FIRST CLASS CITIZEN Director: Diana Maria Olsson Production: Diana Maria Olsson: Zen Division, Sweden
Associate Producer: Rasa Miškinytė: ERA Film, Lithuania
Sweden/Lithuania / 2021 Category: Society, Women's Rights, Human Rights Language: English, Swedish. Subtitles: English Length: 57 minutes
Logline: Diana, director of the film, survives domestic violence, but the judicial process transforms her intimate story from a personal struggle into a geopolitical thriller.
Synopsis: After first-hand experiences of domestic violence, the journalistic intuition of Diana, director of the film, kicked in, and she began to secretly record her husband’s abuse towards her and their small son. These recordings resulted in a collection of explosive film footage. The judicial process transforms her intimate story from a personal struggle into a geopolitical thriller. The film deals with systematically removed children, structural violence, and the violation of fundamental human rights.
Director's statement:
It's really hard for other people to understand what you are living because ''they are not in your shoes''. In the beginning, I wanted to make a film to encourage other women to leave their violent husbands, I wanted to say, “leave him you will get help....” Now I would say: The mother would rather tolerate any beating, any kind of violence, but the most absolute form of violence is the separation of mother and child.
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PORTRAIT Director: Yael Kipper & Ronen Zaretzky (''Super Women'',''Child Mother'', ''These Woods'') / Israel 2021 Category: Human Rights, Society, Women's Rights Production: Turtles Films: Yael Kipper & Ronen Zaretzky, produced for KAN 11 - Israeli Public Broadcast Corporation. Supported by The New Fund for Cinema and Television (NFCT) and The Yehoshua Rabinovich Foundation for the Arts, Israel Language: Hebrew, Arabic, Amharic. Subtitles: English Script: Yael Kipper, Ronen Zaretzky, Kifaya Ayati Length: 82 minutes
Logline: The film tells in a poignant and moving way the stories of women from all parts of Israeli society who were murdered by their partners.
Synopsis: As time draws closer towards the jail release of her violent husband, Kifaya Ayati, a resident of Acre, who has been brutally attacked several times, is looking for a way to survive. She paints women who have been harmed and murdered by their spouses and meets their sisters, mothers and daughters. Every meeting becomes a portrait of a murdered woman and an indictment against the Israeli society, police and courts.
Best Documentary Award: Haifa Film Festival - Israel 2021
Haifa Film Festival: Best Documentary Award Jury's justification:
“The film tells in a poignant and moving way the stories of women from all parts of Israeli society who were murdered by their partners. The film also documents in real time the women that may be the next victims, women who are subjected to violence on a daily basis. The film's hero, connects those women through portraits. Together they look at the camera and demand their right to live free of threats and fear.”
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BUSY INSIDE Director:Olga Lvoff / U.S.A. 2019 Production: Victor Ilyukhin: Diplodocus Films Category: Society, Therapy, Health Language: English. Subtitles: English Length: 53/70 minutes
Logline: "Busy Inside" delves deeply into Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder. A respected therapist specializing in the condition's treatment, and her patients, confront past trauma and embrace their different personalities.
Synopsis: "Busy Inside" tells the true story of Karen and Marshay, two women with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). Karen Marshall is a respected therapist who treats patients with DID, the condition of having multiple personalities often resulting from child abuse. Among her patients is Marshay, a biracial musician, who sometimes struggles to believe that she really has DID. The film works to return dignity to those with DID and bring better understanding of it through an honest portrayal of people who live with it every day and giving audiences a direct window into their inner world.
Festivals & Awards:
DOC NYC Film Festival - U.S.A. 2019
Hamptons Doc Fest - U.S.A. 2019
BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival - U.K. 2020
Moscow International Film Festival - Russia 2019
Audience Award for Best Feature Film: Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival - U.S.A. 2019
Director's statement:
The desire to make a difference by telling the stories of trauma survivors and fascination with the incredible capacities of human mind to withstand negative experience is the reason why I became a filmmaker. We want to return dignity to those with DID and have society empathize with them. We believe that film is a perfect medium for achieving this goal because it is best at giving people with DID a voice. It is through a personal and intimate documentary that we want to share Karen and Marshay’s living experience with the viewer.
