose work is central to israeli culture.
escape route
title: escape route
year: 2006
dir/prod: lital goldberg
country: israel
language: hebrew with english st
time: 34 minutes
source: docaviv / camera obscura lital goldberg tel: +972-77-321-1229 litalgol@gmail.com
text: 27-year-old galit lives alone in the northern israeli town of
migdal ha'emek, after her mother, her brother and her sister all
died. she has been an avid fan of israeli singer rita for the last
eleven years, following her around wherever she performs. an
extremely needy and dependent person, galit regards rita as
a sort of mother figure since her own mother's death.
in her shows, as well as in the warmth the singer shows her,
she finds some comfort and refuge from her harsh reality.
gole sangam - the stone flower
title: gole sangam - the stone flower
year: 2007
dir/prod: sarit haymian / osnat trabelsi
country: israel
language: hebrew with english st
time: 52 minutes
source: docaviv 2007
text: following the lives of ilanit, simcha and na'ima - three elderly
iranian-israeli women living in the tel-aviv neighborhood of
hatikva (literally hope). the film explores their arranged
marriages and the oppression they suffered. life has taken each
of the protagonists to a different place: simcha, twice widowed,
lives alone for the last 30 years; ilanit still dreams of love, but
lives with an oppressive husband; and na'ima, who has enjoyed
a good relationship for the last 50 years, surrounded by her
many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. now, for the first
time, the three dare to fulfill some of their youthful dreams -
acting, dancing and singing in the neighborhood's old folks
center. three strong women, still very vigorous, who in spite of
their hardships have never stopped dreaming.
got no jeep and my camel died
title: got no jeep and my camel died
year: 2006
dir/prod: ehud tomalak / aida and amos michaeli
country: israel
language: hebrew with english st
time: 65 minutes
source: docaviv 2007.
ehud tomalak tel: +972-3-605-2840 fax: +972-2-533-0914
writotom@yahoo.com
text: like the historical perfume road, the film portrays the musical
journey of yair dalal, from the persian gulf to the mediterranean,
from antiquity to modern times and from performing in front of
bedouins to his nomination for the bbc world music award. inspired
by the jewish masters of iraqi music, he vows to carry on their
vanishing legacy. a native middle-eastern israeli, dalal struggles
for recognition in his roots by establishing "almya" his music school
in jaffa, realizing a social cultural bridge between east and west.
if man could fly
title: if man could fly
year: 2007
dir/prod: yael kipper zaretzky / irit zuta, itay kahn, noga communications
country: israel
language: hebrew with english st
time: 62 minutes
source: docaviv 2007 / noga communications tel: +972-3-684-9979
fax: +972-3-684-9970 iritz@noga.co.il
text: "when somebody hurts my doves, it's like they're hurting me,"
says 13-year-old matan, who has been living in a boarding school
for the last five years. instead of going to his room like the
others kids when he comes back from school, he visits the
animal compound, where his doves are waiting in their pigeon
house. he basks in its calm, freeing them to fly until they come
back to him at night. "when somebody has wings, he doesn't
need anything, not money, not even a car, he's comfortable
wherever he goes", says 32-year-old misha. he raises 300
pigeons, whose care he studied from his 80-year-old mentor.
when matan leaves the boarding school for his home, he meets
misha. the two form a special bond. they both want to fly like
the pigeons: matan wants to fly away when things get rough,
misha wants to see the world. the pigeons give them strength, support and some relief.
in his shoes
title: in his shoes
year: 2006
dir/prod: maya lanchinski
country: israel
language: hebrew with english st
time: 45 minutes
source: docaviv 2007 tel hai academic college hagit yuruvich tel: +972-4-690-0896 fax: +972-4-690-0938 tikshoret@telhai.ac.il
text: the story of one father's and one daughter's journey toward understanding their relationship, the director tells of her father's miraculous recovery from a muscular atrophy disease which had kept him bound to a wheelchair for years. surprisingly, the father's convalescence brings new hardships into the familial relationship. while he chooses to work through his new life by literally running, she tries to persuade him, using the camera, into answering her difficult questions. gradually uncovering the internal world of a family in distress, the film revolves around the director's growing process.
