The 28th San Francisco Jewish Film Festival is proud to present a Close Up look at the dynamic filmmaking team of brothers Barak and Tomer Heymann. We will screen six of the Heymann brothers’ documentary films in three programs: Bridge Over the Wadi (2006) and Black Over White (2007); Out of Focus (2007) and Dancing Alfonso (2007); and It Kinda Scares Me (2001) and Stalags—Holocaust and Pornography in Israel (2007, directed by Ari Libsker).

The Heymann brothers might be a documentary version of the American filmmaking team the Coen brothers in terms of their shared artistic vision as siblings and creative partners. In fact, you would be hard pressed to find more humor, quirkiness or pathos in the Coen brothers’ dramas than you will in the Heymann brothers’ collected documentaries. Their films are often bellwethers of entire social phenomena that lurk beneath the radar of Israeli society, captured with fluid camerawork, intimacy and a finely honed sense of the humanity and uniqueness of their subjects. Several of their excellent documentaries have focused on musicians, two on dance, and a number focus on the diversity of Israeli society by giving voice to immigrants and people marginalized by the mainstream.

The Heymann Brothers Films company, based in Tel Aviv, was founded ten years ago by Tomer Heymann. In 2001 he made a splash with his third documentary It Kinda Scares Me, which won the Ophir Award in Israel, Best Documentary at the Haifa International Film Festival and awards in Turin, New York, Taipei and Melborne. In 2003 Barak, Tomer’s younger brother, joined the company, and they have since directed and produced an impressive number of documentaries together and separately for television and cinema.

Bridge Over the Wadi captures the struggles and tenacity of the teachers, students and parents during the first year of a bicultural, bilingual Jewish/Arab school —the first of it’s kind located inside an Arab village. An American-Israeli co-production, together with ITVS, the film won prizes in film festivals throughout the world. We will screen it with Black Over White, a rollicking portrait of band members in the Israeli world music Idan Raichel Project’s trip to Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia—including two Ethiopian Israeli band members, one of whom is reunited with his grandmother.

Out of Focus and Dancing Alfonso are two of the best dance documentaries you could hope to set your eyes on. Out of Focus is stunningly shot and an incredibly rare opportunity to witness the creative process of veteran choreographer Ohad Naharin (Bat Sheva Dance Company) as he brings his technique to the Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet. Dancing Alfonso is a pitch-perfect portrait of an elderly, vital widower who finds community, creativity and a physical practice that sustains him in the world of flamenco.

It Kinda Scares Me depicts the relationship between Tomer and a group of delinquent adolescent boys who are creating a play together. It screens with the absolutely fascinating documentary Stalags—Holocaust and Pornography in Israel (2007, directed by Ari Liebsker and produced by Barak Heymann), which investigates pornographic representations in Holocaust literature in Israel. Stalags screened at the renowned repertory theatre Film Forum in New York, and in Hot Docs among many other film festivals internationally. A film that thoughtfully grapples with the significance of a unique pop- culture genre, it was first shown at the Jerusalem International Film Festival before being broadcast on the Yes Doco channel in Israel.

Other well-known Heymann films not featured in this series are Aviv-F****d Up Generation (2004), about controversial Israeli rock star Aviv Geffen; and Paper Dolls (2006), about a group of Filipino foreign workers who work as care givers for elderly Orthodox men and on weekends perform as drag queens. Winner of three prizes at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival, Paper Dolls has also been broadcast on the Sundance Channel.

Both Heymann brothers have also worked extensively in television. Tomer directed a four-episode series for Channel 2 about people who are seeking a significant change in their lives and hope to find it through plastic surgery. Barak is working on a new film about the Samaritan community for Channel 8. In 2005 they created "Bridge Over the Wadi" together for the Yes Doco channel, a four-part series that won first place in the Israeli Documentary Filmmakers Forum and from which the one-hour documentary film we are showing was culled. A fivepart series the brothers directed together, about two young groups from the south of Israel who are making their first steps in the music world, recently aired to excellent reviews.

Barak is currently producing a new film by the award-winning Arab director Ibtisam Mara’ana (whose last film Three Times Divorced won first place at the Doc Aviv Film Festival and is screening this year in our festival); a documentary about the Israeli Arab writer Sayed Kashua; and also is involved in a documentary project with young kids from Beer-Sheva.

We encourage you to see all three programs from these innovative filmmakers whose work continues to make its mark internationally and in Israel.

Barak and Tomer Heymann will be present at the Castro screenings of Bridge Over the Wadi and Black Over White on July 26, and Out of Focus and Dancing Alfonso on July 27.