NUN OF YOUR BUSINESS Director: Ivana Marinić Kragić / Croatia 2021 Production: Ivana Marinić Kragić: Marinis Media Co-Production: Platforma (Serbia), Tramal Films (Slovenia) Category: Human Rights, Religion, LGBT Language: Croatian. Subtitles: English Length: 71 minutes
Logline: The film follows two nuns falling in love and, disappointed by the Church’s reaction and the institutional abuse, they decide to leave the convent and start a life together on a Dalmatian island.
Synopsis: Two young nuns meet during a Catholic gathering in Croatia and fall in love. They live in two separate convents, but the spaces they once considered havens of solace and spiritual fulfilment turn out to be more earthly than expected. Disillusioned by the Church and the sexual and psychological abuse within the institution and driven by their blossoming love, they make the most difficult decision of their life – to leave the convent and start a new life together on the island of Korčula and seek acceptance from the traditional local community.
Festivals & Awards:
Best Film Award: Competition Lateral - LGBTIQ: FIDBA International Documentary Film Festival, Buenos Aires - Argentina 2022
UnderhillFest International Film Festival: Regional competition: Dandelion Award/Best Film Award: Jury's justification: “Often, topics that deal with the issues of equal rights and freedoms for all people, regardless of their sexual orientation, end up on that first step, the very topic they deal with.
Ivana Marinić Kragić is one brave and above all witty woman from Split, who successfully overcomes all possible traps of this topic in an exquisite way!
With an innovative, fresh and modern director approach, she caresses us all the time and gently makes us laugh about the deepest emotional drama which her protagonists go through together with her. A witty and genius film about nuns and their search for God, through which they finally find love and each other!”
Astra Film Festival: Honorable Mention Jury's justification: "In 'Nun Of Your Business' Ivana Marinic sheds light on an often hidden world under forms of apparent normality, such as love between women in convents. She creatively incorporates narrative resources of fiction and animation film into the language of the documentary."
Director's statement:
''Nun of Your Business'' addresses a burning social and human rights issue in the region, but also around the globe, a consequence of the increasing dominance of the conservative movements. The film is relevant to those living in both liberal and conservative societies. To those in liberal societies it is an exemplary story of finding your true identity and breaking free, and in the conservative societies it raises such issues as the position of the Catholic Church, personal identity, female rights and action required to exercise those rights.
Movie Reviews:
* « Formally daring, thematically challenging but also inspiring, warm and funny film that deeply resonated with us. The jury justified their decision by stating further that this is a story about the power of love, but also a story about immense amount of courage - the courage to stand up to institutions that still so often form and define our lives, a courage to stand up for ourselves, for our rights, our desires, our love and our freedom(s). This film is important as a bold piece of art, but it is even more important as a message from the people for the people. And the message is: who I am and how I live my life is Nun of Your Business.» PALIĆ 2021 Awards / Mariana Hristova / Cineuropa
* « The story could be from a novel: Marita and Fanica, two young nuns from different monasteries in Croatia, get to know each other and fall in love. Their love affair is complicated for several reasons: they both have a vow of chastity, and same-sex love is stigmatized in the Roman Catholic Church as well as in Croatian society. The two women have a long way to go and a difficult decision in front of them. Award-winning documentary by Ivana Marinić Kragić opens an intimate look at the emotional experiences of two nuns hidden behind several taboos. In doing so, the director waives any voyeurism. The narration of the two women is complemented by a special cinematic means: with the help of staged photographic style, it succeeds in inhaling the processes and moods within the monastic women's communities. » Nun of Your Business – Zwei Nonnen verlieben sich / SRF Swiss Television
A WHORE LIKE ME [Zona Kamoni] Director: Yael Shachar, Sharon Yaish / Israel / 2019 Category: Human Rights, Women's Rights, Women's Trafficing Production: Elad Peleg, Haggai Arad: Daroma Productions, for Yes-Docu, Commissioning Editor: Guy Lavie, Israel.
