Archives

Ahead of Time

‘Ahead of Time’, a documentary on the remarkable life of Ruth Gruber. At 97 years old, Brooklyn-born Ruth still has that same sharp intellect and moxie that propelled her to become the world’s youngest PhD at age 20. At age 24, she became a New York Herald Tribune reporter and photographer and the same year was the first journalist to enter the Soviet Arctic. A trusted member of the Roosevelt Administration during WWII, she was given a dangerous secret mission. A feminist before feminism, Ruth was never just an observer, she was a participant in the making of history. Ruth covered the turbulent Middle East throughout the 1940’s, and the film combines verité footage of Ruth traveling back to Israel, with interviews and archival material

400 Miles to Freedom

FOUR HUNDRED MILES TO FREEDOM is the story of co-director Avishai Mekonenâ’s search to remember and reconcile what happened to him at age 10 in 1984, when he was kidnapped by slave traffickers in Sudan. Throughout his life-long journey from Ethiopia to Sudan, Israel, and finally America, his fundamental identity is challenged: What does it mean when others insist that you can’t be who you know you are? His search for answers leads him to other African, Asian and Latino Jews, and together they discover what it takes to heal a broken past and to overcome the invisibility and the questioning of one’s identity.

An Article of Hope

On February 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia descended towards Earth with seven astronauts on board: six Americans and Ilan Ramon, Israel’s first astronaut. The film follows Ramon’s story, his promise to a friend, and a Torah scroll saved from the Holocaust that he brought into space. Directed by Daniel Cohen (USA/Israel, 2011, 50 min)

Dancing in Jaffa

Dancing in Jaffa follows the journey of internationally renowned ballroom dancer Pierre Dulaine as he returns to his birthplace, Jaffa, to fulfill his lifelong dream of teaching Jewish and Palestinian Israeli children to dance together. For generations, Jaffa has been a city divided with the two communities living side-by-side but growing increasingly apart. The film explores the stories of four children forced to confront issues of identity, segregation and racism, as they dance with their enemies. We watch Pierre transform hundreds of lives over the course of four months with the belief that this will forever change the future and bridge the gap between the Jewish and Palestinian people.

After The Storm

A feature documentary, After The Storm captures the lives of the kids and crew as they turn a gym into a theater, come together as a company, and create hope and purpose in the midst of devastation and despair. After the Storm is a feature length documentary that follows the production of the musical Once On This Island at the St. Mark’s Community Center in New Orleans as it moves from the first round of auditions to the opening night performance and then on to a sold-out Off Broadway theater in New York City. The film explores the cultural landscape of New Orleans as seen through the eyes of a dozen teenage actors. As this creative journey unfolds, the young actors open up their hearts and homes to the film crew and reveal their personal stories of day-to-day survival in present-day New Orleans. It is from their perspective that we see this unique American city still struggling to piece itself back together two years after the hurricane. An emotional and entertaining experience celebrating the spirit and culture of New Orleans, this film is about how the power of story can bring a community together. The focus of the film is not on the storm’s devastation, but rather on how these “storm-tossed” teens are moving on with their lives after having lost everything. After the Storm documents the story of a people and a city that is beginning to piece itself together. The theatre project provided the kids with a unique experience and gave them the kind of professional training that is not readily available in New Orleans. But more than that, it created the opportunity for them to share their point of view and their stories while focusing on something other than just their day-to-day survival and allowing them to grow as individuals and shine as performers.

It’s Better to Jump

The Northern port city of Acco (Acre) is a mixed (Jewish-Arab) city.  The city’s Palestinian population—both Muslim and Christian, and for the large part “Palestinians of 1948,” who were the residents of Israel when it was granted statehood—has been there for generations. As Acco has become an increasingly-popular tourist destination, however, there has been a concerted push to change the long-standing demographics, resulting in a government-backed push to move Palestinians out of the Old City. In the hands of the filmmakers, a traditional rite of passage in Acco, the act of jumping from the ancient 40-foot seawall, becomes a metaphor for the perilous situation and great bravery of the city’s Palestinian population. A tough, deeply empathetic film that may suggest uneasy parallels between subtler gentrification, as we know it, and actual forced relocation.

77:78

The story of the 1977 Maccabi Tel-Aviv basketball team through meetings almost 40 years later with the main characters in the story of their miracle win, while recounting the history of the country in a watershed of the State of Israel.

10% – What Makes a Hero?

What makes a hero? What compels someone to maintain their integrity, go against the grain and fight for what is just? Award-winning director Yoav Shamir sets out on an entertaining and insightful international quest, exploring the notion of heroism through a multi-faceted lens. From ordinary heroes to freesom fighters, primates to humans, behavioral scientists to geneticists, even Ayn Rand to Raelians, Shamir leaves no stone unturned, and along the way unveils the fundamental truths of human nature.

A Tale of Love and Darkness

Amos Oz chronicles his childhood in Jerusalem at the end of the British Mandate for Palestine and the early years of the State of Israel, and his teenage years on Kibbutz Hulda. As a child, he crossed paths with prominent figures in Israeli society, among them Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Shaul Tchernichovsky, and David Ben-Gurion. One of his teachers was the Israeli poet Zelda. Joseph Klausner was his great-uncle. Told in a non-linear fashion, Oz’s story is interwoven with tales of his family’s Eastern European roots. The family’s name was Klausner. By changing the name to a Hebrew one, Oz rebelled against that European background while affirming loyalty to the land of his birth.

Touchdown Israel

America’s favorite sport is spreading to Israel and bringing together a diverse cast of characters. Israeli Jews, Muslims and Christians as well as Americans living in Israel, and religious settlers all playing together, shows how sports can be a unifier in a complex, multifaceted society.