A-Z List

Dir. Eyal Sagui Bizawe and Sara Tsifroni
(60 min, Israel, 2015) Documentary

Not long ago, Israeli families of all backgrounds would huddle next to the TV each Friday to watch the week’s “Egyptian movie.” Did anybody ever wonder how Israel’s official TV station was able to bypass sealed borders to obtain these beloved Arab Movies of the Week?

Dir. Barry Levinson
(128 min, USA, 1990) Narrative

Barry Levinson directs this evocative, nostalgic film which celebrates the virtues of family life and traces several generations of Baltimore Jewish immigrants. Headlined by a memorable performance from 2016 WJFF Visionary award winner Armin Mueller-Stahl.

Israel’s submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award® is a tender tale of a generational divide and immigrant experience.

Dir. Laurence Gavron
(56 min, Senegal/France, 2016) Documentary

A large number of groups in Sub-Saharan African countries spontaneously converted to Judaism in the 20th Century. This film takes a close look at a Jewish community in Cameroon, while also examining African Israeli and African American Jewish communities.

Dir. Michal Vinik
(90 min, Israel, 2015) Narrative

Seventeen-year-old Naama Barash enjoys drugs, alcohol and hanging out with like-minded friends. As her parents fret about their older daughter’s disappearance, Naama meets a wild girl in school, and discovers the intoxicating rush of first love.

Dir. Steve Rivo
(85 min, USA, 2015) Documentary

At a time when the US was busy pushing and re-defining its borders, the nascent medium of photography was just starting to take root. At the center of this artistic and geographic expansion stood an observant Sephardic Jew from South Carolina, Solomon Carvalho (1815-1897).

Dir. Yakov Yanai Lein
(85 min, Israel, 2014) Documentary

Poignant, heartbreaking and triumphant, Yakov Lanai’s journey through Kabbalah, drugs and redemption rivals the wildest-imaged fiction, and yet it’s all true.

Dir. Sheila Canavan and Michael Chandler
(90 min, USA, 2014) Documentary

A fresh and contemporary political drama with unparalleled access to one of Congress’ first openly gay Representatives, and easily one of the most captivating public figures in recent memory.

Dir. Juraj Herz
(95 min, Czechoslovakia, 1969) Narrative

Ahead of its time, the blend of black comedy and horror in The Cremator is a stunning example of the Czech New Wave movement, gliding effortlessly between Surrealism and Expressionism.

Dir. Marcin Wrona
(94 min, Poland/Israel, 2015) Narrative

In this chilling, modern interpretation of the Dybbuk legend, Piotr’s joy at visiting his bride-to-be at her Polish home is quickly upended by a gruesome discovery. A wickedly sharp and creepy story of possession set against a wild wedding celebration.

Dir. Simón Casal de Miguel
(105 min, Spain, 2015) Narrative

In this WWII thriller imbued with notes of magical realism, two women help a Jewish prisoner cross the border to Portugal, putting their survival squarely at odds with their sense of justice.

Dir. Bärbel Jacks
(67 min, Germany/Austria, 2015) Documentary

Using his large-scale charcoal drawings, Austrian artist Manfred Bockelmann sets out to rescue the memory of Jewish children who perished in the Holocaust.

Dir. Krzysztof Kopczynsk
(86 min, Poland/Ukraine/Sweden, 2015) Documentary

The timely story of a conflict between Orthodox Jews and Ukrainian far-right activists in Uman, just before the Euromaidan protests.

Dir. Noa Ben Hagai
(55min, Israel, 2015) Documentary

When Albert Einstein visited Palestine in 1932, over 85,000 Jews lived there, and nearly all of them came out to greet the most famous Jew of his generation. For the next 12 days, Einstein kept a personal travel diary cataloging his impressions of the emerging Israeli State.

Dir. Lee Gilat
(98 min, Israel, 2014) Narrative

Aharon, a 13-year-old growing up in a working class Moroccan-Israeli community, is chosen to carry the Torah scrolls for Simchat Torah, but soon realizes this honor is fraught with challenges.

Dir. Marcie Begleiter
(105 min, USA, 2015) Documentary

German-American artist Eva Hesse’s complicated personal life encompassed not only a chaotic 1930s Germany, but also illness and the lively immigrant culture of New York in the 1940s.

Dir. Jack Walsh
(83 min, USA, 2015) Documentary

At the age of 25, Yvonne Rainer took her first dance class; at the age of 28, she changed dance forever.

Dir. Amir Wolf
(105 min, Israel, 2015) Narrative

The body of an 80-year-old man with three stab wounds to the chest washes up by the Yarkon River. Amnon, a downtrodden detective, takes on the case, and soon finds himself contending with con men, crooked cops, romanced widows and a secret society of Holocaust survivors.