Many Faces of Jewish and Israeli Documentaries (series in Hebrew)

A series of encounters presented by ANU – Museum of the Jewish People in collaboration with the New Israeli Foundation for Cinema and Television.

2025-2026, Wednesdays, 16:30-20:00

Series Editor: Rivka Aderet

Program:

November 19, 2025

• Thin Ice – The story of the Druze-Syrian community in the Golan Heights is told through two heroes from Majdal Shams: 19-year-old Aya, who dreams of wearing the uniform of the Israeli national hockey team and is willing to accept Israeli citizenship to do so, and her elderly uncle Ayoub, who clings to his Syrian identity. The film follows them for three years and focuses on the identity crisis this community faces. After the film a discussion with the filmmaker, Irit Hodd, will be held.

  

December 3, 2025

• A Letter to David – A cinematic letter from creator Tom Shoval to David Cunio, who was kidnapped to Gaza from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7 and has not yet returned. David and his twin brother Eitan played the lead roles in Shoval’s debut film, “Youth,” a film that also centered on a kidnapping. Shoval returns to this film and reassembles its material into a unique documentary that serves as a searing visual journey about what was and what will never be, about twin brothers cruelly separated by reality, and about the incomprehensible connection between reality and cinema, between life and memory. Courtesy of Hot8. After the film a discussion with the film’s creator, the filmmaker, Tom Shoval, will be held.

  

December 24, 2025

• The Dreamer – The general public remembers Yosef Shiloach as a comedian, primarily for his prominent roles in melodrama films – stereotypical characters that became iconic in Israeli culture. But behind the characters he played was a completely different man: a deep, complex, and courageous artist, an independent intellectual, and a political activist who fought for peace and social justice and paid a heavy personal price for it. Through interviews with friends, family members, personal materials, and archival footage, the film also presents the complexity of Israeli society: ethnic conflicts, belonging, migration, and freedom of expression. After the film a discussion with the filmmaker, Kobi Faraj, will be held.

  

January 7, 2026

• Orna and Ella – Orna and Ella, the legendary culinary institution in Tel Aviv, closed after 26 years of operation. Director Tomer Heymann, who worked at the restaurant in his youth, presents an intense portrait of the last week of the place’s operation and the complex story of the friendship between two groundbreaking women. After the film a discussion with the filmmaker, Tomer Heymann, will be held.

  

• Jews by Choice – A group of Czechs with no Jewish roots from the town of Krnov decides to renovate the local synagogue and restore Jewish life in the region. They choose to convert to Judaism to become the first Jews in the area since the Holocaust. In their struggle with formal authorities for recognition of their identity, the question of “who is a real Jew?” arises. After the film a discussion with the filmmaker, Tomer Slutzky, will be held.

January 21, 2026

• Proud Jewish Boy: The Herschel Grynszpan Story – The film tells the story of Herschel Grynszpan, the young man who assassinated Ernst vom Rath, a Nazi diplomat in Paris – an assassination that led to “Kristallnacht.” This is the first time the full, untold story is presented, one of the most fascinating and unknown stories of World War II and the Holocaust of European Jewry. The film deals with antisemitism, shame, resistance, terror, biased narratives, and the heroism of a 17-year-old boy. After the film a discussion with the filmmaker, Isri Halpern, will be held.

  

February 4, 2026

• Description of a Struggle – A 1960 film by French director Chris Marker, this was the first documentary made about Israel not commissioned by Zionist institutions. In his film, the director paints a sensitive, funny, and poetic portrait of the young country while asking poignant questions about its future and the character it is destined to adopt. In the first part of the session, the curator of photography at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Dr. Gilad Reich, will present photographs from the “Chris Marker: The Lost Photographs from Israel” exhibition, which were shot in preparation for Marker’s film.

February 18, 2026

• Ada Sereni: The Lady in the Black Dress – A docu-drama starring Leora Rivlin, combined with animation, tells the unknown story of Ada Sereni. Ada was the first woman to command the Mossad Le’Aliyah Bet in Italy, a secret intelligence organization that would later become the Mossad. Thanks to her skills, courage, and determination, thousands of Holocaust survivors were brought to Israel on secret illegal immigrant ships. Ada was forgotten and excluded from the pages of history; the film returns her to the center of historical events, where she belongs. After the film a discussion with the filmmaker, Noa Aharoni, will be held.

