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The Other Israel Film Festival announces 19th annual lineup of timely films, featuring U.S. Premiere of Israel’s Oscar Entry
November 6-13, 2025
Tickets on sale!
NEW YORK (October 9, 2025) – The Other Israel Film Festival announced the lineup for its 19th annual edition, to be held November 6–13, 2025 at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, as well as additional locations in Brooklyn.
In a moment of heightened conflict and cultural boycotts, as well as deep divides both within Israel and across the Jewish community worldwide, the festival offers a vital platform for nuanced storytelling, dialogue, and understanding. Through bold new films and post-screening conversations, Other Israel goes beyond the headlines, highlighting the region’s complexities while fostering hope and coexistence.
This year’s festival opens with the U.S. Premiere of The Sea by Shai Carmeli-Pollak, Israel’s Academy Award entry, following a Palestinian boy determined to reach the ocean. The festival will close with the International Premiere of Bella, a comedy about Jewish and Arab friends directed by Jamal Khalaily and Zohar Shachar. A centerpiece highlight is the U.S. Premiere of Some Notes on the Current Situation, a new work by Eran Kolirin (The Band’s Visit) that cinematically examines the social and political realities through six short stories.
“The festival highlights the powerful collaborations between Palestinians and Israelis, who work together against all odds to create and share messages of hope,” said founder Carole Zabar.
Reflecting the aftermath of October 7, the lineup includes urgent new films. Veteran filmmaker Nurit Kedar’s documentary I Cried in Gaza, tackles the PTSD experienced by women soldiers. Stephen Apkon’s There Is Another Way is about how Combatants for Peace on both sides find strength when reacting to devastating events. Tribeca favorite Holding Liat by Brandon Kramer also examines how those who believe in peace react to the devastation of war. Open Wound, by Yousef Abo Madegem and Ofir Trainin, explores the impact of October 7th on the Bedouin community in Israel.
Other timely selections include the New York Premiere of Yousef Abo Madegem’s award-winning Eid, starring Fauda’s Shadi Mar’i; A Place of Her Own by Adi Toledano and Dana Peni-Gil, on violence in the Arab sector; Israel: Minister of Chaos by Jérôme Sesquin, an unflinching look at right-wing leadership; The Village Leagues by Tal Michael and David Ofek, revisiting failed West Bank policies; The Smugglers by Tony Copti and Yaniv Berman, about Jaffa’s last Arabic bookstore; and Rabbi Capoeira by Barak Heyman showing the complexities of religious life in Israel.
“At a time when both governments and the public are working to silence Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers, we are committed to amplifying their voices,” said Isaac Zablocki, Executive Director of the Other Israel Film Festival and Senior Director of Film Programs at the JCC. “Film and conversation remain the most powerful tools for cultural change.”
All screenings will be followed by the festival’s signature conversations with filmmakers and thought leaders. Special panels will focus on freedom of speech, collaboration across divides, and the role of the arts in conflict and reconciliation.
Tickets & Passes
Festival passes ($95) and single tickets ($18) go on sale October 9, 2025 at www.otherisrael.org. Conversations, guest speakers, and the festival trailer will be announced soon.
FILMS
Opening Night: The Sea
North American Premiere
Dir. Shai Carmeli-Pollak
Narrative | Israel | 2025 | 96 min
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.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/xc4oO5VWt2w
Ticketing: https://otherisrael.eventive.org/schedule/68d54e4c8806111d43bacce5
Thu, Nov 6, 6 pm Pre-film Reception, 7 pm Screening, $40
I Cried in Gaza
International Premiere
Dir. Nurit Kedar
Documentary | Israel | 2025 | 55 min
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.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/osI7nOhj78Q
Q+A info:
Ticketing: https://otherisrael.eventive.org/schedule/68d54f4b8806111d43bb3d98
Sat, Nov 8, 3:30 pm, FREE
Rabbi Capoeira
New York Premiere
Dir. Barak Heymann
Documentary | Israel | 2024 | 69 min
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.
