Sun Bay

Obscured by the bustling tourist streets and glitzy hotels of the Israeli resort town of Eilat lies a clandestine trailer park where a small community has quietly taken root. Residing illegally yet peacefully, the inhabitants of Sun Bay Beach swim, fish, cook, converse, and exist in a state of voluntary solitude. “Everyone’s carrying a load here,” says Eliezer, a garbage collector and the beach’s unofficial groundskeeper, to Amir, a veteran struggling with symptoms of PTSD who arrives with his dog seeking refuge from a noisy city and a painful past. Also part of this unlikely makeshift family is Tova, an aging Englishwoman whose connection to the sea is equally profound. But with eviction looming and nowhere else to go, the residents find themselves at a heartbreaking crossroads.

The feature debut from filmmaker Ido Weisman (Requiem for a Whale, SFJFF 2023), this poetic and strikingly intimate observational portrait captures a uniquely harmonious community that has found sanctuary, survival, and belonging at society’s margins against all odds. —Jesse Knight

US Premiere

Ido Weisman is a Tel Aviv–based director and cinematographer. Born in 1989 and raised in Nofit, Israel, he holds a BFA from the Steve Tisch School of Film and Television at Tel Aviv University. His short films include Horah (2018), Pool (2019), and Uzzi (2018), which was shortlisted for the BAFTA Student Film Awards. His documentary Requiem for a Whale (2022) won the Student Documentary Award at the IDA Awards, received multiple honors at the Docaviv International Documentary Film Festival, and was nominated for Best Documentary Short at the Israeli Academy Awards. The film was later acquired for distribution by The New Yorker. Weisman also directed the television series You Have to Read This for Kan 11. His debut feature documentary Sun Bay (2025) won Best First Feature at DocAviv.