Virtual screening

Filmmaker Jonathan Ofek grew up in Jerusalem and in an Indian Ashram— a fact that he had to keep secret. He was taught to dedicate his life to his Guru, to reach his goal in life, awaken from the ”illusion,” realize the ”truth,” and become enlightened. Twenty years (and a lot of therapy) later, Jonathan sets out on a journey of discovery to understand the effect these secrets had on him and to find out what happened to the other Ashram children. Was he raised in a cult?
MATURE LANGUAGE

Film: 67 minutes

Director: Jonathan Ofek

Production country: Israel

Year: 2019

Israel’s only woman prime minister defends her clouded legacy in this riveting portrait backboned by a blunt, unaired TV interview. During her turbulent tenure, Golda Meir, idolized globally but often reviled in Israel, confronted sizable domestic and international challenges. Shortly before her death, she was interviewed by Israeli television. Once the show ended, cameras kept rolling as hard- nosed Meir spoke freely between cigarette puffs about her stormy premiership and its personal toll. This extraordinary off-air exchange is buttressed by testimonials from devotees and detractors alike, as well as rare archival footage charting Golda’s trailblazing rise to power and tragic demise.

Film: 85 minutes

Directors: Sagi Bornstein, Udi Nir, Shani Rozanes

Production countries: Israel, Germany

Year: 2019

Community partner:

A boorish Israeli-American couple plan a Sabbath dinner party for a group of fellow ex-pat friends and family in their Hollywood Hills mansion. What could possibly go wrong? Well, start with a deadly mix of alcohol, add inflated egos, some inappropriate lust, and top with raging jealousy, and the result is a cauldron of murderous mayhem. A shotgun, garden shears, kitchen knives, and even a garbage disposal are used as weapons of choice as these deranged guests turn on each other in director Michael Mayer’s outrageous and bloody comedy. Actors include Austin’s own Alon Pdut.
GRAPHIC VIOLENCE, SEXUAL CONTENT, DRUG USE

Film: 93 minutes

Director: Michael Mayer

Production countries: USA, Israel, Italy

Year:2019

Community partner:

“This film is set inside the inner sanctum of a symphony hall and tells the story of a childless Israeli musical couple seeking to form a family.”
Abraham is the conductor of the Jerusalem Philharmonic Orchestra, and his wife, Sarah, is the harpist. With no children, their melancholy life revolves around their music. In this contemporary adaptation of the biblical story of Abraham and Sarah, Hagar, a young horn player from East Jerusalem, joins the orchestra and forms a close personal relationship with both Sarah and Abraham, eventually agreeing to carry the couple’s baby. Two rival prodigies are born—one Jewish, one Arab—but neither want to take the course laid out for them by their parents. Nominated for five Israeli Academy Awards and winner of the Best Cinematography and Lia Van Leer Jewish Heritage
awards at the Jerusalem Film Festival.
MATURE LANGUAGE, MATURE THEMES

Film:  98 minutes

Director: Ori Sivan

Production country:  Israel

Year:  2016

The year is 1940, and French-Jewish socialist politician and three-time Prime Minister Leon Blum has been imprisoned at Buchenwald. This touching historical drama starring Elsa Zylberstein and Hippolyte Girardot follows Jeanne Reichenbach, who has been in love with Blum since they were teenagers but has always only admired him from afar. Now she is married with a son, but she is driven by the urge to link her fate with Blum’s once and for all—As the Nazis invade France, she abandons her comfortable life and risks everything to reunite with and marry him in prison.
SOME INTENSE SCENES

Film: 105 minutes

Director: Laurent Heynemann

Production country: France

Year: 2019

“A unique journey about a rabbi who experienced personal desolation and succeeded in rehabilitating his and his community’s life.”
The Admor of Sanz-Klausenburg was a rabbi who experienced personal devastation, and despite this succeeded in rehabilitating his own life and that of his Chassidic community. Through his heroic story, the film presents the narratives of the Holocaust as told by different members of the ultra-Orthodox community. HIDDEN FACE presents the complex relationship between ultra-Orthodox Jews and the memory of the Holocaust. Through rare archival footage and interviews with Sanz Chassidim, it reveals the ways they experience the revival and spiritual victory over the Nazis and pass it on to the ensuing generations, while dealing with the biggest question of all—where was God during the Holocaust?
FAMILY FRIENDLY

Film:  54 minutes

Director: Eyal Datz

Production country: Israel

Year: 2018

Thirty years after the queer Swedish disco-pop band Army of Lovers became an international phenomenon, its Jewish frontman, Jean-Pierre Barda, embarks on a new chapter when he uproots his existence to move from Sweden to Israel. In this new documentary, director Asaf Galay joins Barda alongside his journey at the age of 50. Army of Lovers (a blend of ABBA, the B-52s, and performance art) continues to rock pride celebrations and underground club parties with its mix of high camp, daring music videos, and a motto of “More is more, less is a bore.” Barda’s identity—flamboyant, philosophical, and religious all at once—explores what it means to never doubt oneself.
MATURE THEMES, SEXUAL CONTENT

Film: 65 minutes

Director: Asaf Galay

Production country: Israel

Year: 2019

Community partner:

What does it means to be Jewish in the modern world? Inspired by real-life events, the film witnesses a son’s encounter with his father after telling him that he is about to have a baby with his non-Jewish partner. The stoic father makes an urgent case to practice traditions that the anxious son finds troubling. As the bubbling turns to a boil, they both realize that they are but two parts of a much greater whole.

Film: 18 minutes

Director: Michael Tobin

Production country: Canada

Year: 2019

A six-hour interview with David Ben-Gurion, one of modern history”s greatest leaders, emerges from the obscurity of an archive where it has lain unrecognized for decades. It is 1968, and Ben-Gurion is 82 years old. He lives in the seclusion of his home in the desert, remote from all political discourse, which allows him a perspective on the Zionist enterprise. His introspective soul-searching is the focus of this film, and his reflections provide a surprising vision for today”s crucial decisions and for the future of Israel.

Film: 70 minutes

Director: Yariv Mozer

Production countries: Israel, France, Germany

Year: 2016

The story of a 78-year-old Greek man and his Hasidic rapper son, who have been estranged for many years. They embark together on a road trip from Israel to Greece searching for an old magician who saved the father”s life during World War II. The journey leads them to absurd encounters, and it ultimately brings them to a final confrontation of father and son.
CONTAINS NUDITY, ADULT SITUATIONS

Film: 100 minutes

Director: Nicola Hens

Production country: Israel

Year: 2014