SPECIAL EVENT: Berkeley Opening Night

Black Over White

Black Over White chronicles the Ethiopian concert tour by Israeli-Ethiopian-Yemenite world-beat band The Idan Raichel Project.

Bridge Over the Wadi

Bridge Over the Wadi documents a rocky year in the life of an Arab-Jewish primary school.

A Hebrew Lesson

The process of learning a language is always fraught with humor, frustration—and pantomime. A Hebrew Lesson opens with a scene that might seem familiar, as Yoela, the teacher at a Hebrew immersion class (or ulpan) in Tel Aviv, introduces herself in Hebrew relying on simple body language.

Operation Mural Casablanca 1961

Operation Mural is the incredible but true story of the smuggling of 530 Jewish Moroccan children to Israel, under the guise of a holiday trip to Switzerland, in the spring of 1961.

Baghdad Twist

Joining a small but growing number of films about the Jews of Iraq, Baghdad Twist—by Baghdad-born Joe Balass (Nana, George and Me, SFJFF 1998)—is an evocation of a lost world, one of reed boat rafting on the Euphrates, spice markets and doing the Twist. Wonderful archival footage melds with the recollections of Valentine, the director’s mother, in exploring one family’s choices and the way historical realities shaped them.

The Quest for the Missing Piece

The Quest for the Missing Piece is a hilarious romp through the debate over circumcision.

Mom, I Didn't Kill Your Daughter

Lior and Yuval are a couple; Lior comes from a kibbutz near the Dead Sea and Yuval was born in central Israel. Like many couples, they are opposites: Lior is opinionated and Yuval is introverted. Both were born as women, but throughout their lives they identified as male.

At Home in Utopia

“The Coops,” cooperative Bronx apartments, symbolized an experiment in justice and equality. Tthis documentary portrays the workers who embraced communist, socialist and union movements.

My Olympic Summer

8mm home movies from the 1970s and the discovery of an unopened letter from his mother are the potent and poetic ingredients of San Francisco–based director Daniel Robin’s reexamination of his parents’ relationship, set against the background of his own failed marriage. His father’s participation in the 1972 Israeli Olympic hostage crisis plays a crucial role.

A Fool's Dream

Lev Syrkin was a successful artist in Moscow who dreamed of pursuing artistic and personal freedom in Israel.

Georgia My Love

Noga Gamlieli playfully captures the beauty and spunk of Maya and Manana, Georgian immigrants to Israel who express their love for Georgia through their strongest talents: music and dance.

Bilin My Love

An important documentation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict seen through one village’s struggle, using stunning guerilla aesthetics that capture unique moments of desperation, courage and fear.

Praying In Her Own Voice

An excellent documentary about the contentious struggle of Women of the Wall for the right to wear prayer shawls and read Torah scrolls aloud at the Western Wall.

Four Questions For a Rabbi

Four Questions for a Rabbi is a poignant and thoughtful documentary begun by Bay Area filmmaker Stacey Ross and completed after her death by renowned documentarian and master found-footage alchemist Jay Rosenblatt (2005 SFJFF Freedom of Expression Award). Ross asks profound questions, including: What is the role of Judaism and the Jewish soul?

In the Family

In this gripping documentary, filmmaker Joanna Rudnick turns the camera on herself as she struggles with an impossible choice—–remove her healthy breasts and ovaries or risk a staggeringly high likelihood of developing aggressive cancer. Followed by filmmaker Q&A.

Love Comes Lately

Three intertwined stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer. At the center is the elderly writer Max (Otto Tausig), whose vivid imagination merges life with fiction. Co-starring Rhea Perlman & Tovah Feldshuh.

Strangers

Handsome Eyal and knockout Rana meet by chance on a subway in Berlin. But he’s Israeli and she’s Palestinian—setting in motion a passionate story exploring the boundaries of nationality, culture and the heart.

Tel Aviv by Girls

This free-spirited and mesmerizing docu-fiction hybrid explores the complexity of modern womanhood and the fragility of human relationships.

Two Lives Plus One

In this comedic drama, a Parisian schoolteacher’s newfound independence puts a strain on her conventional family when an attractive publisher takes an interest in her writing.

Emotional Arithmetic

A surprise visitor (Gabriel Byrne) triggers turbulent childhood memories of love and loss among war survivors (Susan Sarandon, Max von Sydow) in this achingly beautiful story set in modern Quebec. Co-starring Christopher Plummer.

Flipping Out

Every year, the cloud forests of India’s Himalayan foothills provide the ideal escape for some 30,000 young Israelis just released from mandatory military service.