Holy Land: A Year in the West Bank

A portrait of two Palestinian women whose individual struggles both define and transcend the politics that have torn apart their homes and their lives. Farah Hatoum, a widow living with her children and grandchildren, and Sahar Khalifeh, a novelist from the West Bank.

Hanan Porat, leader and symbol of the settler movement, diagnosed with cancer, goes on a journey through the key stations in his life.

When two young American Jews raised to unconditionally love Israel witness the mistreatment of Palestinians, they battle the old guard to create a new movement opposing Israel’s occupation, and recentering Judaism itself.

A look at one of the leaders of the Kyriat Arba colony in the West Bank.

In 2014, during a trip, American Tim Bruns discovered cliffs in a small village five minutes north of Ramallah in Palestine and got to work equipping all the easy routes, then setting up climbing routes so that we can start teaching people how to climb. Bruns and Harris also opened Wadi Climbing, the first indoor climbing gym in Palestine. Today, gathered in the conflict-torn hills of Palestine, a diverse team of Bedouins, activists and urban professionals have embraced climbing as a much-needed respite from the burden of Israeli occupation. American writer and climber Andrew Bisharat visits the West Bank to explore his own roots and the power of climbing to transform lives. This documentary is part of the Reel Rock 17 series released in 2023.

Ainda é 7 de Outubro

A look at the current state of the conflict in the West Bank between settlers and Palestinians.

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 Tank and The Olive Tree recalls a certain number of forgotten fundamentals and sheds new light on the history of Palestine. By combining geopolitical analysis, interviews with international personalities who are experts on the subject and testimonies from Palestinian and French citizens, this documentary offers the keys to understanding what the media call the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Enough to rid people's minds of clichés and prejudices! If The Chariot and the Olivier is intended to be educational, it speaks above all of a magnificent territory, and of a people who constantly affirm that “to live is already to resist”...

I ragazzi di Hebron

Louis Theroux spends time with a small and very committed subculture of ultra-nationalist Jewish settlers. He discovers a group of people who consider it their religious and political obligation to populate some of the most sensitive areas of the West Bank, especially those with a spiritual significance dating back to the Bible. Throughout his journey, Louis gets close to the people most involved with driving the extreme end of the Jewish settler movement - finding them warm, friendly, humorous, and deeply troubling.

A strong east wind brings snow, rain and also memories of her father. Only a few objects, newspaper clippings and diary entries make him present. But Maia would like to know him better, to piece together a complete portrait from the fragments. For this reason, she leaves Argentina, the land of her home, and travels to the West Bank, where her absent parent comes from. But at first she finds only more ruins, the remains of houses destroyed by the Israeli occupiers. As slowly as the calm sea ripples, the author's pilgrimage to her roots turns into an encounter with an entire nation that has been stripped of its home. The shared experience of loss helps her to fill the empty space in her heart.

A self-described liberal from cosmopolitan Tel Aviv, Zaki wanted to get behind the politics of Israel’s controversial settlements in the occupied territories — so she moved there, temporarily, setting up an improvised cafe where she could chat with settlers from her own generation.

Jomu’a is a Palestinian who lives in a refugee camp. Every early morning, he goes to the entrance of the refugee camp to earn his living selling coffee. He tries to find additional work but the only job available is to demolish a house.

Through stop-motion animation, drawings and interviews, directors Amer Shomali and Paul Cowan recreate an astonishing true story from the First Palestinian Intifada: the Israeli army’s pursuit of eighteen cows, whose independent milk production on a Palestinian collective farm was declared "a threat to the national security of the state of Israel."

A day in the life of three street kids in the Eastern Congo. Featuring music by Dirty Beaches.

BLESSED BLESSED OBLIVION weaves together a portrait of masculine performativity in East Jerusalem, as manifested in gyms, body shops and hair dressing parlors.

The constant movement of the wheels, threads, sprockets, feet and hands suggests restlessness, and this is paralleled by the soundtrack. The unknown woman could be Gretchen from Faust, hopelessly in love or Ariadne who gave Theseus the thread to find his way out of labyrinth or perhaps she is one of the fates, weaving destiny… Enlarged from Super-8 to 35mm, the film is very grainy, in itself an homage to the medium of film which is also emphasized by the depiction of all kinds of turning machines, both in image and sound.

The goal of Hawaii, a Voice for Sovereignty is to raise awareness of the issues that threaten the Hawaiians ancient and once-environmentally-sustainable culture. It is an epic documentary about Hawaiian spirituality and the peoples close connection to the land. It focuses on the complicated social, economic and ecological issues that have arisen in Hawaii since the overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani by the United States in 1893. For Hawaiians, sovereignty is the legal, political and moral right to live on and care for the land; build and grow a sustainable economy; protect natural resources; practice spiritual and cultural traditions; honor their ancestral past; and care for family and community. The film is in the voice of native Hawaiian people who address the issues they continue to face in their long struggle to regain sovereignty over their rights and the native lands lost after the U.S. businessmen and military overthrew the Kingdom of Hawaii.

How Bizarre starts with Pauly at the height of his fame, appearing twice on the UK music show “Top of the Pops”, sharing the stage with Cher, the Spice Girls, Bryan Adams, Back Street Boys, Sheryl Crow and other ‘90s music icons, and then rewinds to show his rise from the mean streets of Otara to musical stardom.