Supported by the Consulate General of Israel in Hong Kong

To view all six shorts (with ticketing) click here…

Synopsis

A witty and humorous short about an unexpected encounter between a Jewish settler and a Palestinian hitchhiker. The two face a challenge to their preconceived ideas of one another, and a series of misunderstandings leads to lessons about communication and friendship.

Reviews

• “Across the Line” benefits from fine performances from its two leads and Giora Bejach’s pristine lensing for the film. Ronnie Reshef also contributes lively, energetic original music for the film that is perfectly suited to the film’s witty dialogue and physical comedy. ~ Richard Propes, “The Independent Critic”

Awards

Sponsored by the Netherlands Consulate General in Hong Kong and Macao
Supported by the Consulate General of the Republic of South Africa HKSAR / MSAR

Synopsis

South Africa – summer 1963. Ten political activists including Nelson Mandela and  anti-Apartheid fighters, face a possible death sentence for conspiracy to commit sabotage against the government.  Bram Fischer, their gutsy lawyer, risks both his career and his family to expose South Africa’s corrupt, unjust system, while attempting to hide his own ties to the resistance. A nail-biting political thriller with spectacular courtroom intrigue, this movie serves as a tribute to the legendary figures who fought to end segregation and corruption in their country.

Awards

• Winner – Best Feature Film – Dayton Jewish Film Festival 2018
• Winner – Best Film – UK Jewish Film Festival 2017
• Audience Favorite – Gold Award – Mill Valley Film Festival 2017

Reviews

• ‘An EXQUISITE, MOVING film about a forgotten piece of history.’ Peter Paul Muller is UNPARALLELED.’ – TV KRANT
•  ‘BEAUTIFUL and MODEST.’ – DE VOLKSKRANT
• ‘A SUBLIME INTERPRETATION’. – ALGEMEEN DAGBLAD
• ‘The BEST FILM by Jean van de Velde thus far. A FANTASTIC LEADING ROLE by Peter Paul Muller.’ – TROUW
• Peter Paul Muller plays the part with ADMIRABLE SUBTLETY. A film that’s also RELEVANT today.’ – DE FILMKRANT
•  ‘A STRONG, fact-based courtroom drama about the struggle against apartheid. Wither Peter Paul Muller as INTRIGUING HERO.’ – MRC HANDELSBLAD
•  ‘A SKILLFULLY made film. Peter Paul Muller is a CONVINCING Bram Fischer.’ – ELSEVIER

Film production supported by Andrew Cohen
Sponsored by the Hong Kong Holocaust & Tolerance Centre (HKHTC)

Synopsis

Back to Berlin is the first biker flick-meets-holocaust feature documentary. Eleven motor bikers have a mission to take the Maccabiah torch from Israel to the site of the infamous 1936 Berlin Olympics, for the first Jewish Olympic Games on German soil. They will retrace the heroic journeys of the original 1930s’ Maccabiah riders and discover how they or their families survived the Holocaust.

Sponsored by the Hong Kong Holocaust & Tolerance Centre (HKHTC) and the Goethe Institut

Synopsis

In this poignant short, a woman is preparing her flat for departure. Step by step she seems to be following a very strict set of rules. When she realizes she is missing some money for the train, she is forced to beg her neighbor for help.

Sponsored by the Consulate General of Canada in Hong Kong and Macao

Synopsis

An offbeat, irreverent documentary about Irving Berlin, Mel Tormé and the many other Jewish immigrants who wrote the soundtrack to Christmas. Penning such yuletide classics as “White Christmas,” “Let It Snow” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” these artists amplified the spirit of the holidays through their music. With signature renditions of these beloved melodies, amusingly set in a Chinese restaurant, musicologists, religious leaders, comedians and others add insights into the unusual and seemingly contradictory relationship American Jews have with Christmas.

Reviews

• At a time when the mere thought of saying “Merry Christmas!” sends political correctness alarms a-blazing, Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas makes the happy holiday inclusive in its own warm and peculiar way. ~ Patrick Mullen POV Magazine

• CBC documentary Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas has heft and beauty. ~ John Doyle Globe and Mail

Sponsored by the Tel Aviv University Hong Kong Friends (TAU)

Synopsis

This touching short follows Elina, the 7 year old daughter of a Russian immigrant. She wants nothing more than to belong to Israeli society and fit in with her peers. Her mother, however, finds it harder to navigate the nuances of their environment, and adapt to their new way of life, critical if she is to help her daughter assimilate.

