Other Israel Film Festival 2012: Tales of Tumbling

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Thursday, 08 November 2012 14:40

Written by Laura Blum

“Tanathor” means “tumbling” in Arabic, and it’s the original title of Tawfik Abu Wael’s new film about a Palestinian couple whose marriage is doing just that. 

Abu Wael's deeply personal drama is but one narrative about tumbling to be screened at the Other Israel Film Festival, now in its sixth year of “giving an international voice to minority groups in Israel through cinema.”

If conditions under Israeli rule have plunged this couple into disarray, fleeing East Jerusalem for Paris should bring stability. Or not.

In Last Days in Jerusalem, as the title is translated, additional drag forces are at play. Crises of identity, tradition and family are among the independent and dependent variables of the problem.

The other Israel showcase, which unfurls in New York City from November 8 to 15, 2012, hardly whitewashes the challenges facing the 20% of the country's population that includes Israeli Arabs, Christians, Muslims, Bedouins, the Druze, migrant workers and immigrants. In other words, any headlong falls taking place on the Festival's screens are probably not while characters are dancing the hora in the streets.

The programming, however, is sure-footed. OIFF co-founders/executive producers Carole Zabar and Isaac Zablocki, together with Festival director Ravit Turjeman, scour production and festival slates to provide audiences with an unvarnished lens on newsworthy topics affecting the fringes of Israeli society.

The Opening Night Film is Ami Livne's Sharqiya, which bagged first prize at the Jerusalem Film Festival after premiering at the Berlin Film Festival and screening at the Cannes ACid forum. Its protagonist, a Beduin security guard whose Negev home is ordered demolished by Israeli authorities, comes back with a countergambit for his ancestral land. He's knocked down, but whether he will tumble is left somewhat ambiguous.

Bookending this Wild East ("Sharqiya" is the Arabic word for "Eastern") showdown is closing night selection Wherever You Go. Here we meet two tumblers, a secular Israeli estranged from her Orthodox Jewish family and the Bedouin hitchhiker she picks up on the run from her family and the traditional marriage they are foisting on her. Ronny Sasson Angel's unlikely buddy film makes us root for freedom yet rue the loose footing of a life in social limbo.

Yariv Mozer’s The Invisible Men dramatizes the conundrums of gay Palestinians, and Naomi Levari’s Ameer’s Got His Gun documents the equally hot button issue of whether Arabs should serve in the Israeli army. Returning to the festival is the television hit Arab Labor. Not in its third season, the sitcom from author Sayed Kashua sends up the efforts of Palestinians trying to bust out of the garbage collection business.

To extend the platform for debate, films are followed by Q&A with filmmakers, scholars and special guests in the SpeakEasy Café. Original theater pieces and art exhibits round out the 40 programs to presented during the Festival's eight days.

Tickets purchases and other info can found by  calling 646-505-5708 or at: OtherIsrael.org

Nationwide, selected films and conversations are being streamed at OtherIsraelOnDemand.org

The following is a list and descriptions of the films in the fest:

A Bottle in the Gaza Sea
Israel/France, 2011, 90 minutes
Director: Thierry Binisti
A young French woman living in Jerusalem, develops a turbulent yet tender long-distance friendship with a young Palestinian, in hopes to better understand one another. An engrossing and hopeful drama based on the award-winning novel by Valérie Zenatti, starring Hiam Abbas.
Co-presented by: Heeb Magazine, and SAJ-TheSociety for the Advancement of Judaism
Friday 11/09/2012 10:00 am The JCC in Manhattan, 334 Amsterdam Ave.
Saturday 11/10/2012 7:00 pm The JCC in Manhattan
Monday 11/12/2012 9:00 pm Cinema Village, 22 E 12th Street

