Israeli and Jewish Documentary Films Series (in Hebrew)

Top photo: ADA – My Mother the Architect, film by Yael Melamed. Photo: Tuli Chen

Series in collaboration with The New Fund for Cinema and TV.

Wednesdays, 4:30pm-8pm

Series producer: Rivka Aderet  03-7457908 | rivka@anumuseum.org.il

Price: 830 NIS

Series Program: 

20.11.24

• Wake Up, Grandson – Letters to my Rebellious Rabbi. Director Renen Schorr’s journey in the footsteps of his grandfather, Rabbi Avraham Heller, hero of the 1948 War Battle of Safed, a deeply religious town. Spiritual vs. Secular, Faith vs. Film, Holy Safed vs. Hedonistic Tel Aviv. In a 25-year exchange of letters between paterfamilias and grandson, the elder begs the young filmmaker to forsake Truffaut for tradition and carry on his legacy. When the request is rebuffed, a surprising final wish comes from the grandfather, “Make a movie about me”. Post-screening discussion with Renen Schorr Heller.

4.12.24

• A Haunted Home. We return to one of Israel’s bloodiest forgotten terror attacks ꟷ the April 11, 1974, massacre on Yehuda Halevi Street in Kiryat Shmona in which 16 tenants were slaughtered by terrorists Directors: Lisa Peretz, Robby Elmaliah. Post-screening discussion with Lisa Peretz.
• Docu-Activism and Protest. Can documentary films make a difference? With Dr. Shmulik Duvdevani

11.12.24

• Jacob de Haan: A Voice Out of Time. The death of Jacob Israel de Haan is commemorated annually by both the ultra-Orthodox Jews of Neturei Karta in Jerusalem, and the LGBTQ community in Amsterdam. He is a pioneer for both. In the early twentieth century, he published the first LGBTQ novel in the Netherlands. He then returned to his Jewish roots, migrated to Palestine as a Zionist, but became the spokesperson for the Orthodox community, spearheading its fight against Zionism. He was still publishing queer poetry in Dutch. He was killed in Jerusalem in 1924, and his assassins were never caught. Today, never-before-heard audio recordings shed new light upon the mystery of the first Zionist political assassination. Post-screening discussion with the filmmaker, Zvi Landsman.

8.1.25

• Kafka’s Last Trial. Franz Kafka left behind a rich collection of unpublished manuscripts, along with instructions to his best friend, Max Brod, to burn them all. But Brod did not do so. This act of altruistic ‘betrayal’ created the multi-generational curse that will accompany our story throughout its entire length, a 100-year-old story that travels from the winding streets of Prague to Spinoza Street in Tel Aviv. Post-screening discussion with the filmmaker, Eliran Peled.

22.1.25

• Outsider. Freud. the life and work of Sigmund Freud is told in four parts, through Freud’s personal letters combined with animations, through a reconstruction of his study, through unknown dreams and rare archives of home movies that have never been revealed before, and through leading psychoanalysts around the world. The film is an intimate and thought-provoking journey about the dreams, Judaism, sexuality, anxieties and regrets of the Viennese psychoanalyst. Post-screening discussion with the filmmaker, Yair Qedar.

5.2.25

• It Happened on our Ground. A journey of three generations of women living on one farm that Wendi, the  mother, inherited from her uncle, Hitler’s first foreign minister and senior S.S officer. The film is a feminine personal portrait of a German aristocratic family who used their privileged position to save Jews from a concentration camp that was erected on their land. The three women are not afraid to confront the difficult past of their family in an attempt to safeguard a peaceful future. Post-screening discussion with the filmmaker, Avner Faingulernt.

