“The New Black,” which goes by the name “Shababnikim” in its original Hebrew, was a hit in Israel when it came out in 2017;. Airing on Israel’s HOT network, its views outstripped even popular foreign shows such as “Game of Thrones.” Now it is being released in the U.S., with English subtitles, accessible to a…
Mohammad Bakri, the famed Israeli-born Palestinian actor and filmmaker, is, like many Israelis in the age of coronavirus, stranded abroad. Bakri is in Tunisia, where he was shooting his newest film when the pandemic hit. Tentatively titled Leila Toghader Rouha (Leila abandons her soul,) the film tells the story of a young Syrian girl forced…
JTA — A film about the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin as seen through the eyes of his murderer won Israel’s Ophir Award for Best Picture and will be the county’s nomination for an Oscar. “Incitement” won Israel’s top prize on Sunday night at the Ophir Awards of the Israel Academy of Film…
Over the past 15 years, Israeli cinema has blossomed into a major force, becoming one of the country’s most impactful exports. What was once a struggling industry with low production values and local, sub-par storytelling has turned into a key player in film festivals around the world. Even in a tumultuous political climate, Israeli cinema…
The best cultural phenomenon out of Israel since “Fauda” has been released into the wilds of the Internet. “Maktub”, which first debuted at the 2017 Israel Film Festival, has at last made its way onto our screens. Now that Netflix is streaming the action-comedy, 45 million subscribers a day are welcome to delve into a…
Details of conflicts between Israel and its neighbors in the Middle East have filled the news, of course, for many grief-filled years. Less prominently discussed outside of Israel are conflicts between communities of Jews in Israel — for example, over methods of and approaches to religious observance. Emil Ben-Shimon’s dramatic comedy “The Women’s Balcony” explores…
LOS ANGELES (JTA) – Three films directed by Israelis took center stage in the film listings of the Los Angeles Times’ senior critic Kenneth Turan. In Hollywood few newspaper items are scrutinized more intensely than the film reviews and rankings in the Los Angeles Times, making Friday’s list a boon for the films and their directors. The top…
Over the weekend I finally got around to watching “Zero Motivation,” the 2014 IDF tragicomedy by Talia Lavie (interviewed here). The movie centers on female characters’ experiences doing administrative work as part of their mandatory military service, and has been aptly compared to “Office Space.” What most struck me about the movie, watching it as…
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