intifada cult
title: intifada cult (intifadah cult)
year: 2007
dir/prod: ayelet dekel / ayelet dekel, idan regev productions
country: israel
language: hebrew with english st
time: 50 minutes
source: docaviv / ayelet dekel tel: +972-3-525-9933 fax: +972-3-620-6657
idanr2@netvision.net.il
text: reviewing what is euphemistically referred to in israeli culture as 'the situation' from a campy angle, the film follows key figures in the israeli art scene. twelve different artists, from differing artistic spheres, reveal the changes their art has underwent during the turbulent last four years, answering exactly if and how the al aqsa intifadah has influenced their work. each one serves up a unique handle on dealing with 'the situation', their accumulated responses producing a rich cultural tapestry revealing the different effects the conflict has had on israeli (and specifically tel-aviv) culture and the transformation of a harsh reality into cult value.
jerusalem is proud to present
title: jerusalem is proud to present
year: 2007
dir/prod: nitzan gilady / galia bador, nitzan gilady
country: israel
language: hebrew with english st
time: 80 minutes
source: docaviv / bador productions galia bador
tel: +972-52-388-8925 galia-b@zahav.net.il
text: in the summer of 2006, jerusalem was to host, for the first time in history, the world pride events, which were to culminate in a traditional gay pride parade. the planned events stirred turmoil in the politically complex city, with jewish, muslim and christian religious leaders banding together in an uncompromising battle against what they said would "defile the holy city". on the other side stood the activists of the open house, jerusalem's lgbt community center, who planned the events. steadfast in the face of the heated and violent anti-gay sentiment, they had to deal with threats to much more than just their right to march.
menachem and fred
title: menachem and fred
year: 2007
dir/prod: ofra tevet, ronit kertsner
country: israel
language: hebrew, english & german, english & hebrew subtitle
time: 90 minutes
source: ofra tevet tel: +972- 52-292-1227 ofra_t@netvision.net.il
text: two brothers and holocaust survivors, for decades separated and apprehensive of meeting each other, finally meet after letters their parents sent from a concentration camp to the orphanage where they were hidden during the war resurface. menachem and fred inhabit two opposing sides of the jewish identity spectrum: one is an american aerospace engineer whose children have married gentiles, the other, a religious education professor, lives in jerusalem while his children reside in jewish settlements. on the journey to recapture their past, they meet a prominent german industrialist whose father had deported their parents to the camp, a meeting that has some surprising outcomes. shot on location in germany, poland, france, the us and israel.
on a tight rope
title: on a tight rope
year: 2006
dir/prod: petr lom / torstein grude
country: norway/ canada
language: uyghur, english & hebrew subtitles
time: 71 minutes
source: lom films petr lom petr@lomfilms.com
text: the chinese province of xinjiang is home to a muslim minority whose every attempt at self determination has been mercilessly squashed by the state's central government. hundreds of its dissidents have been executed. director petr lom has managed to attain the authorities' approval to shoot a documentary about the minority's best known artistic export - the tightrope. he follows the daily hardships of a group of local orphanage kids studying the art: from the harsh climate of the chilly mountainous desert to religious restrictions and missing their parents, they search for a bit of warmth.
patches
title: patches
year: 2006
dir/prod: camilla m. butchins
country: israel
language: hebrew & english, english subtitles
time: 29 minutes
source: tyel-aviv university department of film and television
noa hen tel: +972-3-640-9008 fax: +972-3-640-9935 sffoc@tauex.tau.ac.il
text: nine years after her mother and sister were killed in a terrorist
attack in tel-aviv, the director's mother, an immigrant from
south africa, sets out to make a memorial quilt for both her kin
and the other eleven victims. following a series of her intimate
meetings with family members of the other victims, the film
chronicles her communication problems and personal healing
process, as well as the routine of loss israeli families are
subjected to.
