Autonomies

In Jerusalem's orthodox neighborhoods, it's Succoth, seven days celebrating life's essentials in a sukkah, a temporary shack of both deprivation and hospitality. A devout couple, Moshe and Mali, married nearly five years and childless, are broke and praying for a miracle...

America's 50-million strong Evangelical community is convinced that the world's future is foretold in Biblical prophecy - from the Rapture to the Battle of Armageddon. This astonishing documentary explores their world - in their homes, at conferences, and on a wide-ranging tour of Israel. By interweaving Christian, Zionist, Jewish and critical perspectives along with telling archival materials, the filmmakers probe the politically powerful - and potentially explosive - alliance between Evangelical Christians and Israel...an alliance that may set the stage for what one prominent Evangelical leader calls "World War III."

Saar is an HIV positive gay man living in London, where he found refuge from the religious kibbutz where he grew up in Israel. Ever since he was diagnosed with HIV, Saar has craved his family's love, while they struggle with fears and prejudices.

Avi Nesher's new film tracks the complex relationship between a Jerusalem Graffiti artist and a mysterious modern day prophet who is imprisoned in an abandoned apartment across the Artist's window.

Red Cow is a coming-of-age film that takes place in the days leading up to the assassination of Rabin and depicts the life of Benny, 16, orphaned from mother at birth and the only child of Joshua - a religious, right-wing extremist, in those critical junctures when she is forming her sexual, religious and political awareness.

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?

In the conservative city of Jerusalem, Ami Shoshan, an Israeli football player, is forced by a mafia boss to pose as a homosexual, a punishment for flirting with the criminal's girlfriend. Shoshan is banned by players and fans of his team, but becomes a hero of the gay community.

A beautifully affecting love story that has rightly earned comparisons to Brokeback Mountain, Haim Tabakman's potent yet impeccably restrained tale has won awards and accolades at film festivals the world over. Aaron, a pillar in Jerusalem's Orthodox community is respected by friends and family. However, when he hires handsome runaway student Ezri to assist with his business, sexual tensions bristle and the pair cautiously embark on a love affair. Meanwhile, a neighbouring shopkeeper persists in seeing a man of her own choosing, even though she's been promised by her father to another. As forbidden truths come to the fore, these lovers are forced to either confront or relent in the face of a centuries-old religious community, with startling results.

Haim-Aaron is a bright, ultra-orthodox religious scholar living in Jerusalem. His talents and devotion are envied by all. One evening, following a self-imposed fast, Haim-Aaron collapses and loses consciousness. The paramedics announce his death, but his father takes over resuscitation efforts and, beyond all expectations, Haim-Aaron comes back to life. After the accident, try as he might, Haim-Aaron remains apathetic to his studies. He feels overwhelmed by a sudden awakening of his body and suspects this is God testing him. He wonders if he should stray from the prescribed path and find a way to rekindle his faith... The title means "Rectify" in Hebrew; nevertheless the movie is called Tikkun in the English-speaking world.

Tto rebellious young women - one fleeing the chaos of secular hedonism for the disciplined comforts of faith; the other desperate to transcend her oppressive religious upbringing for sexual and spiritual freedom - cross paths unexpectedly in Jerusalem, to startling consequences.

An accident during a bar mitzvah celebration leads to a gendered rift in a devout Orthodox community in Jerusalem, in this rousing, good-hearted tale about women speaking truth to patriarchal power.

The year is 1983 and Yaakov Cohen, the owner of a Jerusalem printing press, is tired from being pushed around. It seems that he was born on the wrong side, with the wrong family name and in a moment's decision he decides to establish a Sephardic-ultra-Orthodox list that will run to the Jerusalem municipality. He gathers two friends, and together they improvise a campaign - no means, no connections, no money, but with much rage, passion and a sense of justice.

In present day Jerusalem, a city increasingly dominated by religious fanaticism, Naomi, a secular young woman seeks refuge from the pressure of her life as a concert pianist. Despite her intentions to stay alone, however, Naomi quickly makes two unexpected connections- one with a musically gifted Ultra-Orthodox young boy who lives in her building and the other, with Fabrizio, a charismatic Italian monk and organist. While these relationships allow Naomi to reconnect with her love of music and sense of meaning, they also make her a target in her new community. Faced with escalating isolation and violence, Naomi must learn to use music as a bridge to overcome towering religious barriers.

Based on the award-winning play and popular Israeli short story, this poignant family drama follows Rivka, 19-years-old and strong-willed, who struggles to follow the conservative lifestyle of her ultra-orthodox parents in Jerusalem. Determined to break free from her parents’ rigid worldview, she runs away to a secular farming community in the desert. The decision pushes the two generations to confront the chasm between their stringent views of tradition and modernity.