Awards

• 2018 – Semi Finalist, Indie Best Films Festival (ibestff)

Sponsored by the Hong Kong Holocaust & Tolerance Centre (HKHTC) and the Consulate General of France in Hong Kong and Macau

Synopsis

Paris, 2010: a collection of wartime letters and photographs by a former pupil, Louise Pikovsky, to her beloved teacher were discovered.The last note dates to the day Louise and her family were captured and eventually deported to Auschwitz, where the family all perished.

Journalist Stephanie Trouillard together with Khalida Hatchy, a teacher and librarian, explore Louise’s story, track down witnesses, cousins and former classmates. Through months of research, they piece together fragments of a life cut tragically short.

Awards

• France 24’s Stephanie Trouillard has been awarded the Audience Award at the Swiss Web Festival for her work chronicling the last days of a French Jewish girl who died in the Holocaust. ~ France 24

Supported by the Consulate General of Israel in Hong Kong and the Consulate General of France in Hong Kong and Macau

Synopsis

Three independent Arab-Israeli women choose a life of freedom in the heart of Tel Aviv, a far cry from their traditional upbringing. When the religiously conservative Nour joins as their new roommate, their drug-fueled bohemian lifestyle comes under sharp scrutiny.

A shocking sequence of events bonds the roommates and blurs the lines of their relative differences. In Between is a compelling film with unforgettable performances.

Reviews

• Hamoud’s clever, nuanced screenplay offers a critique of traditional, patriarchal Palestinian society, threatened by modernity, feminine power, and the court of public opinion. – Variety – Alissa Simon
• “In Between” is full of life, a triptych of sexual and cultural combat that takes us to places that I, for one, knew nothing about.  – Wall Street Journal -Joe Morgenstern
• Tensions flare when Nur, who wears a hijab, moves in with the more secular, liberal Laila and Salma. Washington Post – Pat Padua

Sponsored by the Consulate General of Canada in Hong Kong and Macao

Supported by Pink Season HK

Synopsis

At 95, Popi decides to live life as an openly gay man. However Popi has been married to Nani for 65 years in what looked like the perfect marriage. This intimate and moving documentary follows Popi’s “coming out” and its effect on his wife and family but is ultimately about a deep and unique love transcending sexuality and time.

Awards

2018 – Nominated: SXSW Grand Jury Award – SXSW Grand Jury Award

2018 – Nominated: Canadian Cinema Editors Award – Best Editing in Documentary- Short Form

Sponsored by Withers Worldwide

Synopsis

Two women – a Mossad agent and a Lebanese informant – find themselves trapped in a labyrinth of deception, paranoia and intrigue.  Naomi is an Israeli special agent assigned to protect Mona a Hezbollah turncoat recovering from identity-changing plastic surgery in a Hamburg safe house. In an atmosphere of distrust and as tensions rise, both women begin to question their beliefs and loyalties as they form an unexpected but fragile bond.  A nail biting thriller directed by veteran film maker Eran Riklis with standout performances by an award winning cast.

Awards

• 2017 – Awards of the Israeli Film Academy –  Best Actress Nita Riskin
• 2017 – Awards of the Israeli Film Academy –  Best Music Jonathan Riklis

Reviews

• If you want to understand why the Mossad is the most successful intelligence agency in the world, watch Shelter. They protect their assets instead of burning them.  ~ Joe Bendel, j.b. spins
• A well-acted thriller about trust between a vulnerable Israeli agent and the Lebanese woman she is assigned to protect.~ Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, spirituality and practice

Sponsored by the Consulate General of Israel in Hong Kong

Synopsis

It’s Yom Hazikaron – Israeli Memorial Day Shir, a bright enigmatic 17 year old skips school, evades her mom and tries to run away from her memories of her brother. This poignant short film follows Shir as she spends the day acting out against the established rules only to discover that you can’t escape yourself.

Awards

• Israeli Film Academy 2017, Best Short Feature Film

Sponsored by the Consulate General of Israel in Hong Kong and Goethe Institut
Supported by Pink Season HK

Synopsis

Thomas, a talented German baker, embarks on a passionate affair with Oren, an Israeli married businessman. When Oren dies suddenly in a car crash, a grieving Thomas travels to Oren’s hometown, Jerusalem, seeking solace. He takes a job at the cafe run by Oren’s unsuspecting widow Anat. As business flourishes thanks to his culinary talents, the bereaved pair forge a bond that blurs the lines of nationality, religion and sexuality.

