Movies Israeli

The first 1933 - 1978 starts with the Zionist movement and ends with the first re-visitation of that history. The second 1978 - 2005 starts at the beginning of the political wave until the more recent personal cinema. However chronological, both episodes cover most of the genres, themes and periods of Israeli cinema - from the beginning of the Zionist Mouvement to the most personal stories - from commercial to politically engaged directors, from the local to the universal. A HISTORY OF ISRAELI CINEMA tells the story of the building of a gaze on a society torn by ethnics, religious, and political conflicts. It attempts to understand, to denounce or to explore this complex subjects, always searching for the right ethic, the right form: to explore or transform its own definition and its place in the world.

God literally forbids she turn off a vibrator gone rogue, so an Orthodox Jew sets out on a quest to find someone who can.

The year is 1983 and Yaakov Cohen, the owner of a Jerusalem printing press, is tired from being pushed around. It seems that he was born on the wrong side, with the wrong family name and in a moment's decision he decides to establish a Sephardic-ultra-Orthodox list that will run to the Jerusalem municipality. He gathers two friends, and together they improvise a campaign - no means, no connections, no money, but with much rage, passion and a sense of justice.

A comedy about three military band reservists who wake to discover that the Israeli army has withdrawn from Lebanon and left them behind.

When ancient Sodom is doomed to destruction due to its people's corrupt ways, Lot is the only righteous man destined to be spared.

After an American tech-billionaire is kidnapped in Israel, the Mossad rushes to save him while the CIA send their best agent to help out.

Three young Israeli men join the army, and it soon turns out that they're more interested in chasing skirts than following orders.

Sergio Konstanza, in debt to Mr. Hasson, flees to join an Army reserve unit led by a Sergeant interested in one of Hasson's daughters. However, Hasson demands his older daughter marries first before allowing the younger one to wed.

The sharp, often hilarious satire that became the most successful film in Israeli history (until that time) is about new immigrants Sallah and his family, who are left in a shack near their promised apartment and are abandoned for months. A Yemenite Jewish family that was flown to Israel during "Operation Magic Carpet" - a clandestine operation that flew 49,000 Yemenite Jews to Israel the year after the state was formed - is forced to move to a government settlement camp. The patriarch of the family, portrayed by Chaim Topol, tries to make money and get better housing, in a country that can barely provide for its own and is in the midst absorbing hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees from Arab countries.

The story is about two twin brothers, Azriel and Gavriel (both played by Yehuda Barkan). Azriel is a shy and religious Jew who works in a fruit shop in Jaffa. Gavriel, is a hoodlum and a good-for-nothing hustler who runs a Snooker Bar. Gavriel and his friend Hanuka make easy money by swindling innocent people into gambling on Snooker games. One day Gavriel is forced to renew contact with his brother, because he is in trouble with a gangster who won the bet on a snooker game, and the only way to pay is by selling the family estate which is co-owned by Gavriel and his brother Azriel.

One of Israel's most beloved films, this film centers around the policeman Azulai, who is as kind as he as inept.

A unit of female Israeli soldiers at a remote desert base bide their time as they count down the minutes until they can return to civilian life.

Comedic musical about an army singing group.

Charlie passes himself off as a rich businessman but gets by through fleecing suckers with 3-Card Monte. Miko is a street kid who spends his time with Charlie instead of going to school; his sister unsuccessfully tries to raise him on her own. The plot follows Charlie's attempts to conquer the heart of Gila, a rich girl whose parents are trying to get her married to an American millionaire, something she doesn't want.

This romantic comedy takes place in Israel during the Austerity period of the 1950s as 13-year-old Alex is about to attend his Bar Mitzvah. Alex has a typical Polish mother and father who suffer quietly in their apartment which because of the difficult economic situation they are compelled to share with a Persian tenant named Faruk who tries to fight his baldness with different creams. Alex falls in love with the new girl in his class, Mimi. Everything changes when his aunt Lola arrives in Israel from Poland to search for lost love. They were together when she lived in Poland but he vanished when Nazis conquered the country. Alex falls for his aunt and she gives him more than just maternal love. The film describes exactly the ambiance that dominated the country in 1950s Austerity Israel--the black markets, the radio broadcasts concentrating on the search for lost relatives, the music of the 1950s, the clothes and dresses and pastimes.

As a family from India moves in to a desert neighborhood in Southern Israel in the 1960's, the family's eldest, beautiful daughter discovers friendship and romance with the lovely local French girl. The film also explores the hardships and surprises that come with the integration of multiple families from different ethnic backgrounds (from the diaspora) and their struggle with immigration and prejudice.

Oded wants to look cool in front of his boss, so he lies about knowing a secret beach in Sinai peninsula. Moti, the crazy CEO, decides to take Oded, and two other employees, to the terror-stricken peninsula.

After falling for a dangerous mobster's girlfriend, a famous athlete puts in motion a wild and comical ruse that will open his eyes to a reality to which stardom had previously blinded him.

The complex relationship between a Jerusalem street artist and a mysterious, modern-day prophet being held prisoner in an abandoned apartment across the alleyway.

The biggest Israeli blockbuster since 1986 . Steve and Chuma , two criminals are the sole survivors of a terrorist attack at a restaurant in Jerusalem. They decide to change their ways and become flesh and blood angels. They go on a journey of wish fulfillment for people who write requests on paper and put between the sacred stones of the Wailing Wall.

Alex, a young woman aged 18, lives with her mother in Arad, a small town in the middle of the desert near the Dead Sea. One day her mother disappears without a word of explanation. Abandoned, Alex must now get by alone. But when she creeps into the houses at night, it's not so much to steal money but to appropriate the intimacy of others and their lives.

Fifty years after Slow Down by Avraham Heffner won a prize at Venice Film Festival, top alumni of the Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School challenge the 1968 legendary black and white thirteeen-minute short, which penetrates the essence of a quarrel and reconciliation between an elderly couple in Tel Aviv of 1967. The voice over stream of consciousness of the heroine's poignant self-examination serves as the launching pad for six modern-day interpretations of couplehood, laced together in contemporary Israel.

A spin-off film that centers around Yudale/Huey's mandatory Israeli army service, post boot camp. This time he helps his sergeant Shemesh beat a rival base, while also beating him to score with the visiting Swiss Ambassador's wife.

The Dealers tells the story of Rami and Avishay, 27 years old friends that share an apartment in a small Jerusalem neighborhood. They spend their days smoking and playing in a soccer team with other losers, which its coach Zvika is determined to take the "Jerusalem neighborhood cup" with. In need for money they get entangled in a drug deal with Sagi, a local gangster, which forces them to learn the hard way about taking responsibility, loyalty, and friendship. The movie is a humorous view of the colorful, multi culture, unique and somehow funny Israeli society.