Celebrating its 10^th anniversary The Other Israel Film Festival was held from December 1-8 at the Jewish Community Center of Manhattan (JCC) showcasing nine feature and three short films attracting an audience of about 4000 individuals in mostly sold out screenings.  Viewers were drawn from the membership of the JCC but a large proportion were habitués who had attended past editions of the festival. As its title indicates the festival has a unique profile focusing on minority groups living in Israel with a special emphasis on Palestinians as well as the issues Israel is facing with the objective of fostering a better understanding. As noted by Ravzit Turjeman, the director of the festival “As in past years, we will continue to encourage cinematic expression and creativity that truly celebrates the humanity and daily lives of Arab citizens and other minority groups who are most often overlooked by the mainstream culture.”  This positioning offers a platform for opinions encouraging reflection and change discouraged by the conservative Israeli ministry of culture.  The 2016 festival program included numerous films premiering in the United States and award winning titles with some funding often secured from Israeli agencies.

Without taking sides, The Other Israel Festival with its documentary and dramatic film program places an emphasis on diversity and reflects positions which are relevant for the understanding of the 1.7 million Arabs of Palestinian descent, about 20% of Israel’s population, and the 300,000 foreign workers that have settled in Israel. The JCC screens premieres and previews of topical films throughout the year and also presents other fests such as The ReelAbilities Film Festival and Israel Film Center Festivals showcasing issue oriented productions from around the world which encourage the audience to engage in  change. The Center has the largest collection of films from Israel in the United States and  established The Carole Zabar Center for Film this year, named for the founder and principal sponsor of The Other Israel Film Festival.  This new center will serve to coordinate and enhance the numerous film programs of the Jewish Community Center and plans to develop into a global information platform for films on and about Israel as well as other productions on Jewish issues. Though there are more than 60 Jewish or Jewish themed film festivals in the United States and other film festivals electing to have such films as a side bar, there is no other festival which provides this service. In her words, productions from the Other Israel Film Festival and the other film programs of the Jewish Community Center have an essential function. As Carole Zabar suggests, ”These films and artistic expressions are paving the way to co-existence and to a new, more inclusive culture in the Middle East,”

Junction 48, Udi Aloni, 2016

Aloni’s multinational feature has to date received several awards from the Tribeca, Berlinale and Israel film festivals, a success deriving from its unique mixture of hip-hop music, story and the professional performance of the Cast. Kareem is played by Tamer Nafar who is the principal singer in the Palestinian rap group SAM.  The death of his father prompts Kareem to withdraw into the hip hop scene with songs written by his girlfriend Manar spelling out the oppression Palestinians experience in Israel and the occupied areas.  In a nightclub in Lod where Arabs and Jews live Kareem performs and gets into a violent confrontation with members of the audience who object strongly to the Manar’s lyrics depicting of the fate of the Palestinian Arabs. Kareem and Manar decide to continue using their music as a political instrument. The demolition of a friend’s house to get space for the construction of a museum of tolerance provides an appropriate backdrop to the story. What also creates a dissonant note is the slaying of another friend by an apparent member of an Arab gang. Manar’s male relatives are adamantly opposed to Manar’s involvement with Kareem and her public performance. A concert with both of them is advertised on posters.  She decides to leave her home and join Kareem. According to the director this film was well received by Palestinians as the first Arab film and had a mixed crew, with half Palestinian and half Israelis; an integration unheard of in Israel’s film making industry. The story of the film is based on real events and breaks the stereotypical presentation of Arab women as depicted in Israeli films.

Personal Affairs, Maha Haj, 2016

The director presents a multi-generational portrait of a Palestinian family with comedic and absurd overtones. An elderly married couple lives in Nazaret. The wife Nabeelah takes care of their home and is bored with her husband Saleh who spends most of his time working on a computer. Their life is routinized and shows little personal communication. They have three grown up children, a son, Hisham living in Sweden, another son, Tarek, living in Ramallah and a daughter, Samar. Tarek enjoys life as a perpetual bachelor. Their daughter Samar is pregnant and married to George a car mechanic. George has been unexpectedly cast for a role in an American movie. Samar and George take care of Samar’s live in grandmother who seems to have dementia. During a security check Tarek refuses to identify his female companion Maysa as his girlfriend, triggering a heated argument between them. Though the Palestinian conflict provides background material for the narration, the family conflicts and individual interactions reflect universal themes that apply to many societies.

A.K.A. Nadia, Tova Ascher, 2015

Having a secret affair with Nimer, an activist working for the PLO, Nadiam a young Arab woman decides to leave her family in Israel to join him in London when Nimer is assigned to work there. After some time Nimer is arrested unbeknownst to Nadiam and seemingly disappears. Working in a cleaning shop Nadia plans to return to Israrel. Not being able to use her passport she saves enough money to buy a forged Israeli passport made out to a person named Maya. Assuming the identity of Maya as her own, she succeeds in her returning to Israel and becomes a successful choreographer, gets married to a senior employee working for the Ministry of Justice, Yoav, and has children. Except for occasional  secret meetings with her mother Maya leads a normal life for 20 years when a delegation from an agency considering funding for Maya’s company visits her. One of the members of the delegation turns out to be Nimer who had been granted a pardon after many years in prison.  Nadia born and raised as an Arab woman and Maya who lived as an Israeli successfully for 20 years, she has no escape from her two conflicting identities. Yoav decides that he must report her and she is forced to leave Israel. We see her in the film’s last images in a small London apartment with her daughter visiting her. The feature is well paced drama with convincing performances and mirrors the problems of identity maintenance in a society which forces individuals to assume divergent roles. The rapidly changing socio-political landscape makes it very difficult if not impossible to sustain a solid identity.

Harmonia, Ori Sivan, 2016

The festival was opened by Harmonia, a compelling multi-generational drama firmly embedded in the classical musical scene. The story is derived from Genesis. Set in contemporary Israel the drama involves the harpist Sad Sarah, who is married to Abraham, the conductor of the Jerusalem Philharmonic.  Sarah grows close to Hagar a young Palestinian horn player, who just joined the  orchestra. Because Sad and Abraham have not been able conceive a child Hagar offers to be their surrogate and bears them a son, Ben. Hagar eventually leaves the orchestra to be with her father, a writer.  Ben turns out to have an extraordinary musical talent but refuses to submit to the authority of his parents. He has a fractured relationship with his mother Sarah, apparently sensing that reality differs from the appearance he is living in. Years later Sarah and Abraham are able to conceive and they have a second son, Isaac. Isaac is not able to live up to the musical expectations of his father and fails to perform in a public concert much to Abraham’s dismay. Hagar had returned to the orchestra and when Isaac disappears after his failed performance she finds him in a night club playing the violin in a band directed by his half-brother Ben. His shyness has disappeared and he feels at ease with the band and the audience. Staying in tune with Ben, Isaac offers a great rendition. Harmonia provides  a joyful dramatic and emotional experience, has flawless dialog and score as well as persuasive acting and an expertly filmed adaptation of a biblical story. In short it is a delightful film not to be missed.

Claus Mueller  

filmexchange@gmail.com