Awards

• Winner 2018 Ophir Awards Best Picture and entry into the 2019 Oscar Awards
• Winner 2018 Ophir Awards Best Actress: Sarah Adler
• Winner 2018 Ophir Awards Best Screenplay: Ophir Raul Grazier
• Winner 2018 Ophir Awards Best Sound: Avi Mizrahi
• Winner 2018 Ophir Awards Best Editing: Michal Oppenheimer
• Winner 2018 Ophir Awards Best Art Direction: Yael Bibelnik
• Winner 2018 Ophir Awards Best Director: Ophir Raul Grazier
• Nominee 2018 Ophir Awards Best Cinematography: Ori Aloni
• Nominee 2018 Ophir Awards Best Costume Design: Lital Goldfine
• Winner of the Lia Van Leer award for Jewish Heritage at the Jerusalem Film Festival
• Ecumenical Jury prize at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

Reviews

• Sad and sweet, and with a rare lyricism, “The Cakemaker” believes in a love that neither nationality, sexual orientation nor religious belief can deter. ~ Jeanette Catsoullis, The NYTimes
• A tender, tactile and just-sweet-enough story of hidden love, challenged faith and unwittingly shared grief. ~ Guy Lodge, Variety

Sponsored by the Consulate General of Israel in Hong Kong

Synopsis

Gush Etzion: located in the West Bank between Jerusalem and Hebron. Ali Abu Awwad has dedicated his family’s field to create a Palestinian center for nonviolence. Ali’s life has not been easy. His brother was killed by an Israeli soldier during the Second Intifada, and he, like his activist mother, has served substantial time in an Israeli prison. Now Ali, together with a local Israeli settler Shaul Judelman, has repurposed his anger to create  ”Roots,” an organization dedicated to advancing co-existence and political reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. Directed by Rabbi Mordechai Vardi, resident of Gush Etzion, this fly-on-the-wall documentary offers a unique perspective look into the challenges and limitations of this troubled region’s ambitious peace initiative.

Awards

• Best Feature Documentary Award: Peace On Earth Film Festival, Chicago – U.S.A. 2018

Reviews

• The documentary, exceptionally well filmed and well edited, centers around the Roots initiative by the non-violent Palestinian peace activist Ali Abu Awwad. ~  Max Arian / De Brug (Dutch)
• The film is made with wisdom and aesthetic modesty and, to my opinion also with political integrity. ~ Cinema South Film Festival, A.B.Yehoshua (Hebrew)

Sponsored by Cynthia & Daniel Fleischer and the Argentinian Consulate

Synopsis

Abraham Bursztein, an 88-year old Jewish tailor, leaves Buenos Aires for Poland, where he will try to find the man who saved him from a certain death after surviving Auschwitz. Escaping from his family who wanted to put him in a nursing home, against all odds, after more than seven decades with no news from him, Abraham will attempt to find his old friend and fulfill his promise of returning one day to tell him all about the life he had thanks to his courage.

Awards

• Winner Audience Award – Miami Film Festival 2018 – Best Feature Film – Pablo Solarz
• Winner Audience Award – Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival 2018 – Best Narrative Feature
• Winner – Golden Space Needle Award – Seattle International Film Festival 2018  – Best Actor Miguel Ángel Solá
• Nominee – Golden Space Needle Award – Best Actor Miguel Ángel Solá – Best Director Pablo Solar -Second Place – Best Film Pablo Solarz -Second Place

Reviews

• Pablo Solarz’s film earns every measure of its stirring dedication. The Last Suit has an approachable and undeniable warmth beneath that thorny senior center masterfully played by Miguel Ángel Solá ~ Don Shanahan Every Movie has a Lesson

Sponsored by Robert L. Meyer and the Consulate General of Israel in Hong Kong

Synopsis

The Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency is both feared and respected in equal measures, but rarely engages with the media. Now, for the first time, dozens of former operatives have agreed to be interviewed, offering fascinating first-hand accounts and revealing personal and political dilemmas they have faced as operatives for this infamous agency.

Supported by Anonymous and Hong Kong Friends of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem

Synopsis

Observant, sensitive and breathtakingly beautiful, The Museum seeks to explore the Israeli soul through examining Israel’s most important cultural institution, the Israel Museum. The film follows the visitors, observes the observers, listens to the speakers and descends to the storerooms, labs and conference rooms. For about 18 months director Ran Tal collected footage of the daily routine of the museum that seeks to both reflect and mold the Israeli legacy and culture.

