Unchained

The first ever Israeli documentary film to feature an Arab protagonist is revisited 50 years later by top graduates of the Sam Spiegel Film School.

In June 2002, a bus on its way from Tel Aviv to Tiberius, was bombed and 17 people were killed. Of the dead, 16 were identified. Number 17 wasn't. The filmmakers document the search to identify the man no one identified as missing.

David Ofek looks back on the first Gulf War, when he was living with his parents in Ramat Gan, Israel. They are Iraqi Jews. His parents are fascinated with news reports of the bombing of Baghdad. His grandmother comes to stay with them during the SCUD attacks. Wearing gas masks, they sit in a secure room David has rigged. When the all-clear sounds, they look at photo albums. They're visited by David's girlfriend, Eve. They talk politics; grandma disapproves of Eve. Eve leaves for Eilat for respite. David images a life with Eve after the war ends

A black comedy which follows Ronen Matalon's journey to overcome his anxiety of terror attacks. Ronen uses writing and guiding a tour of terror-attack sites along Jerusalem's Jaffa Street to try and break free from his trauma.

A family of Iraqi-Israelis, each with his or her own weaknesses and determination, gathers for an Independence Day picnic. Their background stories are presented, reaching back as little as a few days or as far back as the War of Independence and the old country before that, and interlocking in ways that even they never realize.

Melanoma My Love, smartly and constantly shifting somewhere between documentary and fiction, is a breath-taking drama. The film is based on the true story of the Israeli actor Yigal Adika and his wife Orit, who suffered and died of cancer. Yigal, a personal friend of the directors, plays himself in the film as Uzi and by doing so re-enacts this special period in his life. His wife is a ballet dancer and teacher. She is thirty and has been diagnosed with melanoma. With the help of her husband and doctors, she is able to believe in a favourable outcome and fights her illness to the end. The film closely follows this fight by concentrating on the two loving people, their tender relationship and the effect the situation has on the whole family.

Amal (Hope) is a film co-directed by Arab and Jewish filmmakers and inspired by true events. Amal is a mother who sets out to rescue her son Samer from his preordained fate. When her son is involved with a shooting incident in the village, Amal acknowledges that if the warring clan is not stopped, her son will become the next victim. She fights with all her might for a “Sulha” (reconciliation). But the threat of chaos looms large, and Amal faces powerful forces that tear her apart and engulf the entire village. In the end, fate proves stronger, and Amal is swept into the bloodshed she has fought so hard to prevent.

The excommunication of Baruch Spinoza, the Dutch Jewish philosopher who revolutionized modern thought, is a formative, mysterious event in the understanding of his work. Director David Ofek takes us on an intercontinental journey tracing six reasons for Spinoza's excommunication. Between Amsterdam, the Hague, New York, Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv, he makes some surprising discoveries, and traces the figure of a man who continues to intrigue our culture with his ideas, which remain revolutionary, spiritual, and radical to this day. This is the 17th film in The Hebrews project.

Since the day Idan was born, his mother Iris promised him that by the time he celebrated age 13, he would meet his African father, Toni Toklomati, for the very first time.

Meir Eshel, a 22-year-old beach-boy from Southern Israel, buys a one-way ticket to Paris and re-invents himself as an artist calling himself Absalon. He quickly rises to art-scene stardom, showcased by the most prestigious museums worldwide: the Venice Bienalle, Centre Pompidou Paris, Tate Modern Gallery London, Israel Museum. Absalon’s success was short-lived – almost 7 years pass since his arrival in Paris until his tragic death, during the peak of his success at the age of 28. More than 25 years later, his younger brother Dani Eshel’s first assignment as estate manager – is to sell Absalon’s final art piece. Through his journey we learn about the life of a unique Israeli artist.

Gil Jibli, forensic sketch artist, reconstructs the faces of loved ones erased from the world and reveals how the human gaze transforms damaged memory into an act of love, repair, and healing.

No Jewish divorce is complete without the man literally giving the woman her freedom back. With Israel having neither civil marriage nor divorce, women can get trapped. The film follows several such "chained" women together with Batya, a religious lawyer, who embarks on a struggle against the rabbinical courts.

2023. Tahsin Mansour lives across the Palestinian village of Azzoun. Once its mayor, he hasn't entered the village for years, fearing for his life. When the war broke out, a roadblock was installed, turning his house into an enclave - neither Palestinian nor Israeli. Tahsin reminisces on his days as a former leader of the Village Leagues: As Palestinian nationalism unites around the PLO in the 70s, the Israeli defense ministry offers incentives to a moderate leadership which will lay the ground for a diplomatic pact. The project draws fire from the Arab world and Israeli entities, declaring the Leagues members traitors. When this project fails, they become persecuted in their own homes.

As Nicolai watches the end of Communism from his tiny village in deepest Romania, he realises one thing: he must emigrate to find work overseas. Before long he finds himself alongside thousands of other migrant workers in Israel – alone, exploited and far from his pregnant wife. Desperate to better his situation, he escapes and is arrested as an illegal worker, before a chance piece of information transforms everything in ways that he never dreamt possible.