PAST FESTIVALS

A Trumpet in the Wadi

2001, 97 minutes

Genre:
Drama

Directed by:
Lina & Slava Chaplin

Synopsis:
An impossible love story between two outsiders in Israeli society; Alex is a new immigrant from Russia, and Huda is an Arab young woman from Haifa. Her family is not very happy about their romantic relationships because of the complicated political situation. Since Alex lives in Huda's attic, they keep meeting each other and soon they will have to make up their minds whether they stay together or go their separate ways. Soon they will find out if this love story is possible at all.

Arab Labor

2007, 44 minutes

Genre:
Drama

Directed by:
Roni Ninio

Synopsis:
In this new satire TV series written by Sayed Kashua, Amjad is a thirty year-old Arab Israeli journalist, married to Bushara, a social worker and father to Maya. In his attempt to make it to the top, he is going through a process of "Israelization", often mocked by his family and not accepted by the majority he is trying to belong to.

Atash (Thirst)

2004, 110 minutes

Genre:
Drama

Directed by:
Tawfik Abu Wael

Synopsis:
Abu Shukri and his family fled a scandal involving his older daughter, Gamila, and settled in a dusty, arid valley in the middle of nowhere, far away from their hometown. Only the father and the son are in contact with the outside world. The father decides to build a pipeline to bring fresh water to their rustic home. The women are suspicious and the son doesn't care but the running water awakens their instinct of freedom and marks the beginning of the family's explosive tragic downfall.

Behind the Walls

1984, 103 minutes

Genre:
Drama

Directed by:
Uri Barabash

Synopsis:
In Israel's Central Prison, the security officer is corrupt, supplying drugs and stirring the hatred between Jewish and Arab prisoners to his advantage. Uri, in for 12 years for armed robbery, and Issan, in for 50 years for PLO violence, command the respect of their cells. When the Arabs are framed for the murder of a Jewish prisoner and a young inmate commits suicide rather than lie about what happened, Uri and Issan form an unlikely partnership.

Close to Home

2006, 90 minutes

Genre:
Drama

Directed by:
Dalia Hagar, Vidi Bilu

Synopsis:
Smadar and Mirit, both 18 years old, are assigned to patrol the streets of Jerusalem together as part of their military service. They are assigned to detain any Arab passersby, check their papers, and register their details on special forms. However, the two young girls are immersed in the details of their own lives, their romantic crushes, their breakups and the multifaceted relationship evolving between the two of them. Then one day, Jerusalem's political reality is forced upon them.

Crossing Borders

2007, 53 minutes

Genre:
Documentary

Directed by:
Bilal Yusef

Synopsis:
A sensitive look at two women who are at a personal and ideological crossroads in a world of chauvinist oppression. Crossing Borders accompanies the two women over a period of personal and socio-political conflict, culminating in an unexpected transformation at the end of the process.

Empathy

2006, 39 minutes

Genre:
Drama

Directed by:
Adi Refaeli

Synopsis:
A middle aged woman who decides to leave her husband and mentally-challenged child; a Russian immigrant who has to committee a crime in order to escape his alcoholic father; and a young Israeli woman who hurts an Arab girl in a car accident and has to face it consequences, compose an intricate mosaic which portrays the fine line between being a victim or a victimizer, while depicting the multi-cultural and fragile Israeli society.

First Lesson In Peace

2005, 56 minutes

Genre:
Documentary

Directed by:
Yoram Honig

Synopsis:
First lessons in peace explores the Jewish-Arab relations through the eyes of a six year old girl, the director's daughter when she starts school at the mixed Arab-Jewish school of Neveh Shalom - The Oasis of Peace. The film, in the form of a letter from a father to his daughter, follows the clashes and encounters that the child goes through during her first year in school and her first year in the reality of the Middle East.

Maktub

2004, 90 minutes

Genre:
Drama

Directed by:
Avi Mussel

Synopsis:
Ataf, a Druze Israeli police officer is assigned to investigate a murder case. During the investigation he experiences strange flashes, which danger his life and his relationship with his Jewish Israeli girl friend Michal; the police officer in charge of youth cases in his unit. These flashes lead him to meaningful understandings concerning one of the fundamental beliefs of the Druze society reincarnation, drawing him closer to his people, who will not tolerate the idea of him marrying anyone but a Druze, but also reinforcing his great love to Michal.

