Hebrew Films/Themes by Title
| Title | Call ID # | Description |
|---|---|---|
| The Band's Visit | DVHE 810 | Eran Kolirin: Heb, Eng, Ara (Eng Subtitles) 87 mins. A fading Egyptian police band arrives in Israel to play at the Arab Cultural Center. When they take the wrong bus, the band members find themselves in a desolate Israeli village. With no other option than to spend the night with the local townspeople, the two distinctly different cultures realize the universal bonds of love, music, and life. Set against a breathtaking desert landscape, this cross-cultural comedy proves that getting lost is sometimes. |
| Beaufort | DVHE 801 | Joseph Cedar: Hebrew (English Subtitles) 126 mins. After 18 years dug into a heavily fortified mountain deep in occupied Lebanon, the last Israeli soldiers enduring constant bombardment at the site of the ancient crusader stronghold called Beaufort receive orders to abandon their posts, detonate the warren of bunkers in which they've tenuously clung to life and victory, and come home. Amid redoubled shelling from Hezbollah, the fort's brash, impossibly young commander Liraz (Oshri Cohen) struggles to keep himself and his men safe from a faceless enemy that would turn withdrawal into massacre, and transform a just cause into a lost cause. |
| Beyond the Walls |
VHE 300 |
Uri Barbash: Hebrew (English subtitles) 103 mins. 1994. The struggle between Arabs and Jews is one of the most well-documented and tragic issues of our day. Beyond The Walls places this conflict squarely within the confines of an overcrowded Israeli prison, where hatred simmers and contrasting ideologies come into intense, sharp focus. |
| Checkpoint |
DVHE 808 | Yoav Shamir: Hebrew (English Subtitles) 80 mins. Over three million Palestinians live in The West Bank and Gaza Strip, which has been under Israeli military authority since 1967. Israeli director Yoav Shamir documents the impact of the enforced boundaries known as "checkpoints"on the Israeli border guards drafted to monitor them and the Palestinian citizens who must pass through them daily. Shot in a cimena verite style, a style of documentary filmmaking that stresses unbiased realism, the film shows these anonymous, one-time encounters between both sides and the lasting political, social, and cultural effects. Checkpoint gives a chilling look at the destructive impact on both societies. |
| Encounter Point | DVHE 807 | Ronit Avni: Heb (Eng, Spa, Ara, Heb, Fre, Porg, Subtitles) 92min. Just when the world is losing hope about the possibility of resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict comes Encounter Point. Created by a Palestinian, Israeli, North and South American team. Encounter Point moves beyond sensational and dogmatic imagery to tell the story of an Israeli settler, a Palestinian ex-prisoner, a bereaved Israeli mother and a wounded Palestinian bereaved brother who risk their safety and public standing to press for an end to conflict. They are at the vanguard of a movement to push Palestinian and Israeli societies to a tipping point, forging a new consensus for nonviolence and peace. Perhaps years from now, their actions will be recognized as a catalyst for constructive change in the region. Encounter Point is a film about hope, true courage and implicity about the silence of journalists and politicians who pay little attention to vital grassroots peace efforts. |
| The Garden of the Finzi-Continis |
VIT 301 |
Vittorio De Sica: Italian (English subtitles) 90 mins. 1971. A haunting love story set amidst the beauty and turbulent political passions of prewar Italy. Academy Award winner in 1971 for Best Foreign Film. With Dominique Sanda and Lino Cappoliccio. |
| The House on Chelouche Street |
VHE 301 |
Moshe Mizrahi: Hebrew (English subtitles) 111 mins.1973. Clara has brought her entire family to 'the promised land' with dreams of a better life. Opportunities are rare, however, and the best she can do is a job cleaning houses. Her son Sami is only 15, but he takes work in a machine shop to help his widowed mother provide for them all. His experiences become the focal point of the film, making this an engrossing coming-of-age drama. His unwitting encounter with a labor walkout and an affair with a woman ten years older throw Sami headlong into the adult. |
| Kadosh | DVHE 809 | Amos Gitai: Hebrew (English Subtitles) 117 mins. Set in the Mea Sherim quarter of Jerusalem, an enclave of the ultra Orthodox, KADOSH explores a hermetic world almost never seen on the screen. Here for ten years the pious Rivka (Yael Abecassis) has devoted herself to her husband Meir (Yoram Hattab), but their marriage remains childless. Presumed barren, she is rejected by her community, which prizes children above all else. The story that follows relates the harrowing fate of Rivka, and also her beloved sister Malka (Meital Barda) in love with a young man who has fled the community to lead a secular life. |
| Late Summer Blues |
VHE 302 |
Renen Schorr: Hebrew (English subtitles) 101 mins.1987. Late Summer Blues opened the 1987 Jerusalem Film Festival to unanimous acclaim. Set in 1970 during the War of Attrition at the Suez Cana, director Renen Schorr's triumphant first feature chronicles events in the lives of seven Israeli students during the summer following high school graduation- a summer clouded by their impending induction into the army. A universal story of life under war's shadow, Late Summer Blues celebrates the innocence and idealism of youth while offering a grim reminder of the tragedy of war. |
| Life is Beautiful |
VIT 354 |
Roberto Benigni: Italian (English subtitles) 116 mins. 1998. An inspired motion picture, Life is Beautiful, was nominated for seven Academy Awards winning five Oscars including one for Best Actor Roberto Benigni. In this extraordinary tale, Guido (Benigni) - a charming but bumbling waiter who's gifted with a colorful imagination and an irresistible sense of humor - has won the heart of the woman he loves and created a beautiful life for his young family. But then, that life is threatened by World War II ...and Guido must rely on those very same strengths to save his beloved wife and son from an unthinkable fate! Honored with an overwhelming level of critical acclaim, this truly exceptional, utterly unique achievement will lift your spirits and capture your heart. |
