Exile: A Myth Unearthed

Gdud A'liyah

The long lasting Palestinian-Israeli conflict has created appaling phenomenons that have horrified the Israeli society. the "politically conscience-refusals" or those individual soldiers refusing to fight in the occupied territories, are one of those phenomenons. In opposition to them stand a thousand immigrants from the former Soviet Union, ex-military men from the Red Army, who yearn to be recruited into the IDF and fight for Israel, but who are denied the right to serve in the army. Through the stories of Oleg and Alex, immigrants and the battalion's charismatic commanders, the story of the Russkii Battalion is told. It is a story of contrasts between the hardships of the daily struggles they face as new immigrants against the pride and the sense of belonging they find in the battalion. The Russkii Battalion is a film about a militaristic social bubble, in a country that is in constant war.

The Power of Good: Nicholas Winton

2003

A gripping documentary about the courage and determination of a young English stockbroker who saved the lives of 669 children. Between March 13 and August 2, 1939, Nicholas Winton organized 8 transports to take children from Prague to new homes in Great Britain, and kept quiet about it until his wife discovered a scrapbook documenting his unique mission in 1988. Winton was a successful 29-year-old stockbroker in London who "had an intuition" about the fate of the Jews when he visited Prague in 1939. He quietly but decisively got down to the business of saving lives. We learn how only two countries, Sweden and Britain, answered his call to harbor the young refugees; how documents had to be forged and how once foster parents signed for the children on delivery, that was the last he saw of them.

Ark of the Covenant: The Bible’s Origins

2021

In Israel, a joint French-Israeli scientific mission is set to unearth the secrets of the hill of Kiryath-Jearim (or Kiryat Ya’arim), converted to the site of a Catholic convent, where, according to the Bible, the Ark of the Covenant was kept for at least twenty years before being brought to Jerusalem by King David, father of King Solomon, who would eventually build the Holy of Holies inside the First Temple to house it.

Love During Wartime

2010

"There can only be an unhappy ending to this", people say when they hear about Palestinian Osama and his Israeli wife Jasmin’s love. Their home countries separate them through racist laws and lack of security. They choose exile, but soon rosy dreams turn into despair in an inhospitable Europe. Will their love survive?

One Day in Gaza

2019

How mass protests on the Israel-Gaza border led to one of the deadliest days in a generation. One year later, a moment-by-moment investigation, drawing on exclusive interviews in Gaza and Israel and videos of the protests and bloodshed.

Kill Zone: Inside Gaza

2024

The story of the Israeli military assault on Gaza. Seen through the eyes of children, journalists and doctors, Dispatches takes an unflinching look at the horrific challenges and heartbreaking loss. Made by 12 Palestinian film-makers who risked their lives to depict the ongoing assault, this documentary confronts us with the loss and suffering of people whose gaze we have met.

Blutiges Erbe – Das Ende der Osmanen

2021

After the end of the First World War, another place besides Versailles stood for the reorganization of the world: not far from the Paris Palace lies the city of Sèvres. It was there that the victorious powers of France, Great Britain and the USA sealed the fate of an empire: the Ottoman Empire was to be broken up forever. The consequences of the Treaty of Sèvres can still be felt today in the form of terror.

Waltz with Bashir

2008

An Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.

Israël-Hamas, la justice et les crimes de guerre

2024

Bil'in Habibti

2006

The Israeli filmmaker Shai Corneli Polak records the building of the 'security wall' through Palestinian territory at the village of Bil'in. The villagers protest mostly peacefully, while the Israeli army doesn't react peacefully. By now the Israeli High Court has ruled that the building of the wall was illegal.

Life in Occupied Palestine: Eyewitness Stories & Photos

2008

A wonderfully moving introduction to the plight of the Palestinians, in simple, everyday terms, with a captivating narration by eyewitness Anna Baltzer. Baltzer, a Jewish-American Columbia graduate and Fulbright scholar, presents her discoveries as a volunteer with the International Women's Peace Service in the West Bank, documenting human rights abuses and supporting Palestinian-led nonviolent resistance to the Occupation. Baltzer's presentation provides those interested in the issue with critical information and documentation that can be difficult to obtain through mainstream media sources, and to encourage informed action. Topics include checkpoints, settlements, Israeli activism, Zionism, 1948 War & refugees, censorship, the Wall, and environmental devastation. The granddaughter of Holocaust refugees, Baltzer works to address the injustices of today in light of those of the past. She is author of the book Witness in Palestine.

Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989

2024

Archival film maestro Göran Hugo Olsson has assembled—from a vast catalogue of footage in the vaults of Sweden’s national television service SVT—accounts of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as witnessed and represented by Swedish journalists. Stories of the beginning of the Israeli state interwoven with the Palestinian struggle for independence. News coverage with Yasser Arafat and interviews with Israeli foreign minister Abba Eban during a visit to Sweden unseen since first broadcast. From the tenth anniversary of Israel’s founding to the First Intifada, perspectives and encounters with statesmen, civilians, revolutionaries, and intellectuals tell the story from myriad angles of an evolving media landscape, revivifying a history of the ongoing conflict.