Israeli Competition

17 Beginnings of Talia

Actress Talia Shapira was a colorful figure, hilarious and uninhibited. She left dozens of films and hundreds of notebooks behind when she died, and so much more besides. Twenty-five years later, her son, director Yoni Bentovim, tries to come to grips with that vast legacy.

7 Days in St. Petersburg

Liza is flying to Russia to bring her deserter son Leonid, whom she has not seen in twelve years, back to Israel. The seven days she spends there are like a brief leave from prison. Time is limited. Nothing is trivial.

Against Your Will

After Amit committed suicide in the army, the secretary of his parents’ religious kibbutz asked them to refer to what happened as 'a gun accident'. When their second son committed suicide, they refused to remain silent. They have now launched an effort to commemorate their two sons, even though their kibbutz considers suicide to be a source of shame and a sin.

Better Late...

After 15 years of failed attempts to have children, a couple entering their golden years finally conceives. Unfortunately, an unexpected turn of events changes all their plans.

Bums, Go Home

During the protest of summer 2011, we met the homeless - some suffering from PTSD, others victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, and mental illnesses, as well as sex workers and drug addicts - people who had nowhere to go when their tent camp was demolished.

Censored Voices

One week after the Six-Day War, recordings of soldiers returning from battle were made, with excerpts later turned into a bestselling book, “The Seventh Day: Soldier's Talk about the Six-Day War”. The previously censored parts of these recordings, featured in this film, offer a candid, often heartbreaking picture of the war that changed Israel forever.

Closed Story

After 30 years suppressing and denying the traumatic events that took place at the Battle of Sultan Yacoub, the director and protagonist of the film is forced to chose between loyalty to his fellow officers, and looking in the mirror to see a painful truth about manliness, fear and emotional resilience.

Credit for Murder

A shocking video of a double murder in Russia appeared on YouTube in 2007. The police investigation reached a dead end, but the director of this film and his friend go undercover on a daring investigation of their own. Snooping around the darkest crevices of Russia’s neo-Nazi underground, they are determined to find the killers.

Family Matters

Thirty years ago, the divorce of a woman who went on to become a renowned author, and her husband, an esteemed rabbi, shook the religious city of Bnai Barak and affected the lives of their seven children.

God's Messengers

This is a rare cinematic document showing the Hilltop Youth at Gilad Farm, one of the most radical Jewish outposts in the West Bank. With the threat of evacuation hanging over their heads, they confront Israel's government, its security forces, and the Palestinians, and pose a rebellious, sometimes violent and lawless challenge to their foes, driven by an uncompromising ideology.

Saving Uncle Jacob

Sivan recruits his family of addicted smokers for a joint-quitting attempt in an effort to save his Uncle Jacob's life. An addictive, tragic-comic tale of the search for the last cigarette.

The Bentwich Syndrome

The saga of a restless and relentless Anglo-Jewish Family, which according to the founders of the dynasty served as God's gift to Zionism and enlightened Judaism, is exposed by the director, a member of the family himself, from an alternative, implausible and humorous angle.

Twilight of a Life

Sylvain Biegeleisen's mother is 95, but in her thoughts she is still 20 - laughing, smoking, singing and kissing. In these heartwarming conversations between the director and his mother, even the inevitable subject of a final farewell is full of humor and love.