High Maintenance

The story of Ohad Naharin, renowned choreographer and artistic director of the Batsheva Dance Company, an artistic genius who redefined the language of modern dance.

For years, director Barak Heymann has been following this leading legislator, creating a film that examines the open wounds of contemporary Israeli society: from the forced removal of the residents of Givat Amal to turbulent meetings of the Knesset’s Finance Committee, and down to the violent events at Umm al-Hiran. Comrade Dov is a surprising, thought-provoking portrait of a unique politician, who refuses to give up even as reality deals him one cruel blow after another.

Saar is an HIV positive gay man living in London, where he found refuge from the religious kibbutz where he grew up in Israel. Ever since he was diagnosed with HIV, Saar has craved his family's love, while they struggle with fears and prejudices.

Jonathan Agassi is a superstar in the world of gay porn. He lives the wild life in Berlin and Tel Aviv, where he works in films and live shows and has a second job as an escort. Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll – and all of it in large quantities. But the industry is tough, and behind the confident smile is an insecure boy with an absent father and a very close relationship to his broad-minded mother. The contrast to the superficial success grows and grows, but in the world of porn there is no room for crises. Here, you must deliver the goods, every single time – and every single day. Otherwise you are done. The identity crisis is smouldering, Agassi is floundering and drugs become tempting as an easy way out. But how long can he hold onto himself? Over the course of eight years, and with much mutual trust, the director Tomer Heymann has followed Agassi right up to the culmination of his life's biggest crisis.

Seventy years after his grandfather escapes from Nazi Germany to Palestine, Israeli documentary director Tomer Heymann returns to the country of his ancestors to present his film "Paper Dolls" at the Berlin International Film Festival, and there meets a man who will change his life. This 48-hour love affair, originating in Berghain Panorama Bar, develops into a significant relationship between Tomer and Andreas Merk, a German dancer.

The film follows the less-known aspects of the lives of four “web stars” – Israeli YouTubers: Moti Taka, one of the busiest singers in Israel today, who visits Ethiopia for the first time with his mother Dalia. Suzi Boum, aka Lior Israelov, a successful, well-known drag queen, who was born and raised in a religious family in southern Tel Aviv. Chen Halfon, a 25-year old mother of three, who is one of the few orthodox YouTubers in Israel. Hannah Ziad, an Arab YouTuber with about half a million followers, who reveals a complex family story about her father’s death.

Angelina-Duah Fares, a Druze woman, attempts to enter the Israeli fashion world, but traditions clash with her efforts to choose her way in life.

Rabbi Capoeira reveals a dramatic and unknown occurrence in the heart of Bnei Brak, the largest ultra-Orthodox city in Israel. The hero of the film is the Capoeira champion of the Mediterranean. He is an ultra-orthodox man whose life was saved by Capoeira, who wants to revolutionize his beloved society, despite the strong criticism he has towards it. Together with his dream partner, a brave ultra-Orthodox woman with a tough life story of her own, he fights like a lion and is not ready to take no for an answer.

Two girls, one religious Jewish and the other Israeli-Arab whose father is from the Occupied Territories, start to correspond online, and find themselves deep in a surprising, exciting, and stressful experience.

Twenty-six years after the iconic “Orna and Ella” restaurant opened in Tel Aviv, having become a celebrated culinary institution, Orna Agmon and Ella Shine decided to close their shared life’s work. During the restaurant’s final week, director Tomer Heymann—who worked there for six years and for whom it was much more than just a workplace—documents the intense dynamics of the last days. Farewells to customers, recipes, and staff spark intimate and once-in-a-lifetime conversations. The film reveals the complex relationship between these two groundbreaking women through a spectrum of powerful emotions: love, dependence, conflicting desires, and fears. It boldly raises questions about self-fulfillment, the cost of freedom, and nostalgia for an era that will never return.

Sayed Kashua always 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 is always viewed as an Other, and he's always scared.

For the first time in Israel, a group of Arab and Jewish parents decide to establish a conjoint bi-national, bi-lingual school inside an Arab village. The film follows the school's first year and portrays through the personal stories of its characters, how complicated and fragile is the attempt to create an environment of co-existence against the backdrop of the complicated reality around. - Perla Minon