Awards

• Nominee – Awards of the Israeli Film Academy 2018 – Best Documentary

Sponsored by the Consulate General of Canada in Hong Kong and Macao and the Consulate General of Israel in Hong Kong

Synopsis

France has experienced a dramatic rise in anti-Semitism in recent years. Politicians, leaders and social influencers are no longer hiding in the shadows but publically voicing their virulently racist agendas. While many Jews no longer feel safe on the streets, the real battlefield plays out online, where hatred has no limits or censorship. This reality has given birth to a new kind of vigilante, a Zionist hacker by the name of Ulcan. He declares a one-man-war on the leaders of the anti-Semitic movement, and isn’t afraid to use very unorthodox methods to fight his cause.

Sponsored by Keren Hayesod – UIA – United Israel Appeal

Synopsis

Yom Kippur War, 1973: the Israeli army had to cross the Suez Canal with armoured vehicles in order to win the war. A unique idea had been developed but never tested- the rolling bridge.  Could this novel idea succeed?

Sponsored by the Hong Kong Holocaust & Tolerance Centre (HKHTC) and the Consulate General of France in Hong Kong and Macau

Synopsis

At first glance, “La Muette” is a low-income post-war housing project like thousands of others in the Paris area. However, these buildings stand on the site of Drancy, where almost 80,000 Jews were detained until most were sent to their deaths in Auschwitz. After the war it was turned into a housing development with some of the lowest rents in the Paris suburbs. During the annual Holocaust commemorations at the site, the paths of current residents and former detainees cross, offering a tragic reminder of the atrocities and bearing witness to the dark history of the site.

Sponsored by the Hong Kong Holocaust & Tolerance Centre (HKHTC) and the Consulate General of Israel in Hong Kong

Synopsis

This powerful and gripping drama centres on Yoel a senior historian and Orthodox Jew who is battling influential industrialists who plan to build over the site of a suspected WWII massacre. While investigating the incident and examining the testimony of survivors Yoel makes a shocking and heartbreaking discovery about his mother. This threatens to turn his life and that of his family upside down as he risks everything to uncover the truth.

Awards

• Winner – Israeli Film Competition Award – Haifa International Film Festival 2017 – Full Length Feature Films – Amichai Greenberg (Director)
• Nominee – Venice Horizons Award – Venice Film Festival 2017 – Best Film Amichai Greenberg

Sponsored by the U.S. Consulate General of Hong Kong and Macau 

Synopsis

This short follows a group of Jewish Senior citizens who have rediscovered the joys of community in old age. Each week they celebrate the Jewish Sabbath at the local Wendy’s fast food restaurant. Hebrew blessings are combined with burgers with fries, and a sense of belonging.

Reviews

• … the Friday evening ritual of welcoming the Sabbath, that several participants ascribe with a range of meanings, is nostalgia in the present tense.~ Nora Lee Mandel (the mavens nest)

Sponsored by: Sheri & Robert Dorfman and The Consulate General of  Canada in Hong Kong and Macao

Synopsis

A third of the medical faculty at Harvard is Jewish, as are nearly 40 per cent of world chess champions. Just 1/500th of the world’s population have produced numerous prominent musicians, architects, lawyers, doctors, journalists, philosophers, painters, comedians and directors. The stunning accomplishments of this tiny nation have long raised the taboo question – how do they do it? Including interviews with Shimon Peres, Dr. Ruth, Noam Chomsky, Daniel Libeskind, Alan Dershowitz and other leading figures, this film tackles an interesting subject too often shrouded in ignorance and prejudice.

Reviews

• “It is an illuminating and fascinating look at what propels so many Jews to over-achieve on so many fronts and what the consequences — both positive and negative — have been.” ~ Bill Brownstein, THE MONTREAL GAZETTE

Sponsored by Louise & Udi Oz

Synopsis

Brilliant judge Micah Alkoby is headed for a big promotion when life changes in the blink of an eye. His teenage son, Shay is the guilty party in a hit-and-run accident. Just as Micah is about to turn him in, he learns that the victim is a member of a notorious crime family who would likely seek justice in the form of revenge. Just how many laws is Micah willing to break, and how far will he go in order to protect his son? Dark and morally complex, Your Honour is a gripping Israeli series with unforeseen plot twists that has already been optioned for a US remake.

Awards

• Winner – Grand Prize – Best Series – Series Mania (Writer, Director, & more
• Nominee – Award of the Israeli Television Academy 2017 – Best Dramatic Series
• Nominee – Award of the Israeli Television Academy 2017 – Best Actress in a Dramatic Series