perfect family
title: perfect family
year: 2007
dir/prod: roni aboulafia / amit goren, galia bador
country: israel
language: hebrew, english st
time: 52 minutes
source: amit goren tel: +972-3-560-5760 fax: +972-3-566-0296 a_goren@netvision.net.il
text: three families are about to fulfill an israeli dream: a garden home in a quiet, upscale community. to do so, however, they must go through a tedious screening process that includes selection interviews and their new neighbors prying into their lives' most intimate details - an elegant, scientific and above all legal way for the community to filter out any undesirables over "social incompatibility". on their journey to their dream home, the families will face all the stereotypes, hypocrisy and plain old racism which characterize israeli society, so far removed from their original fantasy.
praying in her own voice - the struggle of the women of the wall
title: praying in her own voice - the struggle of the women of the wall
year: 2007
dir/prod: yael katzir / dan katzir, ravit markus - new love films
country: israel
language: hebrew, english st
time: 60 minutes
source: katzir productions yael katzir tel: +972-3-642-1648
fax: +972-3-643-1103 katziry@hotmail.com
text: to whom does the wailing wall belong, to all israelis or just the ultra-orthodox? and why can't a believing woman raise her voice in prayer by the sacred wall? the film follows the plight of the "women of the wall", a group of religious jewish women, for two years - in prayer, while petitioning the high court of justice and while fighting the ultra-orthodox. it documents their bold struggle on their lawful right to practice their religion at the wall, a test case of israeli civil society and its clash with the ultra-orthodox establishment. a protest against religious coercion and the violent suppression of women, the film sides with the women in their demand for their place at the wailing wall. original music: nahum heiman, tslil biran, samuel achiezer
reaching hedva
title: reaching hedva
year: 2006
dir/prod: nadav noah / shira ziv
country: israel
language: hebrew, english subtitles
time: 24 minutes
source: tel-aviv university department of film and television
noa hen tel: +972-3-640-9008 fax: +972-3-640-9935 sffoc@tauex.tau.ac.il
text: using the documentary medium, the director confronts an influential figure from his past. having been born with a limp, he was habitually joined by his father on school excursions. in junior high, however, one of his teachers promised he could take part in the school trip unsupervised. she finally changed her mind, leaving him crying on the pavement - and feeling, for the first time in his life, like cripple. a decade afterwards, he decides to meet the teacher and confront her about that day, hoping this will allow him to leave it behind.
rosh geranium
title: rosh geranium
year: 2007
dir/prod: amit goren
country: israel
language: hebrew, english subtitles
time: 85 minutes
source: amit goren tel: +972-3-560-5760 fax: +972-3-566-0296 a_goren@netvision.net.il
text: a key figure in the emergence of the new, secular israeli art scene of the sixties, raffi lavie is a guru of sorts to three generations of israeli artists. painter, art critic and classical music reviewer, lavie is arguably the most influential cultural figure of his generation, as well as the arrogant, no-nonsense embodiment of the sabra - the new, indigenous israeli. the film follows him as he prepares to leave the mythic tel-aviv apartment he has shared with his wife and children for the last 33 years. his relocating efforts, including the schlepping of his huge art collection and the thousands of records, cds and videos he has accrued in his years as critic, reveal his structured daily routine, as he prepares for a new chapter in life.
side walk
title: side walk
year: 2007
dir/prod: duki dror / yael shavit, roni izhak
country: israel
language: hebrew, english subtitles
time: 60 minutes
source: docaviv /
go2films distribution and marketing hedva goldschmidt
tel: +972-2-583-1371 fax: +972-2-583-5450 go2films@bezeqint.net
www.go2films.com
text: every morning, some million israeli schoolchildren make their way from home to school. walking, riding, skipping, running, leaving behind their parents, their dreams and dreads of the night before. they walk alone, or with a friend, trying to avoid the neighborhood bully, escorting a reluctant sibling to kindergarten. and at the end of school day, they're on the way back home - in school buses, parents' cars, on foot, riding a donkey. "side walk" interweaves seven parallel stories of children on the way to school and back. in this independent and unprotected twilight zone - between parent and teacher, the director traps the brief time of childhood. the playful, the stressful, the cruel, the magical and the thrilling moments of this daily journey, become a lucid voyage of an illuminating and injuring experience.
