Central Bus Station(2019)

Temporary Identity(he)

What does it mean to belong to a place, a country? In a south Tel Aviv elementary school, that question is addressed head-on by a fourth-grade class and their teacher. The children are asylum seekers whose families mostly do not have a legal status in Israel, yet learn, sing and play in Hebrew all the while examining their identity and sense of belonging.

Pompeii New York, Part 1: Pier Caresses(en)

A crumbling pier, its walls covered with graffiti and erotic frescoes reminiscent of pagan Pompeii, the locus of the seduction rituals of men longing for men, is the focus of this meditation on gay cruising at the height of sexual freedom before AIDS. Shot in 1982, this is the first segment of a film capturing the life, death, and rebirth of the legendary “sex piers” over the last three decades.

Echo Of The Past: The Terrence Tower(en)

A historical documentary documenting the rise, function, and abandonment of a 17 story building that once housed The Rochester Psychiatric Center. This film tells the story of the building through historical footage, interviews of former staff and patients who recount their memories of the behemoth facility while also exploring the abandoned building as it is today.

Atlal (Remnants)(en)

'Atlal (Remnants)' is a fictional documentary that follows Bassam, a Palestinian man in his fifties, on a journey between the past and present. An abandoned school, the remains of a beach club, and a dusty cinema hold Bassam's cherished memories from his life in Qatar. Through personal archives and interviews with Bassam and his wife, Laila, we get a deeper look into their stories—slowly revealing the dismaying thoughts behind Bassam's nostalgia.

Los últimos del Tívoli(es)

The Flat(he)

The flat on the third floor of a Bauhaus building in Tel Aviv was where my grandparents lived since they immigrated to Palestine in the 1930s. Were it not for the view from the windows, one might have thought that the flat was in Berlin. When my grandmother passed away at the age of 98 we were called to the flat to clear out what was left. Objects, pictures, letters and documents awaited us, revealing traces of a troubled and unknown past. The film begins with the emptying out of a flat and develops into a riveting adventure, involving unexpected national interests, a friendship that crosses enemy lines, and deeply repressed family emotions. And even reveals some secrets that should have probably remained untold...

In search of urbex(fr)

There are places in the world that are forgotten by everyone, places where time seems to have stopped, where nature seems to have won the battle. These places are the playgrounds of modern-day adventurers called urbexers. They explore, discover, and photograph the most emblematic abandoned sites in France with a single leitmotif: to prevent them from falling into oblivion forever.

Highland Tower(ms)

In December 1993, a luxury condominium tower block collapse after ground erosion from the neighbouring hillside. About 50 people lost their lives and to this day has become one of the darkest and saddest tragic incidents in Malaysian history. Twenty years later in 2013, a group of documentary filmmakers venture into the remaining two blocks that is left standing to do a ghost hunting expedition. What they discovered is not for the faint-hearted.

Cinema Morocco(pt)

For two decades, Cine Marrocos, a movie theatre in the heart of São Paulo, was one of the most popular and opulent of the city. After it was closed, in 1972, it was occupied by a homeless workers' movement. The documentary tells the story of the people who lived there, alternating scenes from an acting class with those of the movies exhibited there in the past.

Reimagining A Buffalo Landmark(en)

The Richardson Olmsted Campus, a former psychiatric center and National Historic Landmark, is seeing new life as it undergoes restoration and adaptation to a modern use.

Vienna's Secret Places You're Not Allowed to Visit(en)

A Queer Country(en)

Israel is governed by Orthodox civil law and yet hosts the world's biggest gay pride. Is this a cynical marketing ploy or a political awakening?

Al Tira: Diary from a Nation at War(en)

A young Jewish professional visits Israel amid a multi-front war and creates a short film entirely on his iPhone to help his community better connect with the current mood of the Jewish state.

Undressing Israel: Gay Men in the Promised Land(en)

When many people think of Israel, it is often in terms of modern war or ancient religion. But there is much more to the Jewish state then missiles and prayers. In his debut as a documentary filmmaker, adult-film entrepreneur and political columnist Michael Lucas examines a side of Israel that is too often overlooked: its thriving gay community. Undressing Israel features interviews with a diverse range of local men, including a gay member of Israel's parliament, a trainer who served openly in the army, a young Arab-Israeli journalist, and a pair of dads raising their kids. Lucas also visits Tel Aviv's vibrant nightlife scene-and a same-sex wedding-in this guided tour to a country that emerged as a pioneer for gay integration and equality.

Tamar(en)

Tamar, a 33-year-old Tel Aviv comics artist, watches passersby, listens to their conversations and translates her impressions into comics with an ironic expression. She peels off the mask from a society, in the eye of the storm, that claims to be liberal and in which everyone has an opinion about everything. Secure between her four walls, she touches the darkest spots of her life- a bomb attack, a failed marriage, coping with depression. A young, modern woman in today's Israel.

Keepers of Hope(he)

"For the sake of the neighborhood, for the sake of the children of the neighborhood. lets go Bnei Yehuda ." There are films that cannot be forgotten, that have become the soundtrack of Israeli football. One of them is "Shomrim Al H'tikva", which accompanied Bnei Yehuda in the survival campaign in 2000. Shia Feigenbaum, Yossi Medar, Hezi Shirazi and others on a heroic journey in the Hatikva neighborhood. 40 minutes of a cult film, which every Israeli football fan must see.

The Garden(en)

A guy walking down the street sees a man being kidnapped into a public garden in broad daylight. There is no trace of the man, but a few blood drops leading to a manhole cover in the ground. When the guy comes back at night to investigate, a surprise is waiting for him.

Live and Become(fr)

In 1980, the black Falashas in Ethiopia are recognised as genuine Jews and are secretly carried to Israel. The day before the transport the son of a Jewish mother dies. In his place and with his name (Schlomo) she takes a Christian 9-year-old boy.

The Window(en)

An imaginative boy who frequently makes things up witnesses a murder, but can't get his parents or the police to believe him. The only people taking him seriously are the killers - who live upstairs, know that he saw what they did, and are out to permanently silence him.

Alila(he)

Life in a Tel Aviv apartment complex, an urban mosaic whose seedy characters, try as they might, can't get out of one another's faces. Gabi, a bobbed haired sexpot, and her lover Hezi—who's older, balding and married—rent a room to have an affair, while Ezra, a pot bellied divorcee, supervises an illegal construction site next door. All this racket drives Schwartz, a Holocaust survivor, to a mental breakdown. Other characters include illegal Chinese immigrants, a teenage boy who's afraid to serve in the army, and a corrupt police detective.