Jewish Film & Music

Gripping and moving real life story of the first Iraqi-Jewish family to become a household name in Israel. Emigrating to Israel from Baghdad in the 1950s, the Farag family built a hugely successful photography business which revolutionized the way Israelis took, developed and related to pictures. Kobi Farag, a scion of the famous photographer clan, traces the story of the ten brothers and sisters, who despite their amazing professional achievements failed to protect the family from a painful process of disintegration.

A bar mitzvah mishap causes a major rift in a devout Orthodox community in Jerusalem.

A cinematic portrait of the life and career of the infamous American execution device designer and holocaust denier.

Discusses Yaʼaḳov Ben-Dov's film career and the circumstances surrounding many of his films depicting Jewish life in Palestine from 1917-1933.

In the midst of his deepest life crisis, Holocaust researcher Toto is assigned French assistant Zazie, a young woman of Jewish origin with pronounced Teutophobia. In her eccentric way, she turns Toto's professional and private life upside down until nothing is left of it--except the horror and beauty of an impossible romance. An irresistibly charming story of foolhardy humor and subliminal melancholy.

Focuses on a character named Grandmother Zoharah to whom the Moroccan Jewish community in Jaffa go, and pay, in order that she give them advice after she falls asleep and dreams for them, connecting to the past. Zoharah recalls her painful early marriage to an older man in the Atlas mountains and senses that her end is near. She asks her daughter, Simone, to take her place as the dreamer and advice giver, but Simone prefers to cook in her small restaurant in Bat Yam. Matters become complicated when Simone's wild sister, the successful chef Fani who disappeared years ago, suddenly returns from Paris.

On the eighth of May 1972, four hijackers from the Palestinian organization "Black September" took control of Belgian Sabena Flight 571 from Brussels to Tel Aviv. The hijacking marked the beginning of thirty nerve-wracking hours, bounding together fascinating human, military and political drama inside and outside of the plane. "Sabena Hijacking - My Version," presents a cinematic reenactment of the events weaved together with genuine archive material and exclusive interviews with three revered Israeli political leaders who were in charge of the rescue effort at the time, as well as the only surviving hijacker.

It is a poignant and funny romantic comedy about love, marriage, and faith in life's infinite possibilities. Michal, blindsided by her fiance's decision to call off their wedding with only a month's notice, is unwilling to return to single life. Michal decides to put her trust in fate and continue with her wedding plans, believing Mr. Right will appear by her chosen date. As the day of the ceremony grows closer and no suitor appears, Michal puts everything on the line to find happiness.

After dying for 40 minutes, a Jewish religious scholar is revived. After he comes back to life, suddenly feeling strange, and he suspects God is testing him.

In Israel there is neither civil marriage nor civil divorce. Only rabbis can legitimate a marriage or its dissolution. But this dissolution is only possible with full consent from the husband, who in the end has more power than the judges. Viviane Amsalem has been applying for divorce for three years. But her husband Elisha will not agree. His cold intransigence, Viviane's determination to fight for her freedom, and the ambiguous role of the judges shape a procedure in which tragedy vies with absurdity, and everything is brought out for judgment, apart from the initial request.

What is legal and what is just? Winner of the Documentary Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, The Law in These Parts is a gripping and revelatory investigation into the military legal system put in place by Israel over four decades ago to govern the occupied Palestinian territories the repercussions of which are felt to this day by both sides.

The story of Algerian Jewry's anti-Nazi resistance, which on November 8th 1942 succeeded (with only 400 young men) in taking control of the capital city of Algiers, where there were about 25,000 French pro-Nazi soldiers. They kept control for one night, and handed over the city to the Americans, who landed on the city's shores the next morning. This is a very Jewish story of coping with a threat of annihilation, which demonstrates the qualities of daring, anarchism, chutzpa, cunning, creativity and faith.

The life story of legendary Israeli poet Yona Wallach.

The man behind the madness is the subject of Belgian-born, Israel-based filmmaker Vanessa Lapa's documentary, a work composed entirely of archival footage, much of it consisting of photos from Himmler's own personal collection with readings from his diaries and letters.

A documentary about a dramatic year in the West Bank, offering a comprehensive look at politics and society in what may be the most contested place on earth.

A cinematic journey about buried family secrets, the Holocaust (from a third generation perspective) and how it is never too late to reclaim your heritage. Siblings Michla and Feiv'ke Schwarz survived the Holocaust but never reunited after the war. Michla moved to the soon-to-be-founded Jewish state in the Middle East and started a family there. Her brother returned to East Germany and married a German woman. The Israeli and German sides of the family lived unaware of each other for half a century until Yeal Reuveny probed exactly what happened to the family in 1945.

A humorous, heartbreaking film that explores life among the Israeli Arab community, shot largely in homes and places in which Elia Suleiman's family once lived. Inspired by his father's diaries, letters his mother sent to family members who had fled the Israeli occupation, and the director's own recollections, the film recounts the saga of the filmmaker's family in subtly hilarious vignettes.

Every Israeli citizen serves in the army for three years, except those who are granted exemptions. Israel deliberately exempts Arab citizens from conscription. Those Arabic men, like Ameer, who volunteer are accepted but under a pall of suspicion.

Follows filmmaker Chanoch Zeevi as he travels through Israel exploring how Zionism has evolved since he was a child. Zeevi attended elementary school in the religious Zionist village of Kfar Haroeh, where his classmates represented a cross-section of Israeli society. They included Jews of every background: Ashkenazi, Sephardi, religious, secular, and even one Arab girl--Nadia, for whom the film is named. Now, more than twenty-five years after graduating from elementary school, Zeevi has organized a class reunion that brings together men and women whose lives have diverged from the original journey begun in Kfar Haroeh.

Follows a group of Ethiopian and Russian Israeli adolescents on a life-changing journey to Ethiopia. While all would consider themselves members of the fringes of Israeli society, in the highlands of Ethiopia they discover the universality of their experiences and commitment to their new home in Israel.

In Jordan in 1967, tens of thousands of refugees pour across the border from Palestine. Separated from his father in the chaos of war, Tarek, eleven, and his mother Ghaydaa are placed in a temporary refugee camp, where they wait, like the generation before them in 1948. Seeking to escape the difficulties of camp life, Tarek's free spirit and curious nature lead him to a group of people on a journey that will change their lives.