Ameer Got His Gun
NY Premiere, Israel, 2011, 58 minutes
Director: Naomi Levari
Ameer is a Muslim Arab about to enlist in to the Israeli army. He believes this is a path towards equality and belonging in the Jewish state. On his journey, he carefully navigates the thin line between Jewish and Arab societies in Israel.
Co-presented by: Givat Haviva, Ameinu, and NIF New Generations
Sunday 11/11/2012 3:00 pm NYU King Juan Carlos Center
Sunday 11/11/2012 6:30 pm Cinema Village
Tuesday 11/13/2012 7:00 pm The JCC in Manhattan

Arab Labor - Season 3
NY Premiere, Israel, 2012, 48 minutes
Director: Shay Kapun
The wildly popular, irreverent and acclaimed series by author Sayed Kashua, is back with a third hilariously entertaining season. Tune in for Amjad and his family’s adventures as they make constant efforts to fi t in after relocating from their Arab village to the heart of Jerusalem.
Saturday 11/10/2012 7:45 pm Cinema Village
Tuesday 11/13/2012 9:00 pm The JCC in Manhattan

Freeflow
US Premiere, Israel, 2011, 60 minutes
Director: Ramy A. Katz
The story of a mother of six in a provincial town, fighting to keep her family together with sheer courage and wisdom. Her eldest son, dropped out of school and has created an alternative reality for himself in which he is a daredevil putting his energy into the physical sport of Parkour.
Saturday 11/10/2012 5:00 pm The JCC in Manhattan Free.
Sunday 11/11/2012 3:00 pm Cinema Village
Wednesday 11/14/2012 7:00 pm Brooklyn Heights Synagogue

From the Black You Make Color
Special director's presentation, Israel/USA, 2012, 72 minutes
Directors: Judy Maltz and Richie Sherman
At Tel-Aviv’s oldest beauty academy, a group of students come from seven different countries, yet somehow fi nd a common language. The eight characters pulled into focus by the filmmakers, share common ordeals, and bring unique and varied life stories to their new environment.
Monday 11/12/2012 7:00 pm Cinema Village
Wednesday 11/14/2012 8:45 pm The JCC in Manhattan

New Voices 2012
81 minutes
Various Directors

Wild Horses
Amit Carp / 27 min
A dysfunctional relationship between a father and a son who raise horses, in the shadow of a tragedy.

Happy Holidays
Luca Marvanyi / 28 min
Christmas. Two Hungarian sisters living in Israel are torn by their Jewish/Christian Identities.

The Promised Land
Vanessa Knutsen / 15 min
A migrant worker takes refuge at her boss’ house for the Seder.

Peach Stones
Shai Ben-Dov / 11 min
A mysterious man reads the future for a fortune teller.
Saturday 11/10/2012 2:00 pm The JCC in Manhattan Free.
Wednesday 11/14/2012 8:45 pm Cinema Village

One Day After Peace
NYC Premiere, Israel, 2012, 86 minutes
Directors: Erez Laufer & Miri Laufer
Robi Damelin, a bereaved Israeli mother, tries to contact her son’s killer, a Palestinian serving in an Israeli prison. When he refuses, Robi decides to return to South Africa to see how the country where she was born embarked on achieving forgiveness and reconciliation after decades of confl ict.

Present Perspectives
NY Premiere, Israel, , 52 minutes
Various Directors
An Oasis on the Hill
Gal Kohen / 12 min
Two friends, an Arab and a Jew from Neve Shalom Village (Oasis of Peace), reach the pivotal age of 18.
Jerusalem ER
Hilla Medalia / 17 min
The experiences of Arab and Jewish doctors in Jerusalem’s Hadasah hospital.
Jerusalem Moments
Daniel Gal / 23 min
The new train in Jerusalem and its diverse passengers - Jews, Arabs, religious, and secular.
Co-presented by: Hashomer Hatzair
Sunday 11/11/2012 4:45 pm Cinema Village
Monday 11/12/2012 8:45 pm The JCC in Manhattan