Supported by The New Fund for Cinema and Television (NFCT), Israel. Language: Hebrew, Hungarian. Subtitles: English Length: 62 minutes
Logline: Twenty years ago Chilla was kidnapped from Hungary by a group of traffickers and was forced to work as a prostitute. Now she goes to look for her kidnappers. After she returns to hell, will she be able to leave again?
Synopsis: When Chilla was 22, she was kidnapped from a pub in Hungary and sold to a group of traffickers. Twenty years later, Chilla is a different woman, one who has managed to get out of the drug abuse cycle, celebrating 10 years of sobriety, and volunteering at the Levinsky Clinic in Tel Aviv to try and help women on the street. When the Ministry of Interior in Israel refus-es to give Chilla a resident certificate and to believe that she is a victim of traf-ficking in women, she goes looking for her kidnappers to obtain proof. The journey to the past forces Chilla to return to the scene of prostitution, only this time with a little more power and a camera in hand. Chilla begins to document and work through the trauma, but can you go back to your most painful place and stay alive?
Director's statement:
We have been following Chilla for a period of two years, in her rehabilitation and her return to prostituting. We had the access and her complete trust to tell her story. We realized Chilla’s “choice” to return to prostituting is somehow similar to addiction, and prostituting is an unconscious reenactment of the physical and mental abuse she had suffered. We did not know how will Chilla’s journey end. We did not know if she will succeed in putting herself back together. But Chilla is a woman who won’t stop fighting for a better life. She talks about prostitution not only in anger but also in compassion. Her tremendous courage of returning to the most painful place was an inspiration for us, a reminder of the huge potential of the human soul to heal itself.
Prostitution exists for thousands of years, and it managed to survive and even flourish nowadays. In the more liberal part of of the world, in countries that are considered as the spearhead in the fight for human rights protection. Our film tries to show what prostitution really looks like, and how it serves as a reflection for men and women’s relationships in general. Chilla tries to educate her male clients, and by doing this she tries to educate us, the audience.
* « The film "A Whore Like Me" illustrates in a sharp, poignant and unmasked way the exist-ence of a woman in prostitution. » Shany Littman / Haaretz daily newspaper
Festivals & Awards:
Budapest Jewish and Israeli Film Festival - Hungary 2021
Best Documentary Feature Film Award: ITWIFF Imagine This Women's International Film Festival, NYC - USA 2020
WTFF Radical Award: Women Texas Film Festival - USA 2020
LA Women In Film Festival - USA 2020
Best Documentary Film Award: up to 60-minutes: Israel Academy Awards (The Ophir Awards) 2019
Best Documentary Film Award: up to 60-minutes: Israel Documentary Awards 2019
Docaviv International Documentary Film Festival - Israel 2019
WTFF Radical Award at Women Texas Film Festival: Jury's justification: "The film and filmmaking were brave, mature, and extremely well told, radical in how they treated the subject. There was courage in making that film."
ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS [Even, Niyar, U'Misparayim] Director: Lilah Markman / Israel / 2018 Category: Creative Documentary/Health/Arts & Culture/Family/Personal P.O.V. Production: Lilah Markman, for Yes-Docu, Commissioning Editor: Guy Lavie, Israel.
Supported by The Yehoshua Rabinovich Foundation for the Arts and The New Fund for Cinema and Television (NFCT), Israel. Language: Hebrew. Subtitles: English Length: 54 minutes
Logline: Six years of the family's survival routine is closely documented. This reflective artwork deals with the unbearable gap between dreams and body limitations. It may offer solace, comfort and even raise a smile.