| Newland | DVHE 811 | Orna Ben-Dor Niv: Hebrew & Polish (Eng Subtitles) 107 mins. Leaving the devastation of World War II behind them, a little girl and her brother travel from Europe to Israel in search of family, hope and future. Placed in a refugee camp upon arrival, they are confronted by a world of colorful characters whose intrigues both terrify and tantalize. They are immediately forced to face the difficult realities of a new land. |
| The Policeman | DVHE 805 | Efraim Kishon: Hebrew (English Subtitles) 87 mins. When this soft-hearted cop threatens retirement, the crooks won't let him leave! Constable Abraham Azulai (Shaike Ophir) is kind- too kind. His love for his fellow man is equaled only by his unmatched loyalty to his 20-year employer- the Jaffa Police Force. But being a nice guy doesn't make a good cop: Azulai feels bad for small-time crooks and lets them off the hook. He even pays for the speeding tickets he issues. Naturally, the police department celebrates when Azulai's contract nears its end. But the criminals of Jaffa know that without the bumbling veteran on the force, their whole operation could go up in flames. Their solution? To design a perfect crime for Azulai to solve, prove his worth and keep his job. If only he were competant enough to crack it! |
Schindler's List |
VENG 323 |
Steven Spielberg: English 197 mins. 1993. This Academy Award winning film tells the story of Oskar Schindler, who saved hundreds of Jews from certain death in Nazi-dominated Europe. Adapted from Thomas Keneally's novel and starring Ben Kingsley, Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes. |
| Shiv'a | VHE 303 |
Dina Zvi-Riklis: Hebrew (English subtitles) 50 mins. 1996. |
| Tehilim | DVHE 803 | Raphael Nadjari: Hebrew (English Subtitles) 95 mins. In contemporary Jerusalem, an average middle class Jewish family balances the rituals of family, friends, religion and workaday life. But when middle-aged father and husband Eli (Shmuel Vilozni) unaccountably vanishes after a fluke car accident, the ensuing legal and emotional crisis gradually immerses Eli's spouse and two young sons in a muted real-life nightmare redefining the boundaries of everything they know, love and believe. While wife Alma (Limor Goldstein) navigates a bureaucratic maze of social services and paperwork, elder son Menachem (Michael Moshonov- Late Marriage) has his fragile faith and elusive adolescent peace of mind shaken to the core. |
| Time of Favor | DVHE 804 | Joseph Cedar: Hebrew (English Subtitles) 101 mins. A highly respected soldier in the Israeli Defense Forces, Menachem (Aki Avni) is also a devout student of controversial West Bank settlement leader Rabbi Meltzer (Assi Dayan). Despite the army's doubts and the Israeli Secret Service's suspicions, Menachem receives permission to lead an army unit made up of his fellow students from Rabbi Meltzer's West Bank Yeshiva. Rabbi Meltzer's star pupil and Menachem's best friend, Pini (Edan Alterman), gladly accepts the Rabbi's invitation to court his beautiful, headstrong daughter, Michal (Tinkerbell). But Michal, suffocated by settlement life and repulsed by her father's expectations, is drawn not to Pini's religious devotion but to Menachem's quiet strength. As the Rabbi's agenda, the Army's control and Pini's desperation all build to a boil, Menachem and Michal's secret passion threaten to destroy more than just their reputations. A violent scheme to blow up the Temple Mount soon puts all their allegiances to the test. |
| Turn Left At the End of the World | DVHE 800 | Nesher Avi: Hebrew & English (Eng & Heb Subtitles) 108 mins. Jewish cultures from around the world clash in the 1960s when two immigrant families-one from Morocco and the other from India- become neighbors in a tiny Israeli village in the Negev Desert. With only poverty and devotion to their homelands in common, they are brought together by the unlikely friendship of their daughters: sultry Moroccan Nicole (Neta Garty) and thoughtful Indian Sara (Liraz Charchi). The women's youth and lust for freedom overcome cultural prejudices. For these two communities and two friends, the toad to harmony is full of twists and turns both humorous and heartwarming. |
| Ushpizin | DVHE 806 | Gidi Dar: Hebrew ( English & Spanish Subtitles) 92 mins. Powerful, touching and amusing, Ushpizin (Guests) is a heartwarming and soul-stirring film. Big-hearted Moshe Bellanga (Shuli Rand) is down on his luck, so he and his loving wife Malli (Michal Bat-Sheva Rand) pray passionately for a miracle. Their prayers are answered...in the form of a large sum of money that mysteriously lands on their doorstep. But the great "gift" leads to the arrival of two uninvited ushpizin, and Moshe and Malli are left wondering... have they found God's favor or is this just a test of their devotion? |
| Waltz With Bashir | DVHE 812 | Ari Folman: Hebrew and English (Eng Subtitles) 90 mins. Inspired by actual events, Waltz with Bashir chronicles one man's descent into his own half-forgotten past. Filmmaker Ari Folman, an Israeli verteran of the First Lebanon War, encounters an old friend suffering from nightmares of the conflict. Ari begins to wonder why his own memories are full of gaps. In an effort to uncover the truth, he reconnects with old friends and dares to confront the horrors of war. |
| Yossi and Jagger | DVHE 802 | Eytan Fox: Hebrew (English Subtitles) 71 mins. Yossi is a serious and strong-featured commander…Jagger is his free-spirited and boyishly handsome charge...They are both soldiers in the Israeli army, and they are in love... Based on a true story, YOSSI & JAGGER portrays their secret love, set in a remote army base along the Israeli-Lebanese border. In a time of strife and uncertainty, Yossi and Jagger find hope in their unforgettable and emotionally charged romance. |