19.2.25

• If This World Were a Sea. A biographical documentary brings the remarkable life of the poet Natan Yonatan to the screen. Yonatan, who died almost twenty years ago, was one of Israel’s leading poets and lyricists. He wrote numerous songs that have become Israeli classics – all of them set to music by Israel’s finest composers and performed by its finest singers. In the film, Yonatan’s story is conveyed by his adopted children, Neta Raz and Neta’s son, Tom. The poet developed a special relationship with the young boy, in which Tom filled the void in Yonatan’s life following the death of his first-born son, Lior, who was killed in the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Post-screening discussion with the director, Ari Davidovich.
• Shattered Paradise. In the decade prior to the atrocities of October 7^th, filmmaker Ronit Ifergan lived with her family in Kibbutz Kfar Aza near the border with Gaza, recording the unusual life in that area: paradise and hell, parenting and maturing under constant threat, anxieties mixed with hope for a better future, protests and finally – the October 7th at the Kibbutz. Post-screening discussion with the director, Ronit Ifergan.

5.3.25

• Look, Soon You Won’t See Anything. An intimate portrait of love and devotion, the film follows Baruch and Gila Meshulam, whose 65-year marriage faces the challenges of Baruch’s progressing dementia. Once an architect who contributed to Israel’s architectural landscape, Baruch now expresses his creativity through children’s coloring books. As his memories fade, their grandson documents the couple’s enduring love, the echoes of a fulfilling career, and the bittersweet transformation of their home. A touching exploration of how love adapts and perseveres, even as dementia reshapes the contours of a life shared. Post-screening discussion with the filmmaker, Matan Abramovitz.
• Premiere films by graduates of the Ultra-Orthodox Women’s Track of Maale Film School.  A unique insight of the Charedi-feminine experience. Post-screening discussion with the filmmakers.

19.3.25

• ADA – My Mother the Architect. Ada Karmi Melamede is one of the most prolific architects of her generation in Israel and abroad. Through the lens of her daughter’s film camera lens, an extraordinary protagonist is revealed whose life story is intertwined with the story of the turbulent and complicated country she loves. Ada offers an unusually evocative perspective on ideas such as “place,” “home,” and “state” as someone working toward improving the public sphere while that sphere deteriorates and becomes increasingly fraught. As so many are shaken by the fragility of the democracy we call home, Ada gives us ways to think about what we seek in our personal and public lives, and the spaces and places in between. Post-screening discussion with the editor, Sharon Yaish.

2.4.24

• Dive into the films collections of the Oster Documentation Center at ANU Museum. With Rivka Aderet.
• Letter to a Pig. A traumatic memory from a Holocaust survivor transports a young schoolgirl on an inner journey. Post-screening discussion with the director, Tal Kantor.

7.5.25

• Full Support. In a Jaffa bra shop’s fitting room, women’s love-hate affair with their bosom buddies unfolds. As each heroine struggles to find the perfect bra, she bares not just her chest, but her soul, sharing tales of triumph, tribulation, and the occasional wardrobe malfunction. For breasts aren’t just fleshy accessories—they’re the protagonists of our life’s epic. From the awkward moment they first break out, to the sobering reality checks of mammograms, our relationship with our “girls” is a bouncy roller-coaster of ups and downs because life, much like a poorly fitted bra, is full of surprises. Post-screening discussion with the filmmaker, Michal Cohen.
• Nili Block. Nili, is a professional Muay Thai and kickboxing fighter, a highly decorated religious athlete. Post-screening discussion with the filmmakers, Tal Kushner and Yaniv Ben Aharon.

21.5.25

• Flight 1812: Rediscovering Mom. On October 4, 2001, Oksana Zelser, aged 38, boarded a flight from Israel to Russia for a family visit. A long-range missile fired at the plane caused it to crash into the Black Sea, claiming the lives of everyone on board, including 51 Israeli citizens. Oksana’s son, Iliya, was only 13 years old when he received the devastating news. And he can’t remember anything from that day. 20 years later, now married, Iliya decides to unlock his well-sealed Pandora’s box and find out: Who fired the missile that led to the plane crash, and why? Is Israel’s collective amnesia about this tragedy linked to the fact that most victims were new immigrants? And will he succeed in reclaiming the lost memories of his mother? Post-screening discussion with the director, Irit Zeltser.

4.6.25

• Soldiers Marching Off. The first decade of I.D.F. The late Yaakov Gross’s film, based on Carmel Herzliya Newsreel footage. a meeting with his daughter, Hili Gross.
• Post October 7th. Six filmmakers’ points of view on the day that changed their lives.

18.6.25

• A work-in-progress film. TBA