  

March 11, 2026

• New exhibition: ” A Lens of Her Own 20&20″ – An encounter between 20 female photographers who worked between the two world wars and 20 contemporary Jewish and Israeli female photographers, who are among the most prominent in the world today. The exhibition also includes 20 short films documenting the unique dialogue between the generations. A tour of the exhibition and a guided viewing some of the films with curator Michal Houminer.
• Echoes of Memory: journeys through archives in documentary film making. Discussion with Dr. Shmulik Duvdevani.

March 25, 2026

• Return – After a decade of silence, the director returns to her Haredi home and uncovers a hidden family archive that reveals a way of life alien to the one she grew up in. The discovery challenges her life and unfolds a complex story of self-discovery and the redefinition of family ties. “Through photography, using family archival materials my grandfather shot more than fifty years ago, and later with the help of cinema, I began to weave my story with the story of my mother, her family, and the generations before us… It’s a journey that mainly reveals what was hidden – and the way that concealment shaped my life.” After the film a discussion with the filmmaker, Bar Mayer, will be held.

  

April 15, 2026

• Following the Jäger Report – Approximately 200,000 Jews were murdered in Lithuania during the Holocaust. The story of about half of the victims, those who perished in the ghettos of Vilnius, Kaunas, and Šiauliai, has been researched and preserved in historical memory. But the fate of the other half, the Jews of the small towns remains mostly unknown. The film is dedicated to the memory of these communities and an attempt to understand the deep fracture: Why did many Lithuanians, after the Soviet occupation of 1940, begin to see Jews as traitors? How did a glorious “Litvak” history spanning hundreds of years end within a few months on the edge of death pits? After the film a discussion with the filmmaker, Boris Maftsir, will be held.

  

April 29, 2026

• Adaptation to Darkness – A biographical and psychological portrait of Dr. Edwin Katzen-Ellenbogen, a man with extraordinary abilities, a brilliant doctor and a pioneer of psychiatric research, a mysterious spy, and an elusive and captivating swindler who became the only Jew in history convicted of Nazi war crimes. The film chronicles his life’s journey from a small town in Galicia to his actions in the Buchenwald concentration camp. Katzen-Ellenbogen’s story is an allegory for how people adapt to moral darkness and the way they find to flourish and thrive during the darkest of times. After the film a discussion with the filmmaker, Shai Fogelman, will be held.

  

May 13, 2026

• Cinematic Glimpses – From the treasures of the Oster Visual Documentation Center film collection at ANU – Museum of the Jewish People – with Rivka Aderet
• Leni Sonnenfeld: Portrait of a Photographer – A film about Leni Sonnenfeld (1908-2004) who made her way as a photographer and freelance journalist in early 1930s Berlin. She and her partner, photographer Herbert Sonnenfeld, fled Berlin in 1939, found refuge in the U.S., and continued to photograph all their lives. The film includes photographs from the collection donated to the museum, documenting Jewish settlement in Israel and Jewish communities around the world, as well as rare cinematic material from Berlin. Discussion with the film’s creator, Simona Benyamini.
• At the Wigmaker’s – Three short films directed by leading Haredi female creators take us into a Jerusalem wig salon, a place that is simultaneously intimate and communal, mundane and meaningful. Amidst scissors, spray, and synthetic hair, hidden worlds are revealed: moments of closeness and alienation, silences and conversations, whispered dreams and unspoken glances. Discussion with the films’ creators: Shifi Kahana, Miri Hoffman, and Sara Liba Ravitz.

May 27, 2026

• Naomi’s Questions – An intimate and poetic film about Naomi, a 34-year-old woman with Williams syndrome. Naomi, who has been filmed by her father for more than thirty years, is now preparing to leave home and live independently. Through archival footage, staged scenes, and current reality, the film explores love, autonomy, memory, and the power of fragility. It is a cinematic letter from a father to his daughter. Discussion with the film’s creators, Gerard Alon and Keren Alon.

  

June 10, 2026

• Alon, My Brother the Hero – Alon Shamriz was kidnapped to Gaza on October 7 from his home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza. His brothers, Yonatan and Ido, embarked on a journey full of struggles to bring their younger brother home. The film closely follows the brothers and the family on a worldwide journey, filled with angry demonstrations, tense meetings, frustration, pain, and fear, alongside moments of grace, optimism, and hope. Discussion with the film’s creator, Omri Koren.

  

• The Season of Wild Plums – Summer in a small village in Georgia heralds the season of unripe plums – Tkemali. It is also the season when the grandmothers of the village host their children and grandchildren who come to visit them from the big city and abroad. The film follows Grandma Ketevan, who works all summer to prepare Tkemali sauce, while her spoiled granddaughters try to help, or at least not get in the way… Discussion with the film’s creator, Tamar Maare.