Philippe Bellaiche

Noam Shuster Eliassi grew up the literal poster child for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process before making a hard pivot to stand-up comedy and political satire. But as the region sinks deeper into devastating violence, she must meet the moment by challenging her audiences with hard truths that are no laughing matter.

An exhaustive explanation of how the military occupation of an invaded territory occurs and its consequences, using as a paradigmatic example the recent history of Israel and the Palestinian territories, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, from 1967, when the Six-Day War took place, to the present day; an account by filmmaker Avi Mograbi enriched by the testimonies of Israeli army veterans.

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...

A documentary film about the Mizrahim, or Jewish community of Iraq.

Fantasizes an 'Old' Middle East, wherein communities were not divided along ethnic and religious lines; a Middle East in which even metaphorical borders had no place

A former Israeli soldier participated in a mission of retribution in which two Palestinian policemen were killed. He seeks forgiveness for what he did. His girlfriend does not think it is so simple and raises questions that he is not yet able to cope with. The soldier willingly testifies before the camera as long as his identity is not revealed. The filmmaker, while seeking a solution to protect the identity of the soldier, questions his own political and artistic conduct.

In the nearly 50 years since Israel's decisive victory in the 1967 Six-Day War, hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens have established expanding communities in the occupied territories of the West Bank. Frequently coming into direct conflict with the region's Palestinian inhabitants, and facing the condemnation of the international community, the settlers have been viewed by some as the righteous vanguard of modern Zionism and by others as overzealous squatters who are the greatest impediment to the possibility of peace in the region.

How the war on terror launched by the Bush administration after September 11 has worsened the threat of terrorism.

Occupied Palestine: A serene landscape now pockmarked by military checkpoints. When a Palestinian film crew decides to avert a closed checkpoint by taking a remote side road, the political landscape unravels, and the passengers are slowly taken apart by the mundane brutality of military occupation.

Route 181 is the epic record of a road trip undertaken in the summer of 2002 by two filmmakers, one Palestinian and one Israeli, along sections of what had been designated as the border between Israel and Palestine by U.N. Resolution 181 in 1947.

Lea Tsemel, a Jewish-Israeli lawyer, defends Palestinians: from feminists to fundamentalists, from nonviolent demonstrators to armed militants. As far as most Israelis are concerned, she defends the indefensible. As far as Palestinians are concerned, she’s more than an attorney, she’s an ally. «Advocate» follows Tsemel in real time, including the trial of a 13-year-old boy — her youngest client to date.

Since 9/11, the Israeli arms industries are doing bigger business than ever before. Large Israeli companies develop and test the vessels of future warfare, which is then sold worldwide by private Israeli agents, who manipulate a network of Israeli politicians and army commanders, while Israeli theoreticians explain to various foreign countries how to defeat civil and para-military resistance. All based on the extensive Israeli experience.The film reveals The Lab, which has transformed the Israeli military occupation of Gaza and the West Bank from a burden to a marketable, highly profitable, national asset.

In a candid and unflinching portrait of Palestinian prisoners, Shimon Dotan takes viewers inside the highest security prisons in Israel where thousands of Palestinians fill these detention facilities.

No description available.

No one knows his real name; he is only known as Mr. Shoshani. He was an eternal nomad, a mad genius, who attracted disciples such as Nobel Prize winner Eli Weisel and renowned philosopher Emmanuel Levinas. Mr. Shoshani is one of the unsolved riddles of the 20th century, he is among the 10 most mysterious people of all time.

A documentary poem interweaving seven parallel stories of children on their way to school and back, Sidewalk offers a glimpse into the rare moments of true independence afforded to these young schoolchildren. Along the way we witness the playful, the stressful, the cruel, the magical and the thrilling moments of this daily journey, which become a lucid voyage into the very heart of childhood.A meditation on children’s consciousness and the rite of passage between childhood and adulthood that passes in the blink of the eye, Sidewalk challenges us to grapple with questions of how we become who we are today and how any of us managed to survive the very real tribulations of childhood.

Taqasim, shot in the streets of Cairo, is a voyage to the hidden treasures of Arabic music and to the participation of Jewish musicians. With stylishly shot music and unforgettable back-ally jams played by Felix Mizrachi, Zehava Ben, Abraham Salman and others, this film brings classical Arabic music raw and captivating.

A multi-generational journey exploring the archives of the director's grandfather Ephraim Erde, an official Zionist photographer from the 30s, confronted with the director's current vision in an attempt to create an utopia of her own.

In His Image focuses on reproduction after death in Israel, where posthumously harvesting sperm is legal. The film follows the bereaved parents of three sons who died during military service. Using semen collected just before, or shortly after, their sons' death, they hope to have them live on in a posthumous grandchild. But can new life cure their grief?

Since Israel was established and its legislature — the Knesset — first convened, Palestinian lawmakers have served alongside Jewish ones. They’ve included poets, playwrights, philosophers, doctors, lawyers, educators and feminist activists. Be they communists, liberals, nationalists, or Islamists — every Arab parliamentarian steps up to the podium with pain, frustration, anger, and hope (otherwise they wouldn’t be there). Yet, regardless of tone or tenor (provocative, poignant, polarizing, or pacifying), most of their words fall on deaf ears. Were we to listen to a collection of 3-minute speeches by these parliamentarians, what would we hear? A hungry appeal for a rightful place at the civic table, rather than the carrot, the stick, and civil rights crumbs begrudgingly swept off of it.