spoken with love
title: spoken with love
year: 2007
dir/prod: dan wolman / dan wolman film productions
country: israel
language: hebrew, english subtitles
time: 60 minutes
source: docaviv / dan wolman productions dan wolman tel: +972-3-5742683
fax: +972-3-5742683 danwol@zahav.net.il
text: film director dan wolman paints a tender picture of his parents'
relationship starting with their first meeting and following
through the turbulent periods they lived through. wolman, who's
many fictional features have included extreme parent-children
relationships, tries to find out what lies at the root of the
childhood traumas portrayed there. "spoken with love" is a
delicate portrayal of a great love of a generation dedicated to
hard work and lofty ideals.
tammuz
title: tammuz
year: 2006
dir/prod: nir toib - gn commuinications ltd
country: israel
language: hebrew, english subtitles
time: 90 minutes
source: docaviv / gn commuinications ltd nir toib
tel: +972-3-561-9665 fax: +972-3-561-9408 nir@gn-com.com
text: there is a clear and present nuclear threat to israel, and the military men surrounding the prime minister are chiding him to bomb the iraqi nuclear reactor before it's too late. the decision is made, and the plot - the planning, training and decision making - unfolds in its minutest details like a thriller.
the champagne spy
title: the champagne spy
year: 2007
dir/prod: nadav schirman / eilon ratzovsky, koby gal raday, carl ludwig rettinger, yossi uzrad
country: israel
language: hebrew, english, french and german,, english and hebrew subtitles
time: 90 minutes
source: docaviv / orna noy tel: +972-3-510-0223 fax: +972-3-510-0184 noy.orna@gmail.com
text: oded is just 12 years old when his father reveals to him he's a mossad secret agent and makes the boy swear to secrecy because his life depends on it. while he leaves on his mission to cairo as wolfgang lotz - ex nazi millionaire and horse breeder - oded and his mother remain alone in paris, waiting anxiously for his return. now oded breaks a long silence and journeys into his father's real and covert identities, revealing the heavy price paid by his family, trapped in the shadows of espionage.
the girls from brazil
title: the girls from brazil
year: 2007
dir/prod: nili tal
country: israel
language: hebrew, hebrew, english, hebrew & portuguese subtitles
time: 90 minutes
source: docaviv 2007 / nili tal tel: +972-3-641-0805
fax: +972-3- 641-7002 ntp@netvision.net.il
text: adopted in brazil in the '80's, four israeli women returned there searching for their biological mothers and their roots. ayelet, who was adopted in rio de janeiro when she was four, supplied the director with a photo of hers, taken on the day of her adoption, which was then published in a brazilian daily with the caption "do you know me?" the following day, the director receives an email from a brazilian woman. daniela supposedly had her original adoption papers, but then she learns the truth is more complicated. anna and alma had the name and address of a woman in northern brazil, but no way of getting there. will all of them meet their biological mothers?
the photohouse
title: the photohouse
year: 2006
dir/prod: tamar tal
country: usa
language: hebrew with english st
time: 22 minutes
source: docaviv 2007 / camera obscura tamar tal
cell: +972- 52-387-9377 tel: +972- 3-560-8073 tt9@zahav.net.il
text: driven by a deep love of photography, miriam (93) still runs the tzalmania gical photography shop in tel-aviv, where she presides over a unique chunk of israeli history she used to share with her late husband, a renowned photographer. she has managed the store since it opened in 1936 and has an intimate acquaintance with each photo, but since there's no heir to her life work, the archive could be left to seed - unless she finds a buyer for this national treasure.
the quest for the missing piece
title: the quest for the missing piece
year: 2007
dir/prod: oded lotan
country: germany israel
language: hebrew with english st
time: 60 minutes
source: http://www.firsthandfilms.com and
claudius films ltd claudia levin (cala) tel: +972-3-629-4665
fax: +972-3-629-4665 claudia.levin@claudiusfilms.com
text: once upon a time in a small land by the seashore, a baby was born. eight days after the birth, the baby's parents celebrated a mysterious ancient ceremony... a thorough investigation of the tradition and implications of circumcision under the humorous pretext of the director looking for his missing piece. one of the grandfathers keeps the newborn firmly in his arms, as the bearded man bends over the baby and cut, with a small sharp knife, a tiny little piece of the baby's body. time goes by and the boy became a young man that dreams of seeing the world. he travels over the seas where he meets a beautiful man. the two fall in love and get married. on the wedding night, after the last guest has left, the young man finds out with great astonishment that his loved one, unlike him, is complete. the young man remembers suddenly the ancient ritual. and thinks about his fatherland and can not get any sleep. the following morning, the decision falls: he has to go on a quest for his missing piece. 'the missing piece' floats as a subject so sensitive that to question it has been a taboo in jewish and muslim societies for thousand years. a uniquely personal voyage, this film tracks the history of circumcision, from its early inception right up to contemporary attitudes towards it in israel today. whilst following the trail of this delicate ritual, the film preserves a tone both comic yet mysterious as it attempts to solve an intensely personal mystery.
