Israel 2025, 86 min, Arabic, Hebrew, Arabic & English subtitles
Michel George El-Raheb owns a small bookshop and café in the city of Jaffa called Yafa Cafe. Facing mounting challenges in running the shop, he calls upon his nephew, film producer Tony Copti, to partner with him. While looking to buy books for the shop, Tony ends up on an eye-opening journey that forces him and his uncle to become book smugglers. The process brings him to question where Jaffa’s books have disappeared after the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation, known to Palestinians as the Nakba.
The Smugglers is an absurd reflection of Israel’s ongoing oppression of the Arabic language and Palestinian culture.
