The Keeper tells the incredible true story of Bert Trautmann (David Kross), a German soldier and prisoner of war who, against a backdrop of British post-war protest and prejudice, secures the position of goalkeeper at Manchester City and becomes a footballing icon.
Curmudgeonly widower Nat Dayan (Jonathan Pryce) clings to his way of life as a kosher bakery shop owner in London’s East End. Understaffed, Nat reluctantly enlists the help of teenager Ayyash (Jerome Holder), who has a secret side gig selling marijuana to help his immigrant mother make ends meet. When Ayyash accidentally drops his stash into the mixing dough, the challah starts flying off the shelves, and an unlikely friendship forms between the old Jewish baker and his young Muslim apprentice. Director John Goldschmidt tells a warmhearted and humorous story about overcoming prejudice and finding redemption in unexpected places.
Grierson award-winning director Iris Zaki enters the heart of Tekoa, an Israeli settlement in the West-Bank,and sits down to talk to the locals. Though fearful at first of the left-wing invader, settlers from various backgrounds gradually open up to her. Their honest, surprising and sometimes funny conversations offer a fresh take on Israeli reality from both sides of the Green Line.
King Saul of Israel is jealous of the fame and adoration of David, who long ago slew Goliath and brought victory to Saul’s armies. Now Saul, egged on by his Edomite counselor Doeg, attempts to have David killed. Saul’s son, and David’s best friend, Jonathan, conspires to help David, who is reluctant to fight back against his own people the Israelites.
Somewhere between the 1947 traditional Bedouin desert-life of southern Israel and the 2007 modern city life of Beer-Sheba, just 4 Kilometers off the highway, lives a small Bedouin community. 15 year old Hulud has a dream; she is cracking the barrier set on that highway. With her young brother and sister she goes on a journey that will enable her to let go of the life she once wished for.
The story of South Africans who fought for Israel’s freedom in 1948.
Twenty-five years after the death of actress Talia Shapira, her son begins a journey to retrace her life. He combs through the vast belongings his mother left behind – diaries, stories, films, audio tapes – as he peels his memories layer by layer, finally arriving at the most significant moment in their relationship: Talia’s last days.
Seventeen chapters of observation constitute an abstract and emotional mosaic, an intense investigation into the essence and meaning of a dialogue between mother and son – a dialogue that transcends words and time.
The unique way in which the director has chosen to describe this process of deciphering his mother’s life poignantly conveys both the need as well as the inherent difficulities to connect incidental moments of our lives into meaningful stories.
At “Fifi’s,” a small hair salon located in the heart of Haifa’s Arab community, director Iris Zaki installs a mini film set over the washing basin. While she shampoos their hair, Zaki speaks candidly with the salon’s Arab and Jewish clients, discussing their views on politics, history, and love. Within the space of this hair salon, the women of the neighborhood achieve a temporary freedom, examining their differences and friendships within a community that many consider a model of Israeli coexistence. What emerges from these conversations is an honest and nuanced portrait of contemporary Israel.
Three gay Palestinian friends explore the contradictions in their lives with Jewish filmmaker, Witzenfeld. Khader is at ease with his relationship with an Israeli lover as just another dimension of “otherness,” while fervently political Fadi rejects intimate friendship with the enemy until he finds himself falling for one of their number. Naeem, in the closet to his traditional family, endures their increasing pressure to marry and start a family of his own. Together the three embark on a flamboyant form of activism involving video skits. In Arabic, Hebrew, and English with English subtitles.
Beitar Jerusalem F.C. is the most popular and controversial football team in Israel, the only club in the Premier League never to sign an Arab player. Mid-way through the 2012/13 season, a secretive transfer deal by the owner, Russian-Israeli oligarch Arcadi Gaydamak, brought two Muslim players from Chechnya. The deal inspired the most racist campaign in Israeli sport that sent the club spiraling out of control. One season in a life of this famed club is a story of Israeli society, personal identity, politics, money and a window into how racism is destroying a team and society from within.