Sharqiya
NY Premiere, Israel/France/Germany, 2012, 82 minutes
Director: Ami Livne
Official Selection – Berlinale Panorama 2012
Official Selection – ACID-Cannes 2012
Kamel lives with his brother and sister-in-law at the edge of the Negev desert on land that has belonged to their Bedouin family for generations. When state officials order the demolition of the few shacks where the family resides, Kamel must come up with a plan to save his home.
Co-presented by: Rabbis for Human Rights North America, AJEEC-NISPED, and Jewish Alliance for Change
Thursday 11/08/2012 7:00 pm The JCC in Manhattan
Opening Night Gala
Saturday 11/10/2012 9:15 pm Cinema Village

Tanathor - Last Days in Jerusalem
Israel/France/Germany/Palestine, 2011, 80 minutes
Director: Tawfik Abu Wael
Official Selection - Toronto Film Festival 2011
Nour and Iyad, a Palestinian couple living in East Jerusalem, are getting ready to move to Paris. He is a surgeon and she is a budding actress. On the way to the airport, an accident delays their departure. Nour starts to question their future move.
Friday 11/09/2012 7:30 pm Cinema Village
Saturday 11/10/2012 9:15 pm The JCC in Manhattan

Testimony (Edut)
US Premiere, Israel/France, 2011, 80 minutes
Director: Shlomi Elkabetz
Official Selection - 68th Venice International Film Festival
With visual brilliance, testimonies of soldiers, officers and Palestinians are presented by some of Israel’s top actors. A dozen unspoken stories from the lives of Palestinians and Israelis make up an Israeli collective conscience, presenting both sides of the same narrative.
PRESENTED AS PART OF OTHER ISRAEL PEACE AND RECONCILIATION PROGRAM
Co-presented by B'Tselem USA
Friday 11/09/2012 9:30 pm Cinema Village
Saturday 11/10/2012 6:00 pm 92YTribeca
Sunday 11/11/2012 5:00 pm The JCC in Manhattan

The Invisible Men
NY Premiere, Israel, 2012, 67 minutes
Director: Yariv Mozer
The untold story of gay Palestinians persecuted in their communities and are hiding illegally in Tel Aviv. Their only chance for survival is to seek asylum outside Israel and Palestine, and to leave their homeland behind forever.
Co-presented by: A Wider Bridge, Newfest and AICF
Saturday 11/10/2012 6:00 pm Cinema Village
Monday 11/12/2012 7:00 pm The JCC in Manhattan

Unidentified
US Premiere, Israel, 2012, 48 minutes
Directors: Emmanuel Rosen & Tali Rosen
The stories of talented young Muslim Israeli women stuck between two cultures, unable to belong to the community and tradition in which they were raised, nor to Israeli Jewish society. These vibrant women grapple with love, work, and the dilemmas of the modern world.
Sunday 11/11/2012 5:00 pm NYU King Juan Carlos Center
Tuesday 11/13/2012 9:00 pm Cinema Village
Wednesday 11/14/2012 7:00 pm The JCC in Manhattan

Wherever You Go 
US Premiere, Israel, 2011, 63 minutes
Director: Ronny Sasson Angel
Two women’s lives intertwine: one is on her way to see her estranged Jewish Orthodox family; the other is on the run from her Bedouin family who is forcing her into a life without choice. Together, they stand up against their predetermined destinies.
Co-presented by: AICF

Shown with:

Eye Drops
Director: Mohammad Bakri / Israel, 2012, Narrative
An encounter between a holocaust survivor and an Arab actor who lives in Tel Aviv with his two sons, during the second intifad
Wednesday 11/14/2012 7:00 pm Cinema Village
Thursday 11/15/2012 7:00 pm The JCC in Manhattan
Closing Night

Other Israel Film Festival
November 8 to 15, 2012

The JCC in Manhattan
334 Amsterdam Ave.

Cinema Village
22 E 12th Street
New York City

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