Past Festivals - 2019 Films

Abe
2019 | 85 minutes | Narrative
Director: Fernando Grostein Andrade

Twelve-year-old Abe (Noah Schnapp, Stranger Things) is an aspiring chef, but his family—half-Israeli, half-Palestinian—always fights. When Abe ditches camp to spend time with chef Chico, his mentor’s fusion cuisine inspires him to unite his family through food.

Advocate
2019 | 108 minutes | Documentary
Director: Philippe Bellaiche, Rachel Leah Jones

Lea Tsemel is a Jewish-Israeli lawyer who has represented political prisoners for nearly 50 years. In her tireless quest for justice, she defends Palestinians—from feminists to fundamentalists and nonviolent demonstrators to armed militants.

Asylum City
2018 | 45 minutes | Narrative
North American Premiere
Director: Eitan Zur

A young social activist is found dead, and the main suspect is an asylum seeker who was seen leaving her apartment. The police officer who leads the murder investigation unravels a complex world of crime and corruption.

Episodes 1+2 will be shown.

Breaking Bread
2019 | 83 minutes | Documentary
New York Premiere
Director: Beth Elise Hawk

Dr. Nof Atamna-Ismaeel was the first Muslim Arab to win Israel’s MasterChef television competition. Now, through her new food festival, she’s on a quest to effect social change, chef by chef.

Border of Pain
2019 | 50 minutes | Documentary
International Premiere
Director: Ruth Walk

Without adequate medical resources in the Palestinian territories, patients requiring advanced treatments face rigid bureaucratic walls. This film looks at the human consequences and heroes of the interdependent Israeli and Palestinian health and medical systems.

Cause of Death
2018 | 79 minutes | Documentary
New York City Premiere
Director: Ramy A. Katz

Ten years after Druze policeman Salim Barakat was killed while responding to a terror attack, his brother Jamal investigates the identity of Salim’s killer and whether the police are withholding information.

Comrade Dov
2019 | 75 minutes | Documentary
International Premiere
Director: Barak Heymann

Goddamned communist. Internal enemy. Privileged Tel Aviv Ashkenazi. Dov Khenin was called everything during his time in the Knesset. A portrait of a unique politician who refuses to give up, even as reality deals him one blow after another.

A Fish Tale
2019 | 52 minutes | Documentary
Director: Emmanuelle Mayer

Johnny lives in Israel, but dreams of returning to Ghana with new knowledge of modern fish-farming. His wife, Thérèse, sees little future for their children in Africa. When their visas expire, tensions rise, leading to an inevitable clash.

A special preview.

Muna
2018 | 30 minutes | Narrative
Director: Uri Sivan

Created by Mira Awad

Produced by Drama Team for Kan

In Summer 2014, Muna Abud, a Palestinian-Israeli photographer living in Tel Aviv, is on the verge of success. As the military operation in Gaza escalates, Muna is confronted with the complexity of her identity and relationships.

Episodes 1+2 will be shown.

Samaritan
2018 | 52 minutes | Documentary
North American Premiere
Director: Julien Menanteau

Samaritans, the world’s only holders of dual Israeli-Palestinian nationality, are a unique religious minority on the verge of extinction. In the heights of Nablus, Abdallah Cohen, the high priest’s grandson, seeks to find his own way.

Screwdriver
2018 | 108 minutes | Narrative
Director: Bassam Jarbawi

After years of imprisonment, Ziad struggles to adjust to modern Palestinian life. Unable to distinguish reality from hallucination, he unravels, and forces himself to go back to where it all began.

The Tower
2018 | 77 minutes | Narrative
New York Premiere
Director: Mats Grorud

Wardi, a young Palestinian girl, lives with her family in a Lebanese refugee camp. When her great-grandfather, who was chased from his home in the Galilea in 1948, gives her the key to his old house, she fears he has lost hope of returning home.

Arabic Friday
2019 | 4 minutes | Short
Director: Gal Rosenbluth

Naomi and Marwan are a couple that communicate in Hebrew. When they decide to speak solely Arabic on Fridays, their new routine leads to miscommunication that neither language can solve.

Backwards
2018 | 16 minutes | Short
Director: Dana Gelman

On the outskirts of the Tel Aviv “bubble,” hundreds of work-seeking migrants and asylum seekers wait to enter the immigration offices—their gateway to better lives.

The Day My Father Dies
2017 | 15 minutes | Short
Director: Nayef Hammoud

Salah, a drama student in Paris, heads home to Haifa to work on a play based on a eulogy for his father.

Girl on a Bike
2019 | 9 minutes | Short
Director: Dekra Zohir Makalda

A young Muslim woman from a small town persists with her passion for cycling, despite it being deemed unacceptable by her community and family.

Oslo
2019 | 15 minutes | Short
Director: Shady Srour

Ziad, a Palestinian day laborer, is denied entry into Israel. Having promised his daughter meat for dinner and not wanting to return home empty-handed, he resorts to a creative solution.