Synopsis: Raz and Lilah are artists who document their home-building, fertility treatments and birth of twins: Noor is a healthy girl, and Yam has a heart defect. After a series of surgeries, Yam is held isolated at home, for more than two years, alongside his mother and sister, to avoid contagion. The children grow up and then Raz is diagnosed with cancer. Six years of the family's survival routine is closely documented. This reflective artwork deals with the unbearable gap between dreams and body limitations. It may offer solace, comfort and even raise a smile.
''Rock, Paper, Scissors'' is Lilah Markman's feature length debut film.
Movie Reviews:
* « Child Mother, featured at this year’s Human Rights Watch film festival in London, is a heart-wrenching rendition of stories of the lives of mothers. This powerful documentary, tells of five mothers recalling their life stories to their children for the first time. .» Film Nights for Human Rights: Child Mother / Shireen Hilmi / The Platform
Festivals & Awards:
Best Documentary Film Award: Category: Family Life in 21st Century: Pärnu International Documentary Film Festival - Estonia 2019
Bronze Remi Award: Film & Video Art: WorldFest Houston International Film Festival, Texas - U.S.A. 2019
Best Short Documentary Film Award: NIFF Noida International Film Festival - India 2019
On Art Film Festival - Poland 2019
Blow-Up Arthouse International Film Festival, Chicago - U.S.A. 2018
Docs Without Borders Film Festival (DWBFF), Nassau - U.S.A. 2018
CHILD MOTHER [Ima Yalda] Director: Yael Kipper & Ronen Zaretzky (''Super Women'') / Israel 2016 Category: Human Rights/Gender/Society Production: Yael Kipper & Ronen Zaretzky: Turtles Films; for Channel 8 (Hot Cable Communication), Commissioning Editor: Rinat Klein; The Makor Foundation for Israeli Films and the Gesher Multicultural Film Fund, Israel Language: Hebrew, Moroccan and Yemeni Arabic. Subtitles: English Length: 90 minutes
Logline: "Child Mother" tells the story of elderly women, born into Jewish communities in Morocco and Yemen, forced to become brides when they were still little girls.
Synopsis: Conversations between mothers and their families reveal haunting histories of women forced into marriage as young children. Born into Jewish communities in Morocco and Yemen where child marriage was a culturally sanctioned custom, these women’s voices were largely unheard. When they were only five or six or ten years old, their parents snatched them from the playground and handed them to much older menת to be married. They recall the violence and fear they were subjected to, the pregnancies at the age of eleven or twelve, becoming mothers when they were still little girls themselves.
It was an open secret but one they put aside forever, because revealing it might tear their family apart, causing commotion and creating chaos. The memories of their tragic childhood never healed – they were simply suppressed for the sake of their children, their livelihoods, and their husbands. No more.
Movie Reviews:
* « Child Mother, featured at this year’s Human Rights Watch film festival in London, is a heart-wrenching rendition of stories of the lives of mothers. This powerful documentary, tells of five mothers recalling their life stories to their children for the first time. » Film Nights for Human Rights: Child Mother / Shireen Hilmi / The Platform
* « Child Mother is a stunning 90-minute documentary by Yael Kipper and Ronen Zaretzky that explores the sad loss of innocence and youth. An excellent addition to the Human Rights Watch Film Festival 2017, Child Mother provides a powerful voice on important issues regarding women.» Review: Child Mother (2016): Lyn-Kateri Visedsuk / Filmdo
* « With great empathy and stoicism the filmmakers manage to open an intimate space in which, of course, there is also dancing, joking and singing.» Nadja Rademacher / DOK Leipzig
* «This documentary affirms the therapeutic role of confession, art and film in particular. The narration of the documentary is based on long-takes of interiors and close- ups of women thanks to which the viewer is invited to enter their inner worlds and to participate in the therapy consisting of words and images. This is a great example of moral imagination that can be offered by aesthetically sophisticated narratives.» ***Child Mother (Ima Yalda)***/Joanna Bocheńska, Jagiellonian University/ACME Journal
