Rivka Zohar’s life has been determined by three powerful forces: the first is an exceptional singing voice that fixed her place in the Israeli pantheon at the young age of 20; the second is drug addiction, to which she escaped during many years on the meanest streets in New York; and the third is Shlomo Kalo – a spiritual teacher, to whom she has been married for 20 years. Now, after 25 years, she returns to New York, where a concert awaits her, and perhaps also the daughter who was 11 when they last parted, never to meet again. A retrospective portrait of Rivka Zohar just before she is about to reunite with the daughter she has not seen for years.
20-year-old Sisai, Ethiopian immigrant in Israel, lives with his adoptive family – the Gavros. Father Gavro returns from Ethiopia with news of Sisai`s biological father`s whereabouts. Confused by the news and the fresh confrintation with his past, Sisai does not share his family`s excitement.He is too busy with his own news; Sivan, his girlfriend, is pregnant. The director, who is also Sisai`s brother, joins him and their father on a journey to Ethiopia on their search for identity, blood connection, love and longing..
Four Jewish women are getting ready for a journey. They are about to travel to Ukraine and reach a holy man’s grave. They believe that if they pray on his grave, all their wishes will come true within a year. These women go to the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, who died 200 years ago and is considered to be a “Miracle Man” and founder of the Breslov Hasidic dynasty. This branch of Hasidic Judaism, which celebrates life and joy, swept tens of thousands of followers in the last ten years. When the four women return to their day to day life, they have to find out if the miracles will happen.
An Israeli games inventor returns to his childhood neighbourhood in the Netherlands to reunite with his and Anne Frank’s former classmates, only to discover a confusing truth about his own hiding place in World War Two
Benny and Rachel Yafet are bereaved parents from the agricultural community of Nezer Hazzani, and Rabbi Raffi Peretz-Lieutenant is a Colonel in reserves and head of the pre-military training academy in Atzmona. They are three strong and rooted characters who lived in Gush Katif until last August. The film follows their lives over the course of 8 months, until that same fateful day in which they were asked to leave their homes and their life`s work, entirely against their will and their beliefs. Benny and Rachel lived in Nezer Hazzani for 28 years and were among the first settlers in Gush Katif. In 2000 they lost their fourth son, Itamar. Above all, the Disengagement Plan threatened the family`s livelihood. In the words of their son Gilad: “What kind of future awaits my father at age 56 without no source of income?” Peretz, on the other hand, knew that he could restart his academy, but nothing could mitigate his ideological crisis. As an educator, the Rabbi needed to make decisions not only concerning himself and his family, but for nearly 200 students on the most dramatic moment in their lives. What values are of importance at such a time? Is violence a legitimate form of resistance? Should one accept compensation? When to pack? And how should one relate to the State of Israel and to the IDF? These are the questions faced by each one of the protagonists in this film.
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 it is to create an environment of co-existence against the backdrop of the complicated reality around.
