Full schedule announced for the 3rd Annual Other Israel Film Festival - Nov 12-19
Full program scheduling was announced today for The 3rd Annual Other Israel Film Festival, (www.OtherIsrael.org) dedicated to showcasing the lives of Arab citizens of Israel. The Festival will take place in New York City from November 12th – 19th and will run at JCC in Manhattan, Cinema Village, and other locations around the city (including 92Y Tribeca, Columbia University, NYU Taub Center, Congregation B’nai Jeshurun, and more). It is presented by The Israel Film Center at The JCC in Manhattan.
Now in its third year, Other Israel Film Festival explores the lives and challenges of the Arab minority in a Jewish defined state. The Festival celebrates the diversity of Israeli life with award-winning films and open discussions by and about the country’s Arab minority populations, (Christian, Muslim, Bedouin and Druze) which make up 20% of Israel’s population.
The controversial state of Arabs is extremely relevant to America today. Other Israel Film Festival brings these stories to the big screen and to the American public.
“The goal of the Other Israel Film Festival is to promote tolerance,” said Festival founder Carole Zabar. “Film is a great vehicle for cultural understanding and social awareness and we are excited to continue our conversation and shine a light on a segment of Israel’s population that no one gets to see. I never imagined three years ago that the Other Israel Film Festival would be in the center of the Israeli film industry. We have just produced our first film “Zahara” by Mohammad Bakri and we are thrilled with the films that you will see at this year's festival.”
Many of the films presented by Other Israel Film Festival in the past two years went on to participate in festivals world-wide and several have received North American distribution.
“With the recent polarization of the social and political climate in Israel, the Other Israel Film Festival is more urgent than ever” added Festival Executive Director Isaac Zablocki. “In addition, we've noted a major rise in the quality and quantity of films on the topic of Palestinians in Israel. Clearly, these voices need to be heard.”
Tickets for the Other Israel Film Festival cost $11 and go on sale in October 13 online at www.OtherIsrael.org or by phone 646-505-5708.
The festival will feature several special directors' presentations and international sneak previews.
THE FILMS:
LAILA’S BIRTHDAY
Director: Rashid Masharawi
A comically existential fable about a day in the life of a former-judge-turned-taxi driver, on the day of his daughter Laila's seventh birthday. His only goal is to be home early with a present and a cake, but life takes him through many twists and turns before he gets home. His customers include a young Romeo who hires the taxi to have a place “alone” with his lover; a housewife who’ll stop anywhere there’s a free-food giveaway, armed Palestinian militia members, and an ex-convict who leaves his cell phone in the cab.
JAFFA
Director: Keren Yedaya
NYC PREMIERE
In this Cannes Film Festival favorite, Director Keren Yedaya (Or) brings forth the dramatic story of Mali, who lives with her family in Jaffa, and works with her brother and father at the family owned car repair shop. Mali falls in love with Tauffik, a mechanic in the garage. Despite underlying racism and jealousy that surrounds them, their love affair grows. When Mali finds out she is pregnant, the couple decides to run away and get married abroad. On the morning of the flight, a tragic event reshapes this couple’s future.
VOICES FROM EL SAYED
Director: Oded Adomi Leshem
In the picturesque Israeli Negev desert, the Bedouin village of El-Sayed has the largest percentage of deaf people in the world. Through the generations, a unique sign language has evolved making it the most popular language in this rare society, which accepts deafness as natural as life itself. The village`s tranquility is interrupted by Salim`s decision to change his deaf son’s fate and make him a hearing person using the Cochlear Implant Operation.
ARAB LABOR
Director: Roni Ninio
More episodes from the successful groundbreaking satire, following Amjad, a 35-year-old Arab journalist, married to Bushara (a social worker) and father to Maya. Torn between his desire to become the darling of the In-crowd on one hand, and represent the suffering of Arabs at any given forum, he is mocked and criticized by his family and close community. Amjad`s only ally is his friend Meir (an Israeli Jew) - a photographer who works with him at the newspaper, a sworn bachelor who falls In love with Amal, Bushara`s feminist Arab friend.
ID BLUES
Director: Chaim Yavin
NY PREMIERE
Two new episodes from the five-part travel-log by legendary news person Chaim Yavin, examining different sectors of Arabs living in Israel, presenting matters of life, history, and culture in Arab society in Israel.
SAYED KASHUA – FOREVER SCARED
Director: Dorit Zimbalist
SPECIAL DIRECTOR’S PRESENTATION
Despite being one of Israel’s leading columnists, novelists and screenwriter, Sayed Kashua feels he doesn't belong. The Jews don't like him because he's an Arab. The Arabs don't like him because he's successful. The Arabs think he's a collaborator. The Jews think he's a drunk. He's always the "other" and he's always scared. This intimate portrait follows Kashua over seven years through the upheavals and events that change his life, wandering from place to place, from nation to nation, belonging neither here nor there.
ZAHARA
Director: Mohammad Bakri
SPECIAL DIRECTOR’S PRESENTATION
With touching personal style and breathtaking cinematography, Director Mohammad Bakri tells the story of his 78 year old aunt Zahara, from the times of pre-state Palestine to present, leading the family with love and wisdom through the many trials of life.
SHORTS COMPILATION
HEAVY SILENCE
Visions and pieces of memory are unveiled through a small crack in Alla’s prison cell. Through these excerpts of memory and fantasy Alla faces the futility of family honor and discovers the fate of the woman he loves.
SHNAIM
In the midst of the war in Gaza, a mixed Arab and Jewish Israeli couple debate the question of military service.
