Documentary
Our Nappy Hair
Janet (25) is a poet from Beersheva, Tamar (32) is an actress from Tel Aviv and Comfort (42) founded and directs the “Afro-Jewfro” Festival in Jerusalem. Three women, three hairdressing salon, and three similar, yet different, stories about black identity, the suppression of nappy hair, and mainstream notions of ideal beauty.
Who’s Afraid of Jewish Humor?
Jewish humor has travelled from the Shtetl to Hollywood, from the Torah to Comic books. Jewish humor is tradition and pop culture – and also a cliché? Especially in Germany and Austria, Jewish jokes became very popular after the Second World War. Jewish humor is, allegedly, self-ironic – and laughing about the Jews together with the Jews seems like a convenient way for the perpetrator countries to cope with their dark pasts. But is Jewish humor really always self-mocking – or is the matter more complex? In the documentary, rabbis, comedians and writers from Germany, Austria, France and Israel have their say. Who owns Jewish humour – and who owns the laughter?
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Who Are the Marcuses
“Who Are the Marcuses?” reconstructs the lives of Holocaust refugees Lottie and Howard Marcus, an unassuming couple from Great Neck, New York, who retired to a modest two-bedroom apartment in San Diego, California. Former dentist Howard passed away in 2014 at age 104. Lottie passed less than two years later. In 2016, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev announced the Marcuses had given them over half a billion dollars: the largest single charitable donation to the State of Israel in its history. The film simultaneously traces the development of Israel’s vital water technology from pre-state to the present; how the Marcuses” endowment to BGU has ensured its continued leading-edge development in this science for not only the Israeli people, but the world as a whole; sets the family’s gift in geopolitical context; and explores both its impact and implications for regional peace through technology exchange.
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Reckonings
They met in secret to negotiate the unthinkable – compensation for the survivors of the largest mass genocide in history. Survivors were in urgent need of help, but how could reparations be determined for the unprecedented destruction and suffering of a people? Reckonings explores this untold true story set in the aftermath of the Holocaust. Directed by award-winning filmmaker Roberta Grossman, Reckonings recounts the tense negotiations between Jewish and German leaders. Under the constant threat of violence, they forged ahead, knowing it would never be enough but hoping it could at least be an acknowledgement and a step towards healing.
Frum Dogs of Hendon
Seen as aggressive and dirty, dogs have had a bad reputation in religious Jewish circles for centuries. Dog lovers in Hendon (UK) however, prove that being Frum and having a furry, four-legged best friend are not mutually exclusive.
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Finding a Town’s Past
The John Paul II Academic High School in Biała Podlaska, Poland took part in the School of Dialogue program in 2021. They research the Jewish history of their town and try, in a small way, to bring it back to life.
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Dreyfus Drei
Dreyfus Drei is a film about family, identity and returning to Germany from Australia Australian Jewish artist Ella Dreyfus grew up with little knowledge of her family’s tragic losses in the Holocaust. She sets out to uncover their history with her uncle George in Melbourne and her cousin Jonathan in Berlin, and finds her own way of re-connecting to Germany. The short documentary is a poetic film that follows Ella’s search for the Dreyfus’ histories and traces of her late father’s life.