Opening Night: The Sea
2025 | 96 min minutes | Narrative
North American Premiere
Director: Shai Carmeli-Pollack

Khaled, a 12-year-old boy from a Palestinian village, travels to the sea for the first time during a school trip. But at the military checkpoint, he is denied entry and sent home. Determined, Khaled sneaks into Israel and embarks on a journey to the sea. When his father, an undocumented laborer working in Israel, learns that his son is missing, he risks everything to search for Khaled.

Screening will be followed by a Q+A with director Shai Carmeli-Pollak and producer Baher Agbaria

I Cried in Gaza
2025 | 55 minutes | Documentary
International Premiere
Director: Nurit Kedar

After October 7, Israeli women were recruited for active combat for the first time since 1948. According to Israel’s Rehabilitation Department of the Ministry of Defense, 5,000 women combat soldiers have undergone mental health treatment. The film shares the experiences, memories, and post-traumatic stress of women warriors who fought in Gaza and Lebanon.

Screening will be followed by a Q+A with director Nurit Kedar, moderated by Tamara Gayer (Standing Together NYC, Israelis For Peace NYC). 

Rabbi Capoeira
2024 | 69 minutes | Documentary
New York Premiere
Director: Barak Heymann

How does a shy ultra-Orthodox guy become a world master in capoeira? And how does the ultra-Orthodox community of his city, Bnei Brak, react to the revolution he’s determined to bring about? Rabbi Capoeira follows Miki Hayat’s five-year Sisyphean journey to connect spirit and body, bridging fears and dreams.

Screening to be followed by a Q+A with film subject Miki Chayat. Presented in partnership with Albi

There Is Another Way
2025 | 67 minutes | Documentary
Director: Stephen Apkon

Amid the escalating conflict, two-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee “Combatants for Peace,” a group of former enemy combatants, Israeli and Palestinian, works together to find common ground and shape a more hopeful future. This film asserts an alternative to war and that another path is possible for humanity.

Screening will be followed by a Q+A with director Stephen Apkon and producer Marcina Hale, moderated by Gili Getz (Producer, NIF). Presented in partnership with Israelis For Peace, American Friends of Combatants For Peace, Albi and Partners For Progressive Israel.

EVENT | Freedom of Speech in the Time of Boycott: A Panel Discussion with Haaretz

Haaretz panel discussion on freedom of expression and freedom of the press in Netanyahu’s Israel. Journalists Shany Littman, Ben Samuels and Etan Nechin of Haaretz, and Arash Azizi of The Atlantic, will discuss how Israeli culture and media have reacted to growing government threats and censorship – and the intensifying cultural boycott – over two years of war. Moderated by Maya Lecker, deputy editor-in chief of Haaretz English.

A Place of Her Own
2025 | 60 minutes | Documentary
Director: Adi Toledano, Dana Pney-Gil

In Jisr az-Zarqa, an impoverished Arab village, a group of women seize a chance to build a long-desired community center. As violence shakes the village and a luxury development threatens their land, their hope for change is tested as they strive for a place of their own.

Screening will be followed by a Q+A with co-directors Adi Toledano and Dana Pney-Gil, moderated by Rachel Landsberg (Smol Emuni US). Presented in partnership with Smol Emuni US

The Smugglers
2025 | 86 minutes | Documentary
World Premiere
Director: Tony Copti, Yaniv Berman

In the heart of Jaffa’s old city, a rare Arabic bookshop café is dedicated to preserving its language and literature. As the bookstore faces closure, owner Michel George El-Raheb and his nephew journey across the Middle East, with a mission: to launch a public Arabic book festival in Jaffa, designed to spark a cultural revival.

