When Yoel hears about an imminent Iranian military attack on Tel Aviv, he knows what to do - escape with his family to a safe haven in Jerusalem. His son Assaf, who is a filmmaker and about to become a father himself, wants to give Yoel one last lead role in his movie by melting the fictional world into bittersweet reality.
Life in a Tel Aviv apartment complex, an urban mosaic whose seedy characters, try as they might, can't get out of one another's faces. Gabi, a bobbed haired sexpot, and her lover Hezi—who's older, balding and married—rent a room to have an affair, while Ezra, a pot bellied divorcee, supervises an illegal construction site next door. All this racket drives Schwartz, a Holocaust survivor, to a mental breakdown. Other characters include illegal Chinese immigrants, a teenage boy who's afraid to serve in the army, and a corrupt police detective.
Rebecca, an American who has been living in Jerusalem for a few months now, has just broken off her engagement. She gets into a cab driven by Hanna, an Israeli. But Hanna is on her way to Jordan, to the Free Zone, to pick up a large sum of money.
The year 2000 approaches in Jerusalem's Orthodox Mea Shearim quarter, where the women work, keep house, and have children so the men can study the Torah and the Talmud. Rivka is happily and passionately married to Meir, but they remain childless. The yeshiva's rabbi, who is Meir's father, wants Meir to divorce Rivka: "a barren woman is no woman." Rivka's sister, Malka, is in love with Yakov, a Jew shunned by the yeshiva as too secular. The rabbi arranges Malka's marriage to Yossef, whose agitation when fulfilling religious duties approaches the grotesque. Can the sisters sort out their hearts' desires within this patriarchal world? If not, have they any other options?
Through a mosaic of stories intertwined and created a current picture of the sad social and economic situation in Israel. Mother forced into prostitution to support her son; Blind man must survive after losing his dog; Son is looking for his rocker father's; Apartment owner complicates his life while entering the underworld...
The film takes place in 1973 during the Yom Kippur War in which Egypt and Syria launched attacks in Sinai and the Golan Heights. The story is told from the perspective of Israeli soldiers. We are led by Weinraub and his friend Ruso on a day that begins with quiet city streets, but ends with death, destruction and devastation of both body and mind. Various scenes are awash in the surreal, as Weinraub's head hangs out over a rescue helicopter's open door, watching with tranquil desperation as the earth passes beneath, the overpowering whir of the blades creating a hypnotic state. It is not a traditional blood, guts and glory film. There are no men in battle, only the rescue crew trying to pick up the broken pieces.
In ha-Argazim, a neighborhood that time forgot, the one-year anniversary of Morris Mandabon's death is approaching, and his youngest son, Nissim has had a dream in which his father orders him to re-open the old neighborhood movie theater, thus breaking the vow that Morris had made years before never to screen movies again. Nissim and his brother George, together with Aharon Gabardine, who was the projectionist back in the old days, are determined to fulfill Morris' request. The same day Nissim has his dream, Avram Mandabon, Morris' brother, returns for his brother's memorial after a 25-year absence. His reappearance causes old family feuds to resurface.
Debbie, a young belly dancer, her dangerous yet charming lover, a criminal, and a dance club owner tell the story about love and crimes, friendship and betrayal.
Haifa on a sunny day. Moshe is a crumbling man walking up the Carmel Mountain on yet another work day. Will this day mark his collapse? Uri walks down the mountain to board a ship and leave behind all the things he loves and despises. His sense of belonging is losing ground. He is likely to miss his military reserve service-call, thus risking jail. Will the two collide or pass through one another? An existential comedy, where the overbearing mountain with its endless stairs takes control over destinies in this unique panorama of the Mediterranean port city.
Franny is seven years old. Franny's mother's new boyfriend is 26 year old Nico, an aspiring filmmaker who couldn't even finish his graduation film. The first time they meet, Franny finds Nico in her mother's bed. From that moment on, Nico and Franny need to find a way to get along, love and hate each other - often all at once.
Is today's fanaticism tomorrow's policy? In a West Bank settlement, Rabbi Meltzer has a grand design: he's building a movement "to pray at the Temple Mount." His yeshiva has scholars, and the settlement is getting its own military company to be commanded by Menachem, a disciple of the rabbi. He also wants his daughter, Michal, to marry Pini, the yeshiva's best scholar. Michal has no interest in Pini, but she is attracted to Menachem. When she rebuffs Pini, he hatches a bold and secret plan. Is jealousy the motivation or something else? Meanwhile, the army and Moussad are closely watching the rabbi's activities and Menachem's military training. Who is trustworthy?
A political drama centered around Israel's pullout from the occupied Gaza strip, in which a French woman of Israeli origin comes to the Gaza Strip to find her long ago abandoned daughter.
Secrets, lies, surprises and more are explored in this rich selection of gay short films from Israel. The 6 short films are: Three (2018); A Trip to the Desert (2016); Rubber Dolphin (2018); Stav (2018); After His Death (2017); Leave of Absence (2016).
Since his daughter's death, Moshe lives alone rejecting his wife whom he blames for this tragedy. In order to get out of his confinement, he accepts a job from the Jerusalem post office, unaware that it is for a very special division: The Department of Letters to God. Through the letters sent by people from all over the world, Moshe will face humanity in its most secret privacy, sometimes most fanciful wishes. He doesn't believe in anything anymore but a series of strange events will transform his bitterness and lead him to discover how forgiveness can reconcile him with his wife and bring him peace again.
A drama centered on an orphaned Palestinian girl growing up in the wake of the first Arab-Israeli war who finds herself drawn into the conflict.
After his daughters accidentally bleach his hair, before another stressful family dinner, Meir decides to escape. The middle-aged, suburban history teacher unexpectedly finds what he needed when a chance encounter with his former students plunges him into a night of pure rebellious energy.
Aharon has devoted his life to raising his son Uri. They live together in a gentle routine, away from the real world. But Uri is autistic, and now as a young adult it might be time for him to live in a specialized home. While on their way to the institution, Aharon decides to run away with his son and hits the road, knowing that Uri is not ready for this separation. Or is it, in fact, his father who is not ready?
When Filipina stay-at-home nurse Christie disappears, Araleh is forced to help his brother tend to their dying father. Trying to protect himself, he begins scattering white lies, which only bring closer the inevitable end they all feared.
Raya and Victor built a shared career as the Soviet Union’s most beloved film dubbers. As the USSR collapses, the Jewish couple must immigrate to Israel and reinvent themselves to find employment.
The film takes place in Tel Aviv, much of it in a fictitious local pub called Barbie, a satirical nickname for a famous Israeli mental health institution. The pub's name hints at the characters and the events which occur in the pub and which befall its owner (Daliah), the employees and customers. The plot unfolds with a streak of violence which takes a surprising turn.
An Israeli soldier is taken hostage by a small PLO squad in Lebanon. The soldier planned to go on vacation and to fly to the world final soccer cup, he and his capturers share the love to soccer and toward the (not so happy) end a relationship is made.
The second chapter in Assi Dayan's trilogy centers on three marginal characters from "Life According to Agfa". Malka, a whore with a Romanian accent who dreams of becoming a singer, Levi, her pimp and Moshe, a homeless man who dreams that Malka will love him and follows Malka and Levi. Levi navigates the trio in a grotesque and turbulent world in which people have lost the purpose of their existence. The result is a black comedy that combines the elements of the film "Bourekas" with poetic enlightening moments, all in the special, confident and blatant style of Assi Dayan.