Director Halil Efrat sets out in the footsteps of the fascinating character of Boris Gelfand, the first Israeli to compete for the title of World Chess Champion. From the age of 6, he was raised to be a chess champion. His father set a demanding daily schedule and obsessively documented every event in the child’s life. This is a film about parental choices and dilemma of whether to dictate for one’s child the way to self-fulfillment.
Archives
Aida’s Secrets
Isaac and Shfisil, two brothers born in a DP camp after World War II, lived in the shadow of secrets hidden from them all by their closest relatives. When they were babies, they were separated and did not know anything about each other. Investigate the mysterious history of family reunion after six decades, gives a rare glimpse of life in the DP camps in Germany after World War II: a lively social life and communities flourished wild young survivors, a period that is hardly spoken about on the screen.
Married to a Palestinian
Russian-born Tanya and Nona married Palestinian students and came with their husbands to the Territories. Just kilometers from their home live hundreds of thousands of their compatriots.
Machine of Human Dreams
Ben Gerstel is a technology guru who devoted his life to creating a colorful design model of the human brain in the form of software. In 2014 he received the Hong Kong government to finance its program a robotic body, through which you can communicate with the physical world. Ben enlists a team of outstanding experts as himself, helping him to realize his dream. However, as the size of the challenge becomes clear, so the old stories of the past shed light on the way he seduces people mobilize to help him and reveal the trail of pain he left behind.
Blue Eyes – Brown Eyes
Is Brotherly love is a myth? “Blue Eyes – Brown Eyes” is a journey to understand the relationships between brothers and sisters and lifelong impact. Does Darwinism also exist the human species? The starting point of the film is a personal story of filmmaker Ilana Tsur. A story that arised from the tape and a photo album her mother left Ilana before her death. Analysis of images of childhood, seemingly innocuous, revealing things that were invisible, she and the other characters in the film, participating in the journey. By looking at the pictures there are interpretations and a new look at the choices and significant decisions in our lives.
Shalom Italia
One night, three children ran away Bobby, Andrea and Emmanuel from their homes in Tuscany, and hid from the Nazis in a cave in the forest. Seventy years later, the three brothers leave on a journey in search of the forest that changed their fate. On the way critical and playful, full of lust for life, food and adventure, they are looking for the cave, but mainly try to find a common ground of memory, in the valley there are conflicting versions of their stories that will connect to create a shared story . Their journey is between memory and imagination, the fuzzy line between history legend.
Fantastic Reality
15-year-old Leon belongs to a global community called Cosplay in which teenagers dress up as characters from films and animated series. During the preparations for the conference and competition big questions arise about identity, meaning and belonging. The film moves on an axis between play, fantasy and reality and colorful glimpse into the world of youth nowadays.
Open Ward
An unprecedented inside view of the Abarbanel Mental Health Center in Israel allows a film crew to document its patients’ lives. Igor, Farhi and Avner present their hallucinations, fears and most importantly- their dreams…and for the first time, they might fulfill them.
Babylon Dreamers
An intimate story from Israel’s periphery. A group of young dancers from Ashdod, whose members are immigrants from the former Soviet Union, is trying to win the International Breakdance Championship. The competition is the highlight of their dreams as dancers, but as we watch them prepare, we encounter a world of crisis and alienation. Mixer, 27, is supporting his family and trying to help his younger brothers, who still live with their alcoholic mother. Potter, 21, is in the army now; he still dreams of dancing, but has no one to help him care for his mother, who is ill. And yet, despite the hardships, these bold dancers confront reality head-on, because desperation is a luxury that they can hardly afford.