.
three times divorced
title: three times divorced
year: 2007
dir/prod: ibtisam mara'ana / nitza gonen - gon productions, timna goldstein
country: israel
language: arabic & hebrew, english & hebrew subtitles
time: 75 minutes
source: docaviv 07
text: khitam, a gaza-born palestinian woman, was married off in an
arranged match to an israeli palestinian, followed him to israel
and bore him six children. when her husband divorced her - in
absentia - in the sharia muslim court and gained custody of
the children, khitam was left with nothing. she cannot contact
her children, has no property and no citizenship. although
married to an israeli, a draconian law passed in 2002 and barring
any palestinian from gaining israeli citizenship has made her
an illegal resident there. now she is out on a dual battle, the
most crucial of her life: against the court - which always rules
in favor of the husband _ and against the state, in a last-ditch
effort to gain citizenship and reunite with her children. editor: erez laufer
original music: jonathan bar giora
to the black sea
title: to the black sea
year: 2007
dir/prod: shahar segal / anver peled, noa levison gol
country: israel
language: hebrew with english st
time: 82 minutes
source: docaviv 2007 / noa levinson gol tel: +972-3-608-8999
fax: +972-3-608-8998 noa_l@pov.co.il
text: lemon, shandy and pashosh are dolphins excommunicated from the dolphin pack living on eilat's coral reef. maya silber, one of the reef's founders, who has raised the three since birth, knows that their precarious social position could result in their death, and decides to try and free them into the black sea. for two months, through the grueling journey to their freedom, the three are monitored by the film crew above and below water. the training the dolphins are subjected to on the way to freedom is chronicled through the viewpoint of their human trainers, and, as much as possible, through the dolphins' themselves.
wasted
title: wasted
year: 2007
dir/prod: nurit keidar / david mandil, david silber, avichay henig
country: israel
language: hebrew, english subtitles
time: 75 minutes
source: docaviv 07 wasted david mandil tel: +972- 3-516-4373 fax: +972- 3-516-4898 meorav-y@zahav.net.il
text: a film about a war where the enemy is hidden, where even one
more casualty is insufferable, where life is a series of stakeouts,
bomb threats, petrifying fear and the pain of death. in the few
months left to the pullout of the israeli army from southern
lebanon, a group of soldiers inhabit a dark, claustrophobic
tunnel - literally six feet under. not merely a film about the
horrors of war, "wasted" is a poetic, abstract reflection: five
black-clad dancers recreate the dialogue of death and life in
sharp, painfully precise movements. the dance sequences,
performed by the bat sheva dance company, were choreographed
and directed by ohad naharin. based on ron leshem's novel
"if there is a heaven".
welcome home mani
title: welcome home mani
year: 2006
dir/prod: chaim elbaum
country: israel
language: hebrew, english subtitles
time: 44 minutes
source: docaviv 07 maa'le channa pinchasi tel: +972-26277366#3
fax: +972-26277331 hedvago@bezeqint.net www.maale.co.il
text: rachel and mani have been married for 51 years. today, they
have to fight for their relationship in the face of loneliness, old
age and disability. vacillating between love of life and
desperation, rachel rides out daily to take care of her husband,
who has been institutionalized after a stroke. strong, friendly
mani weeps every time rachel arrives - he wants to go home.
rachel rents a bigger apartment to accommodate an elevator
and caretaker for mani. why, then, does she feel transparent?