No Longer Achmed

2007, 54 minutes

Genre:
Documentary

Directed by:
David Deri

Synopsis:
Achmed Hamdoon, a young Arab Bedouin of the Hamdoon tribe, was raised in the family tin hut, a few meters away from the locked gate of Kibbutz "Lotem" in West Galilee, Northern Israel. Having longed for the kibbutz life most of his youth, he finally pulls out and moves to "Lotem", changing his name to the typically Israeli name Meidan Sade. The clan is outraged and sees him as a "traitor". The film follows young Bedouin's identity crisis, being torn between their longing to be part of the modern Jewish society, and their loyalty to their historical Arab traditions.

On Hold

2007, 52 minutes

Genre:
Documentary

Directed by:
Rokaya Sabbah

Synopsis:
On Hold is a physical and emotional journey of a young, Arab couple arriving at the decision that Israel is the wrong place for them, but still deliberating upon questions of conscience. A collage of mixed feelings and torn thoughts that oscillate between the individual's desire for freedom, for a better life, and the goal of common good and one's inexplicable love of one's homeland that is not home.

Pickles

2005, 59 minutes

Genre:
Documentary

Directed by:
Dalit Kimor

Synopsis:
Challenging the costumes of their society, eight Arab Israeli widows join forces and start a pickle factory and keep setbacks. The film tracks the progress and development of this unconventional start up, the changes it triggers in their lives and its impact on their personalities.

Ringo & Taher

2006, 50 minutes

Genre:
Drama

Directed by:
Jony Arbid

Synopsis:
Taher, a little boy from Jaffa has a small dream, which is to own a dog. One day, that dream comes true in the form of a little puppy he finds in the street and names Ringo. But in Taher's world, raising a dog is unacceptable, and so he decides to raise the puppy on his own, out of his strict father's reach.

Roads

2007, 22 minutes

Genre:
Short Narrative

Directed by:
Lior Geller

Synopsis:
13-year-old Ismayil searches for a new life for him and his brother outside the Arab drug slums of Lod. Daniel, a traumatized Israeli ex-soldier, buys drugs from Ismayil escaping his own reality. Here, deep in the sewers of Israeli society, they just might find in each other their way out.

Shadya

2005, 52 minutes

Genre:
Documentary

Directed by:
Roy Jacob Westler

Synopsis:
17-year-old Shadya Zoabi is a world champion in karate. But despite her father's support, her brothers and other members of their small Arab village in northern Israel feel that karate is not an appropriate pursuit for a young Muslim woman. Shadya tells the story of a girl who strives to succeed on her own terms, while remaining committed to her life in her community.

Since You Left

2005, 60 minutes

Genre:
Documentary

Directed by:
Mohammad Bakri

Synopsis:
In this autobiographical essay, Arab Israeli actor Bakri returns to the grave of his former mentor, the writer and communist Emile Habibi, and attempts, using archive footage, personal films and documentary materials, to account for the personal and political transformations that have occurred in Israel as well as within his own thinking since the author's death.

The Film Class

2006, 53 minutes

Genre:
Documentary

Directed by:
Uri Rosenwaks

Synopsis:
Some two years ago, filmmaker Uri Rosenwaks, came to Rahat, a Bedouin town in Israel's Negev Dessert, to teach a group of Black Bedouin women a class in filmmaking. After about 18 months of working and making short films together, did he work up the nerve to suggest that they will make a film telling the history of the Black Bedouins. Suddenly, a small and modest course in filmmaking became a place in which a great taboo comes into the open.

The Red Toy

2004, 12 minutes

Genre:
Short

Directed by:
Dani Rosenberg

Synopsis:
Mohamad, an Arab child from the old city of Jerusalem, finds a red toy and misplaces it. The toy wanders around the alleys of the city, handed from one person to another, between rulers and subjects, strangers and locals, while the police surveillance cameras are watching from above.

The Syrian Bride

2004, 98 minutes

Genre:
Drama

Directed by:
Eran Riklis

Synopsis:
Mona's wedding day is the saddest day of her life. She knows that once she crosses the border between Israel and Syria to marry Syrian TV star Tallel, she will never be allowed back to her beloved family in Majdal Shams, the largest Druze village in the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel since 1967. The Syrian Bride is about physical, mental and emotional borders and the will to cross them.