This mythic love story set in a timeless, lavishly colorful and mystical Jerusalem incorporates hard rock, striking set design, computer-generated imagery and modern-day tensions between the secular and the Orthodox worlds. Hanan, a handsome young traveler - who has pierced ears and wears grungy flannel shirts - falls in love with Lea, the beautiful daughter of a leader in the religious community. Unbeknownst to the couple, a deal was struck, years earlier, in which they were promised to each other by their fathers. When Hanan consults with a master of Kabbala, a set of mysteriously forbidden eleventh-century texts unleashes untold powers, merging the erotic with the divine and affirming love's infinite potential to transcend all obstacles. The lovers are played by Yehezkel Lazarov (Waltz with Bashir) and Ayelet Z'urer (Angels & Demons; Vantage Point). (from sfjff.org)

Over the last ten years, technology has transformed almost every aspect of our lives before we've had time to stop and question it. In every home; on every desk; in every palm - a plasma screen; a monitor; a smartphone - a black mirror of our 21st Century existence.

Srugim follows a group of 30-something modern religious singles in the Katamon neighbourhood of Jerusalem as they attempt to navigate the frequently contradictory worlds of contemporary Israel and traditional observance.

John Romer recreates the glory and history of Byzantium. From the Hagia Sophia in present-day Istanbul to the looted treasures of the empire now located in St. Marks in Venice.

Akiva and Shulem Shtisel, father and son, sit on a little balcony overlooking streets of the Geula neighborhood of Jerusalem. A year has passed since the mother died. All the other children have left the nest, and only Shulam and Akiva remain - quarreling, making up, and laughing about themselves and the rest of the world. All will change when Akiva meets Elisheva.

When FBI Agent Peter Connelly, recently stationed in Jerusalem, begins investigating the murder of a young American, he realizes that he’s uncovered an ancient international conspiracy that threatens to change the course of human history. Certain that the dangerous prophecy is nearing fruition, Peter must race against the clock to unravel its mystery. From a remote farm in Norway, to an enigmatic compound in New Mexico, to the serpentine tunnels of Jerusalem, he searches for the truth, the revelation of which will shake the world's beliefs to its very core.

The series opens as widow Shimon Sadeh, a successful general contractor, is finishing the year of mourning for his deceased wife. He marries Leah, his daughter's piano teacher. Shimon's eldest son, Ephraim, has become ultra-Orthodox, identifying with his grandfather, Eliahu, who lives with the family and has close bonds and a strong influence. The middle child, Itzik, rejects both going into his father's business to be a musician; and Orthodoxy. Strong-willed, feisty Ariella is finishing high school and considering her options. Many scenes take place in the small Tunisian synagogue headed by Eliahu, and involve the power struggles among the regulars there. The gut-punching drama is largely the work of Oscar-winning director Yankul Goldwasser, who previously directed the popular series Reaching for Heaven; and young director Nir Bergman, who won the Israeli Academy Award for his first film, Broken Wings.

Passengers on board the mysterious Infinity Train must explore a series of endless cars that each contain unique worlds and puzzles to solve in order to unravel the mysteries of the train - and within themselves - to open the doorway home.

4 Yeshiva students who don't entirely fit in to their own world, although they try, find themselves at odds with their rabbi, their parents, and their matchmaker.

Three Jewish teenagers are kidnapped and murdered by Hamas militants in the summer of 2014, leading to the retaliatory killing of 16-year-old Palestinian Muhammad Abu Khdeir and a conflict that forever changes the lives of Jews and Arabs alike.

A devout Rabbi-detective tasked with unchaining women whose husbands deny them of a Jewish divorce and a new life, finds out that in his own home, and his own wife, lurks a secret that threatens his world and marriage. Through the story of Yossef Mourad and his wife Hannah, Unchained takes the viewer into the closed-off world of the ultra-orthodox Haredi society, and touches on the most painful place in which Jewish-law clashes with modern life – the status of women in society.

Atlantica is a dark and edgy comedy about a failing rock band from Jerusalem that gets its shot at a long awaited success when a tour guide with inspirations of becoming a band manager joins them. The band members dream of fame and glory while their lives are much less glamorous. In addition to gigs in dark, empty pubs, and bar owners and p.r. people who swindle them, these guys have to overcome the mental barriers facing musicians in their late thirties that refuse to grow up. Yet this tight knit group of friends will not give up on its dream and follows it no matter what.

In an alternate history where black “Cross” people rule over white “Noughts”, young couple Sephy and Callum are divided by their colour but united by love.

The loves, heartbreak, jealousy and pain of the three Armoza sisters – Luna, Rachelika, and Becky - their parents, grandparents and children, set during the early-mid 20th century in Jerusalem.

The personal and professional life of fashion mogul Julia Haart - former member of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community turned CEO of Elite World Group.

A historical and topical journey to the secular ideology, from the moment it entered our world, through the historical processes it went through, to the turbulent contemporary struggles in which it is involved