Bus Station - IR-AMIM
Two women, Arab and Jew meet at a bus stop in Jerusalem after a trip to the market. When their bags of tomatoes get confused they begin to understand the similarities and differences of their worlds.
TEL AVIV-JAFFA
A look into one of the unifiers of Israeli Jewish and Arab society – Hummus. This short documentary part of the Tel Aviv-100 docu-challenge project follows one of Jaffa’s oldest and proudest establishments.
ORANGES
A sweet story of friendship and neighbors. A man is angered by his neighbor picking oranges off his tree and decides to seek revenge.
SAZ – The Palestinian Rapper for Change
Director: Gil Karni
NY PREMIERE
An intimate documentary following budding Palestinian-Israeli hip-hop star from Ramlah, Sameh Zakout, a.k.a. Saz. The film follows his transformation from a young unknown rap singer into an international success, as well as his youthful quest for identity transformed into the voice of a struggling nation. The film also focuses on his relationship with his grandfather, an Israeli-Arab communist. Their conversations reveal their differing ideologies: “I don’t see my Palestine being built by blood,” says Saz. “It should be built by negotiations, not bombings. My bullets are my rhymes. My M-16 is my microphone.”
CITY OF BORDERS
Director: Yun Suh
In the heart of Jerusalem stands an unusual symbol of unity that defies generations of segregation, violence and prejudice: a gay bar called Shushan. This award-winning documentary goes inside this underground sanctuary where people of opposing nationalities, religions and sexual orientations create an island of peace in a land divided by war. Through a coclorful cast of characters from all walks of life, the film explores the effort to find and share a sense of community in spite of differences of religion and nationality.
BADAL
Director: Ibtisam Mara’na
NY PREMIERE
'A Badal deal marriage' is the common practice of a muslim tradition where a brother and sister from one family marry a sister and brother from another family - interlocking the two couples forever. Divorce on the part of one couple will immediately lead to the divorce of the other part of the deal. The film follows a family during the process of putting such a deal together. It portrays the lives of Palestinian women living within Israel, their difficulties and struggle to be a part of their traditional society vs. the quest to maintain their full rights as women, and citizens of a democratic state.
TELLING STRINGS
Director: Anne-Marie Haller
NY PREMIERE
A rare look into the profound workings of the Jubran famiy, a Palestinian family of musicians from al-Rameh village in the northern Galilee. The Father, Elias, a musician and instructor has been building traditional string instruments such as ouds and bouzouqs in his al-Rameh workshop since 1965. The film connects the history of two generations and questions cultural identity between protest, resignation and hope.
THE INVISIBLE
Director: Gil Karni
SPECIAL DIRECTOR’S PRESENTATION
A 12-year-long diary of the Bedouin village “Arab al-Na'im” in the Galillee and their struggle for their rights. The people of Arab al-Na’im have inhabited their land for the past 200 years, serve in the Israeli army, yet live in tin huts, without electricity or running water, and in constant struggle with the Israeli administration to be visible.
OTHER ISRAEL FILM FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
Thursday, November 12, 2009
JAFFA – (OPENING NIGHT GALA) – 7:30pm – JCC in Manhattan
Friday, November 13, 2009
Telling Strings – 7:00pm – Cinema Village
Laila’s Birthday – 9:00pm – Cinema Village
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Forever Scared – 5:00pm – Cinema Village
Badal – 7:00pm – JCC in Manhattan
ID Blues – 7:00pm – Cinema Village
Laila’s Birthday – 9:00pm – JCC In Manhattan
JAFFA – 9:00pm – Cinema Village
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Telling Strings – 2:00pm – The JCC in Manhattan
Forever Scared – 5:00pm – The JCC in Manhattan
Badal – 5:00pm – Cinema Village
City of Borders – 7:00pm – The JCC in Manhattan
Arab Labor – 7:00pm – Cinema Village
Monday, November 16, 2009
ID Blues – 7:00pm – The JCC in Manhattan
The Invisibles – 7:00pm – Cinema Village
Arab Labor – 9:00pm – JCC in Manhattan
SAZ – 9:00pm – Cinema Village
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Invisibles – 7:00pm – The JCC in Manhattan
Voices From El-Sayed – 7:00pm – Cinema Village
SAZ – 9:00pm – The JCC in Manhattan
Shorts – 9:00pm – JCC in Manhattan
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Shorts – 7:00pm – The JCC in Manhattan
City of Borders – 7:00pm – Cinema Village
Voices From El-Sayed– 9:00pm – The JCC in Manhattan
Zahara – 9:00pm – Cinema Village
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Zahara – 7:30pm – The JCC in Manhattan
SPECIAL PROGRAMS
18 PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBIT – Photographer Natan Dvir
A photo-documentary project which examines contemporary visions of Arab society in Israel from a unique angle. 18 focuses on young Arab men and women at the pivotal age of 18 years old. This age is serves as a major divide in Israeli society as most citizens join the military, while most Arab citizens do not. The project includes a series of profiles of various individuals in Arab communities around Israel, including environmental portraits as well as documentation of their lives and close surrounding. Other Israel Film Festival had collaborated with the award winning Israeli photographer Natan Dvir to create and photograph this series of profiles.
Sunday, November 15, 2009 at 3:30pm
The JCC In Manhattan
SAZ – LIVE CONCERT
A staple of the Palestinian hip hop scene, Sameh "SAZ" Zakout rhymes in Arabic, Hebrew and English and is widely hailed for his beatbox technique. Born and raised in Ramle, a predominantly Palestinian Arab city within Israel, SAZ has been featured in Rolling Stone and on CNN. His lyrics are very blunt and direct, and his songs deal with political, social and personal issues.
