Independence Day Film Festival 2022

wednesday, May 4  

BEN GURION, EPILOGUE

Yariv Mozer / Israel
Hebrew (with English subtitles), 70 minutes

The film brings to life a lost interview with one of modern history's greatest leaders, David Ben-Gurion. It is 1968, he is 82 and lives in the desert. Ben-Gurion's introspective soul-searching provides a surprising vision for crucial decisions Israel needs to make today. At the time of the global leadership crisis, the film also brings thought-provoking insights about the role of leaders in today's complex world. Click here for the trailer.

Thursday, May 5

SHOELACES

Jacob Goldwasser / Israel
Hebrew (with English subtitles), 90 minutes

Shoelaces tells the story of a complicated relationship between an aging father and his special-needs son. Reuben's (Dov Glickman) kidneys are failing and his son Gadi (Nevo Kimchi) wants to donate one of his own kidneys to help save his father's life. However, the transplant committee objects to the procedure claiming that Reuben, acting as Gadi's sole legal guardian, does not have the right to authorize such an invasive procedure. Gadi, who recently lost his mother, is afraid of losing his father as well and sets out to fight for his right to save his father's life. Through its portrayal of a relationship full of love, rejection and co-dependency, Shoelaces questions the importance of human connection and if life is even possible without it. Click here for the trailer.

THE MUSEUM

Ran Tal / Israel
Hebrew, English (with English subtitles), 74 minutes

The Museum is a film that seeks to explore the Israeli soul through the galleries, storerooms and visitors of the Israel Museum, Israel's most important cultural institution. With a trenchant, ironic eye the film follows the visitors, observes the observers, listens to the speakers and descends to the storerooms, labs and conference rooms. The American museum director, the singing security guard, the Jerusalemite curator, the Haredi kashrut inspector, the Palestinian guide and the blind visitor are just a few of the characters that take part in a chain of activities which add up to the museum. 

For about 18 months director Ran Tal collected footage of the museum's daily routine, assembling it into a cinematic collage—observant, sensitive and breathtakingly beautiful. Click here for the trailer.

Friday, May 6 

RABIN IN HIS OWN WORDS

Erez Laufer / Israel
Hebrew, 100 minutes

Rabin In His Own Words is an “autobiography” of sorts, the story is told entirely in Rabin’s own voice. Through a combination of rare archival footage, home movies and private letters, his personal and professional dramas unfold before the viewer's eyes - from his childhood as the son of a labor leader before the founding of the State of Israel, through a change of viewpoint that turned him from a farmer into an army man who stood at some of the most critical junctures in Israeli history, through his later years during which he served as Prime Minister and made moves that enraged a large portion of the public, until the horrific moment when his political career and life were suddenly brought to an end. Click here for the trailer.

Saturday, May 7

BORN IN JERUSALEM AND STILL ALIVE

Yossi Atia and David Ofek / Israel
Hebrew (with English subtitles), 83 minutes

While walking down Jaffa Road, Jerusalem native Ronen Matalon (Yossi Atia) overhears a tour guide offering a sanitized version of his hometown's recent history. This inspires him to begin his own "Terror Tour", taking tourists to famous bombing sites and giving them a droll take on the absurdity of everyday life during the terrorist attacks of the 1990's and 2000's. On one of his tours he meets Asia, an ex-Jerusalemite living in Barcelona, and their relationship challenges him to begin healing from the trauma that envelops his emotional life.

Deftly blending romantic comedy with the complexities of modern life (in a style reminiscent of Albert Brooks), Born in Jerusalem and Still Alive is a sensitive and hilarious debut from director, writer and star Yossi Atia. Click here for the trailer.

ACROSS THE LINE

Nadav Shlomo Giladi / Israel
Hebrew (with English subtitles), 29 minutes

Hananel, a young religious Jew, is hurrying home for Shabbat. An unexpected encounter with Mundir, an unwanted and stubborn Palestinian hitchhiker, leads Hananel on a series of mix-ups that eventually teaches him a lesson in communication, friendship and love. Click here for the trailer.

Sunday, May 8

OUR NATURAL RIGHT

Yulie Cohen / Israel
Hebrew (with English subtitles), 46 minutes

Over seven decades ago, the members of the People's Council sat down to draft the Declaration of Independence of the State of Israel. Every word and comma led to hours of debate. The declaration was signed, the State established, but the debate still rages. The grandchildren of the signers of the Declaration of Independence return to the hall in Tel Aviv where the document was signed. Who are the descendants of the people who established the state? What do they think of it today? Can they agree on one correct path for Israel? Natural Right raises once again the issues upon which the State of Israel has yet to decide, over seventy years after first attempting to do so. Click here for the trailer.

AN AVERAGE STORY

Yaniv Segalovich / Israel
Hebrew (with English subtitles), 18 minutes

When Avi Cohen is told by the Central Bureau of Statistics that he is the most average man who ever lived, his life is turned upside down. Click here for the trailer.

Monday, May 9

GOLDA

Sagi Bornstein, Udi Nir, Shani Rozanes / Israel, Germany
Hebrew (with English subtitles), 85 minutes

Shortly before her passing, Golda Meir was interviewed for Israeli television. After shooting ended, the cameras kept rolling, recording an intimate talk with the first and only woman to ever rule Israel. As she lit one cigarette after the other, Golda spoke freely, pleading her case for her term as Prime Minister—five turbulent years that secured her place in history, albeit at a high personal cost. Click here for the trailer.