Created by Sayed Kashua, a 32-year-old Israeli-born Palestinian journalist, Arab Labor (translated from the Hebrew “Avoda Aravit” which colloquially implies second-rate work) focuses on Amjad, a Palestinian journalist and Israeli citizen in search of his identity as he seeks high status in the society into which he was born but where his car is searched everyday when he drives from his neighborhood to his job at a newspaper in Jerusalem.
Episode 8: Bushra, Amjad’s wife honks at a BMW that is blocking them, and Amjad is afraid that he is about to get into a clash with one of the village criminals. He goes up to them to apologize for his wife’s honking and gets into even more trouble. In the meantime, Meir is beside himself with jealousy because of a Palestinian student who is courting his crush Amal.
For more information visit the Israel Film Center
Created by Sayed Kashua, a 32-year-old Israeli-born Palestinian journalist, Arab Labor (translated from the Hebrew “Avoda Aravit” which colloquially implies second-rate work) focuses on Amjad, a Palestinian journalist and Israeli citizen in search of his identity as he seeks high status in the society into which he was born but where his car is searched everyday when he drives from his neighborhood to his job at a newspaper in Jerusalem.
Episode 7: Amjad interviews the leader of a new political party that advocates a repartitioning of Israel between Jews and Arabs. Amjad, who is not at all sure of which side he wants to be on in this new partitioning, goes to a psychologist to figure out what he truly wants. But things only get more complicated…
For more information visit the Israel Film Center
Created by Sayed Kashua, a 32-year-old Israeli-born Palestinian journalist, Arab Labor (translated from the Hebrew “Avoda Aravit” which colloquially implies second-rate work) focuses on Amjad, a Palestinian journalist and Israeli citizen in search of his identity as he seeks high status in the society into which he was born but where his car is searched everyday when he drives from his neighborhood to his job at a newspaper in Jerusalem.
Episode 10: Everyone wants to make a quick buck, but is the delivery room really the place to do so? When a known millionaire declares that he will award a million Israeli shekels to the first baby that is born on Independence Day, Bushra and Amjad compete with the Chen couple on who will give birth first.
For more information visit the Israel Film Center
Created by Sayed Kashua, a 32-year-old Israeli-born Palestinian journalist, Arab Labor (translated from the Hebrew “Avoda Aravit” which colloquially implies second-rate work) focuses on Amjad, a Palestinian journalist and Israeli citizen in search of his identity as he seeks high status in the society into which he was born but where his car is searched everyday when he drives from his neighborhood to his job at a newspaper in Jerusalem.
Episode 9: Amal wants to meet Meir’s parents. Meir, who is afraid of the meeting, hires substitute parents who will play the role of his very left-wing parents, who have no problem at all with the fact that their son is in a relationship with an Arab woman. Amjad invites Bushra out to a fancy restaurant frequented by Jerusalem’s elite, and ends up in a mess with his neighbor, the dishwasher at the restaurant.
For more information visit the Israel Film Center
An affectionate portrait of a family whose members are behaving at their worst. There Was No War in ’72 begins from the point of view of Yoni (Adam Abulafia), the beleaguered son of an overbearing businessman (Shmuel Edelman). To the disappointment of his father, Yoni has just been kicked out of his private school for poor grades. His American mother (Ava Haddad) is trying to get him to go to the boarding school she has cajoled into accepting him, but Yoni would rather spend his time on other pursuits. The film speaks to the struggles of adolescence and the restless nature of youth, as well as the complexities of being a family.
In 1979, Viviane, who is married with three children and is considering divorce, struggles to choose between tradition and inner dreams and desires. Her family attempts to persuade her not break strict Moroccan tradition by going through with her divorce of her husband Eliahou. But Viviane is ready to leave her old life behind to live a new life in modern Israel. To Take a Wife is a story of love and fear, of old and new, and examines the hard choices that must be made when forging a new path.
When Morris, a fellow survivor of the Nazi concentration camps, comes to visit Menachem in Israel in 1962, Menachem is glad to see him, and intrigued by his tales about nearly limitless prosperity and opportunity in Canada. He is deeply worried about the future of his family in war-ridden Israel—should he relocate his family to Toronto? Menachem’s ten-year-old son Haim is far too busy playing games and planning dangerous forays into neighboring countries to notice his father’s preoccupations, and his brother-in-law is ferociously dedicated to implementing socialist ideals in a strong Israel and is not about to leave. However, his daughter Miri has been seeing a bad sort of fellow and is in real danger of getting into trouble with him. He sends his daughter to Toronto to get her out of trouble but has second thoughts about leaving Israel for good.
Danny Breznitz, in his late forties, is a detective in the Tel Aviv Police, and is hospitalized following a near-fatal car accident. His personal life is a mess: his marriage with his wife, Ruthie, is childless and one-sided, while his relationship with his mistress, Eva, is about to fall apart. Upon recovery, Breznitz is handed an insignificant murder case. In pursuit of the unknown killer, he discovers a culprit who confesses to the crime, but Breznitz doubts the man’s guilt. Instead, he starts taking a tour of Israel’s underground, which includes a prostitute turned hairdresser, a pimp who poses as a born-again Jew, and a homosexual artist who has been disowned by his parents. While at first the investigation goes nowhere, a shocking discovery may hold the key to solving the case.
Twelve-year-old Itamar has a deep passion for ice skating. However, he is slowly losing his hearing, which forces him away from his hobby. Itamar refuses to accept his doctor’s orders and his parents’ wish that he stay away from the ice rink. With the arrival of Natalie, his new wild and headstrong skating partner, the two learn and grow as they deal with the trials and challenges of adolescence.
For more information visit the Israel Film Center
Aaron, an ultra-Orthodox butcher, is happily married with four children and a loving wife. But when he hires a handsome but homeless young man, Ezri, as an apprentice, he finds there to be something more between them than just a friendship. As Aaron and Ezri begin a sexual relationship, Aaron finds himself torn between his wife, his community, his God, and his intense feelings for his apprentice. And the forces opposing his relationship continue to grow.