OIFF YouTube trailer: https://youtu.be/fkcAy8svUTI
Ticketing: https://otherisrael.eventive.org/schedule/68d54fbce2ae4bb80156c2e2
Sat, Nov 8, 5:30 pm, $18
There Is Another Way
Dir. Stephen Apkon
Documentary | Palestine/Israel/US | 2025 | 67 min
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.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/AeSLttp2-xI
Ticketing: https://otherisrael.eventive.org/schedule/68d550123834d599a18878f2
Sat, Nov 8, 7:30 pm, $18
CBE: Tue, Nov 11, 7 pm, $18
Ticketing: https://cbebk.shulcloud.com/oiff/there-is-another-way
A Place of Her Own
Dir. Adi Toledano, Dana Pney-Gil
Documentary | Israel | 2025 | 60 min
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.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/BvBEu2q080E
Ticketing: https://otherisrael.eventive.org/schedule/68d5505744f9eab55e9809a0
Sun, Nov 9, 2:30 pm, $18
The Smugglers
World Premiere
Dir. Tony Copti, Yaniv Berman
Documentary | Israel/Palestine | 2025 | 86 min
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.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/t_N-OfaQGcQ
Ticketing: https://otherisrael.eventive.org/schedule/68d550a5f62b3519834adf49
Sun, Nov 9, 4:30 pm, $18
Holding Liat
Dir. Brandon Kramer
Documentary | US | 2025 | 97 min
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.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt_xTj352tw
Ticketing: https://otherisrael.eventive.org/schedule/68d550e53834d599a1892757
Sun, Nov 9, 6:30 pm, $18
BHS: Sun, Nov 9, 2 pm
Israel: Ministers of Chaos
East Coast Premiere
Dir. Jérôme Sesquin
Documentary | France | 2025 | 58 min
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.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/hNfohb_Sp-Q
Ticketing: https://otherisrael.eventive.org/schedule/68d551233834d599a1894baa
Mon, Nov 10, 5:30 pm, $18
Eid
New York Premiere
Dir. Yousef Abo Madegem
Narrative | Israel | 2024 | 90 min
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.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/Xc0Vc04CZJw
Ticketing: https://otherisrael.eventive.org/schedule/68d5516f531e94b854ca955b
Tue, Nov 11, 5:30 pm, $18
The Village Leagues
International Premiere
Dir. Tal Michael, David Ofek
Documentary | Israel | 2024 | 60 min
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.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/SBywrRapeyE
Ticketing: https://otherisrael.eventive.org/schedule/68d551a3c4cb199b96cb82b4
Tue, Nov 11, 7:30 pm, $18
Open Wound
North American Premiere
Dir. Yousef Abo Madegem, Ofir Trainin
Documentary | Israel | 2024 | 51 min
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.
Ticketing: https://otherisrael.eventive.org/schedule/68d551daa4edf4ce3bb99367
Wed, Nov 12, 5:30 pm, $18
Some Notes on the Current Situation
North American Premiere
Dir. Eran Kolirin
Narrative | Israel | 2025 | 79 min
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.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/uPzBmxHwCMI
Ticketing: https://otherisrael.eventive.org/schedule/68d552214fe103079fd6c5cd
Wed, Nov 12, 7 pm, $18
Closing Night: Bella
Dir. Jamal Khalaily, Zohar Shachar
Narrative | Israel, Belgium | 2025 | 75 min
“Director’s Presentation”
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.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/WS_LPv4_Sqs
Ticketing: https://otherisrael.eventive.org/schedule/68d55264a4edf4ce3bb9d1ad
Thu, Nov 13, 6:30 pm Pre-film Reception, 7:30 pm Screening, $25
About the Other Israel Film Festival
The Other Israel Film Festival was founded in 2007 to present cinema that would inspire conversation and provide an in-depth look into Israeli and Palestinian societies and underrepresented populations within Israel. Through dramatic and documentary films, as well as panels and events about history, culture, and identity, we have been able to amplify voices that inspire, challenge, and inform. During this painful year when peace between Israel and its neighbors might seem like an impossible dream, we have decided that this year’s festival will highlight the stories of those who continue to stand together for co-existence and an end to violence. May these stories help to make that dream a reality.
About the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan
Together with its community, the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan creates opportunities for people to connect, grow, and learn within an ever-changing Jewish landscape. Located on 76th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, the JCC is a vibrant non-profit community center on the Upper West Side. It also presents a robust slate of virtual programming, serving an even wider community. The JCC serves over 30,000 people annually through 1,200 programs each season that educate, inspire, and transform participants’ minds, bodies, and spirits. Since its inception, the JCC has been committed to serving the community by offering programs, classes, and events that reach beyond neighborhood boundaries, reaching people at all stages of their lives. Learn more at mmjccm.org.
