The Hebron Hills garbage dump serves the Israeli settlements in the area and is a source of an eked-out livelihood for 200 Palestinian families from in and around the Palestinian village of Yatta. The stories of eleven-year-old Harun, seventeen-year-old Ibrahim, forty-year-old Yusuf, and sixty-year-old Badawi, expose a daily struggle for subsistence in an inescapable reality of occupation. These are the children of the Occupation, born after 1967, who know no other reality. The violent daily struggle for every scrap of metal in the dump distracts from other everyday pains: a son who sold lands to the Jews, a woman who cannot reunite with her family in Jordan, a father serving a life sentence in Israeli prison, and illiterate parents who push their children to work in the dump while simultaneously holding onto the dream of seeing them break out of the vicious cycle and completing a high-school degree. For the average person in Yatta, who has lost all faith in politics, personal success and education have become a personal weapon against the Occupation, one that might extricate them from the suffocating trap of the garbage dump, both literally and figuratively.
Archives
A Place of Her Own
This documentary was filmed over the course of four years and follows Reut, a teenager who spent most of her life moving between institutions and living on the street. The film opens when Reut is seventeen and giving birth to her first son, who is immediately taken away by welfare authorities. Reut’s battle with the State for custody of her son leads her to forge a relationship with his foster family – religious Jews who live in a settlement in the Occupied Territories. Meanwhile, Reut meets and marries a Palestinian man, moves to his village and has two more children. Reut is an introverted and intriguing character who longs for stability and a place to call home. Instead, life hands her surprising twists and turns, right up to its tragic end.
About the Body
Michal, Ilana, Hila & Aviv are four young women in their 20’s who were severely injured in terrorist attacks. Their lives were documented for three months as they participated in a unique body workshop by dancer, Ohad Naharin, winner of the Israel Prize. After the injury, they were all compelled to confront a new perception of their selves and their femininity. The film is a story about the brave journey they undertook to reconnect with their once cherished bodies.
All Happy Mornings
A personal journey into bisexuality. Facing presure from his surroundings, Yefman tries to find a way to feel complete without having to explain.
From the Black You Make Color
At Tel-Aviv’s oldest beauty academy, a group of students come from seven different countries, yet somehow fi nd a common language. The eight characters pulled into focus by the filmmakers, share common ordeals, and bring unique and varied life stories to their new environment.
Precious Life
Four-month-old Palestinian Mohammad will die without a bone marrow transplant, a procedure that can only be done in an Israeli hospital. Israeli journalist Shlomi Eldar documents complex and emotional story, as Israeli and Palestinians put aside their differences to save Mohammad’s life.
1999?
The Gatekeepers
Since 1967 Israel has tried to transform its incredible military victory into a bridge to peace. It failed. Forty years and two peace treaties later an atmosphere of fear and mistrust still permeates the region. In this film, the five former heads of Israel’s Secret Service exclusively reflect on their successes and failures to maintain security, even while violence flares up again, this time in the Gaza Strip. These five men individually and as a group have come to reconsider their hard-line positions and advocate a conciliatory approach toward their enemies based on a two-state solution.
A Universal Language
A Universal Language, documents the exciting once in a life time journey of six Canadian comedians, among them Canadian comedy icon Mark Breslin, as they explore comedy, identity and history throughout the Holy Land and use the weapons of comedy to try and bring laughter to the Middle East.
A Dancer, A Pole and a Movie
Pole dancing may have started in strip clubs, but over the past few years it has won international recognition as an art form, a sport and a means of empowering women. Director Isri Halpern follows Neta Lee Levy, the founder of Israel’s first pole dancing studio, as she competes for the European title. He discovers an outspoken and frank woman, who challenges the very world she lives in no less than she challenges the world she came from. She demonstrates that, at the dawn of the twenty-first century, a woman in a bikini and high heels may also be made of the same material champions are made of.