* « These women, now in their 80s or older, courageously reveal the story of a childhood brutally ended... The film addresses this taboo subject with intelligence and sensitivity, giving voice to women whose voices were silenced for so long. The vitality, honesty and courage of these women in their willingness to tell their story is inspiring.» ''Child Mother'' / Ayelet Dekel / Midnight East
* « ''Child Mother'' is a compelling documentary film made in a minimalist style, which tells an extraordinary story. This is a film about Israeli women, today in their 80s, who were married off at very young ages.» ''Child Brides'' / Amy Kronish / IsraelFilm.blogspot
* « The design of ''Child Mother'' as a collection of internal inquiries in the family creates sensitivity and intimacy, and illustrates the intergenerational effects of trauma suffered by these women.» Einav Schiff / Yedioth Ahronoth daily newspaper
* « Women who lived a crime against humanity ... there is no beauty or nostalgia in the story told by Kipper and Zaretsky, and they do not try to claim otherwise or soften the horror depicted in the film.» Shany Littman / Haaretz daily newspaper
* « Kipper and Zaretsky chose to handle one of the unspoken taboos in the Israeli society. "Child Mother" reveals without soft-focus filters the sales process (and forced marriage of those little girls) and its depressing consequences. "Child Mother" leaves a bitter taste and a throat choked with tears.» Shir Ziv, Israel Hayom daily newspaper
Festivals & Awards:
The World of Women’s Cinema: WOW Film Fair Middle East, Dubai - U.A.E 2019
Special Jury Award: Documentary Film on Women's Issues: WorldFest International Independent Film Festival, Houston, Texas - U.S.A. 2017
Israeli Competition: Special Jury Mention: Doc Aviv International Documentary Film Festival - Israel 2016
Best Cinematography Award: Doc Aviv International Documentary Film Festival - Israel 2016
Best Editing Award: Israel Documentary Awards - Israel 2016
Doc Aviv/Israeli Competition Special Jury Mention Jury's justification: "The film "Child Mother" delicately reveals the harsh story of women who, as young girls, were given to much older men and enslaved by them, in the name of tradition. The filmmakers, Yael Kipper and Ronen Zaretzky, succeed in portraying a complex, complicated and important story – through multiple layers of concealment, denial and shame. A story that echoes and has existed from ancient times to our own days."
Doc Aviv/Best Cinematography Award (Ronen Zaretzky) Jury's justification: "For its unique understanding and proven ability of presenting the story trough stoic scenes. The winner displayed amazing use of available light, poetic composition, allowing the protagonists and their environment to possess the full frame and lead the film"
EXCISION Director: Victoria Vellopoulou / Greece 2014 Production: Indigo View Productions, Co-produced with ActionAid Hellas Category: Human Rights, Health Language: Pokot, English. Subtitles: English Length: 54 minutes
Synopsis: The documentary film Excision examines the consequences of FGM (female genital mutilation) through portraits of women of the Pokot tribe in Kenya and demonstrates the effects of this practice on millions of girls and women worldwide. The film aims to raise the voice of the FGM victims, who are not given the chance to speak openly about their pain.
Festivals & Awards:
Best Music Award: London Greek Film Festival - U.K. 2014
Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival - Greece 2015
AIFF Addis International Documentary Film Festival - Ethiopia 2015
Human Rights Film Festival Barcelona - Spain 2014
Miradas.Doc, Guía de Isora Int'l Documentary Film Festival - Spain 2014
LUCKY DEVILS (Glückspilze) Director: Verena Endtner / Switzerland 2013 Production: Dan Riesen: ALOCO GmbH, for SRF (Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen), Switzerland Category: Human Rights, Society, Arts & Culture Language: Russian, Swiss German. Subtitles: English, Swiss German, Russian Length: 98/52 minutes
Synopsis: In the fairytale city of St. Petersburg, 8,500 children live on the streets, but the innovative circus Upsala with its charismatic director Larissa is giving some of those children a chance to leave all that behind them. Meet 6-year-old Danja and his peers, training at UPSALA circus and trying to win over new kids from the streets. A journey from the Russian slums to the lights of the big top.