Screening will be followed by a Q+A with co-director Yaniv Berman, moderated by Etan Nechin (Haaretz). Presented in partnership with NIF

Holding Liat
2025 | 97 minutes | Documentary
Director: Brandon Kramer

On October 7, 2023, Israeli-American Liat Atzili and her husband, Aviv, were kidnapped during Hamas’ attack and taken hostage in Gaza along with 250 other people—12 of whom, like Liat, are American citizens. Caught between international diplomacy and a rapidly escalating war, their family must face their own uncertainty and conflicting perspectives in the pursuit of Liat and Aviv’s release. 

Screening will be followed by a Q+A with producer Lance Kramer, moderated by Shany Littman (Haaretz). Presented in partnership with Parents Circle

Israel: Ministers of Chaos
Documentary
New York Premiere
Director: Jérôme Sesquin

An investigation into the rise of Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, two ministers driving Israel’s government, as they push a controversial agenda to reshape the nation’s democracy and expand its borders under a biblical vision.

Screening to be followed by a Q+A with director Jérôme Sesquin, moderated by Ben Samuels (Haaretz). 

Eid
2024 | 90 minutes | Narrative
New York Premiere
Director: Yousef Abo Madegem

Eid, a young man from Rahat, dreams of becoming a playwright. When his parents arrange a marriage for him against his will, his life takes an unexpected turn. Trapped between tradition and his own desires, he fights for his freedom and dreams within Bedouin society while grappling with his childhood trauma.

Starring Shadi Mar’i (“Fauda”, “Our Boys”), who won an Israeli Academy Award for his role, this is the first feature film directed by a Bedouin filmmaker. 

Screening to be followed by a Q+A with director Yousef Abo Madegem, moderated by Hillel Assaf (NIF). 

The Village Leagues
2024 | 60 minutes | Documentary
International Premiere
Director: Tal Michael, David Ofek

It was Israel’s great political experiment in the West Bank and Gaza before the intifada. Tahsin Mansour, once mayor of the Palestinian village of Azzoun, now lives isolated by war and a roadblock that turned his home into an enclave. Reflecting on his role in the Village Leagues—an Israeli-backed attempt at Palestinian-Israeli peace—he recalls both the promise of diplomacy and the devastating backlash, as members were denounced as traitors and persecuted.

Screening to be followed by a Q+A with co-director Tal Michael. 

Open Wound
2024 | 51 minutes | Documentary
North American Premiere
Director: Yousef Abo Madegem, Ofir Trainin

The identity crisis of the Bedouins in the Negev has only intensified since October 7, as they are torn between Palestinian roots, family in Gaza, and their Israeli citizenship. The stories of five people, each dealing with the crisis in their own way, reveal the complexities and internal conflicts as they cope with a changing reality.

Screening to be followed by a Q+A with co-director Yousef Abo Madegem.

Some Notes on the Current Situation
2025 | 79 minutes | Narrative
North American Premiere
Director: Eran Kolirin

A philosophical tragicomedy about space, time, cinema, and wars, composed of six episodes, all together forming an absurdist footnote – somewhat divorced from reality – to the current events in the known universe.

Screening to be followed by a Q+A with director Eran Kolirin. 

EVENT | Standing Alone Together: A First-Look Event

This special, exclusive event offers a unique opportunity to get a first look at clips from the documentary-in-progress, STANDING ALONE TOGETHER, by director Maayan Schwartz (CHILDREN OF PEACE), followed by conversations with the filmmaking team and special guests.

Featuring: members of the filmmaking team, Executive Producer and Albi Founder Libby Lenkinski, Executive Producer Sarah Rosen, and special surprise guests.

Closing Night: Bella [Director's Presentation]
2025 | 75 minutes | Narrative
Director: Jamal Khalaily, Zohar Shachar

When Yaki’s sole inheritance, an extremely valuable dove, is taken by his childhood friend, he embarks on a wild road trip across Israel and Palestine. What follows is a series of comical misadventures—navigating checkpoints, ruining a wedding, and even car theft—all in a desperate race to get the dove to a beauty pageant in Jerusalem.

Screening to be followed by a Q+A with co-directors Jamal Khalaily and Zohar Shachar.