yaeli's wedding
title: yaeli's wedding
year: 2006
dir/prod: manny philip
country: israel
language: hebrew with english st
time: 20 minutes
source: docaviv minshar hagar shalev tel: +972-3-688-7090 fax: +972-3-537-3643 hagarsh@minshar.org.il
text: seven years ago, the director left his ultra orthodox surroundings to become secular, his family subsequently severing all ties with him. when his first niece is about to get married and he is not invited, he decides to revisit his parents' house - perhaps for the last time. arriving like a thief in the night, he tries to make his way into the house.
title:
year: 2006
dir/prod:
country: usa
language: english
time: minutes
source:
text:
title:
year: 2006
dir/prod:
country: usa
language: english
time: minutes
source:
text:
three mothers
title: three mothers shalosh imahot
year: 2006
dir/prod: dina zvi riklis
country: israel
language: arabic, french, hebrew, english subtitles
time: 106 minutes
source:
text: nominated for nine israeli academy awards, three mothers is the multigenerational saga of beautiful triplets: flora, yasmin and rose hakim were born in 1942 in alexandria, egypt, to privileged jewish parents who named them after flowers and called upon no less than king farouk to bless them at their birth. with such an auspicious beginning you would think the sisters' lives would be charmed, but (taking a cue from tolstoy) director dina zvi-riklis is much more fascinated by troubled family dynamics than by happy ones. her tale follows the family to israel and, over the course of 60 years, reveals the hakim sisters coming to terms with long-buried secrets and passions.
at the center is the "wild sister," rose, played in her later years by the gifted gila almagor. rose, vain and self-centered, was a successful singer in her youth but has become withdrawn since the death of her husband. the songs of young rose (performed in french, hebrew and arabic throughout the film) are a haunting, lyrical reminder of the world they have left behind.
for the hakim family, the truth-telling is triggered when ailing yasmin suddenly shows up at her niece's video production company and insists on making a tape revealing her family's deepest mysteries. it sparks a round of confessions that turns all of their lives upside down. three mothers explores how the closest relationships - sisterhood, motherhood, marriage - can be both tender and vicious, and how fierce loyalties are forged and tested over time.
three mothers weaves the remarkable story of triplets named for flowers: rose, jasmine, and flora. born in egypt before 1948, these jewish sisters immigrate to israel and grow into three very different young women-one sexy, selfish, and wild; one pretty, delicate, and devoted; one smart, plain, and practical. each marries and establishes a family, but the bonds of sisterhood prove stronger than those of marriage. the film explores the limits of those bonds as the sisters reveal the decades old secret that has twisted their lives and families together. as the sisters' story of love, sacrifice, and resentment unfolds against the backdrop of their daughter and niece ruchi's struggle to start a family of her own, the filmmaker confronts, with great insight and compassion, the difficult question of what it means to be a mother. 2006 jerusalem international film festival, best actress and best cinematography; 2006 israeli academy awards, best cinematography and best wardrobe design.
ben's biography
title: ben's biography habiographia shel ben
year: 2004
dir/prod: dan wolman
country: israel
language: hebrew with english st
time: 94 minutes
source: dan wolman, ramat gan, israel
text: flashback-told tale about an obsessive-compulsive accountant remembering his crazy childhood, "ben's biography" reps silly psychodrama by veteran israeli helmer dan wolman, whose earlier, more effective "the distance," shared a similar no-budget ethos. multitasking helmer's good rep will probably ensure "biography" gets published at a few more fests, but international distribs won't read the same commercial potential here as in wolman's last, "foreign sister." opening reel starts out well enough with nebishy ben (gal zaid), who wears gloves all day and hates being touched, accepting a lift from motherly tamar (shron alexander) to his father's funeral. in return, he does her tax return and tells her the story of how his shrink dad, anthropologist mom and a sexually abusive female babysitter contrived to screw him up. supposedly comical scenes of mom among african tribesmen with huge, prehensile penises come across as outright racist, as well as ludicrous. tonal shift from wan comic whimsy to darker tale of abuse recollected is poorly executed, although reasonable work from thesps, especially zaid, mitigates matters somewhat. tech credits are decidedly dicey, even taking into account budget restrictions.
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