Movie Review:
'' At a time when the subject of Russian adoptions are currently in the international diplomatic news, this film is beautiful, funny and extremely moving...''
UNEXPECTED LOVE [Ahava Lo Tzfuya] Director: Paz Schwartz / Israel 2014 Category: Law / Society Production: Shula Spiegel: Shula Spiegel Ltd., Dana Eden: Donna Productions Tv And Movies (2001) Ltd.; for Yes-Docu, Documentary Channel, Israel Language: Hebrew, Russian. Subtitles: English Length: 50 minutes
Logline: This is the story of a rare if not impossible romance.
Synopsis: This is the story of a rare if not impossible romance. Anastasia was 10 when she first met Doron. She was a tall and pretty new immigrant; he was 19 years older than her, but suffering from a birth defect that prevented him from growing. When Anastasia was 12, she accused Doron of molesting her. Because of her testimony, Doron was arrested and sentenced to three years in prison. On Yom Kippur two years ago, after his release, Anastasia worked up the courage to call him: “I wanted to apologize for all the lies I told when I was 12”. Doron forgave her, and their relationship grew into a genuine love story. Today they are married and have two children. In this film, they tell their story, motivated by the desire to clear Doron’s name and legitimize their relationship.
TURBULENCE
Director: Roni Livneh and Kobi Davidian / Israel 2011 Production: Roni Livneh and Kobi Davidian, for Yes-Docu Channel/Yes-DBS Satellite, Israel Category: Law / Human Rights Language: Hebrew, Arabic. Subtitles: English Length: 90 minutes
Synopsis: For the last 27 years four Bedouins have been serving a life sentence for kidnap, rape and murder, and they have since been protesting their innocence. Dr. Arial Livneh, a pensioner of Israel's General Security Services and a Doctor of Criminology, decided to investigate obsessively during 3 years and met with anyone that was connected to the case. The stream of new information raises many tough questions on the way that brought the four Bedouins to convincement.
Festivals & Awards:
Nominee: Best First Film Award: Israel Documentary Awards - Israel 2012
Ro-IFF Romania International Film Festival, Bucharest - Romania 2012
DIFF Delhi International Film Festival - India 2012
DetectiveFEST International Film Festival - Russia 2012
''New Israeli Cinema'' mini Film Festival, Phnom Penh - Cambodia 2012
BEATING TIME Director: Odette Orr / Israel 2010 Category: Health & Human Rights Production: Yuval and Odette Orr (Unicorn Content & Media) for the Second Authority for Television and Radio, Israel; Commissioning Editor: Yosi Mulla Language: Hebrew, English. Subtitles: English Length: 50 minutes
Synopsis: The minute Avi Kremer, 29, finds out that he has only four years to live, he decides to do the impossible and find cure for ALS, the incurable Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (the Lou Gehrig's disease) he has contracted. Avi, an M.B.A. student at Harvard Business School, musters all his business knowhow and sets out on a search for funds, investors and researchers who will join him in his race. He's joined in his struggle by two other patients, and he believes that he won't die of ALS and that there's a reason why he of all people contracted the disease.
TRANSPARENT TIME Director: Gali Meiri / Israel 2008 Category: Health Language: Hebrew, English. Subtitles: English Length: 52 minutes
Synopsis: Filmmaker Gali Meiri allows us to share the journey of an exceptional young woman, Eylon Nuphar – co-creator and founder of Mayumana performance group – who manages against all odds, at the peak of her career, to find strength within fragility, facing a whirlwind of challenges while fighting breast cancer.
Festivals & Awards:
''Body and Soul'':Taiwan International Ethnographic Film Festival - Taiwan 2009
''Personal Story'': Reel Lives International Documentary Film Festival, Geneva - Switzerland 2008
Kos International Health Film Festival - Greece 2009
Doc Aviv International Documentary Film Festival - Israel 2008
ABE NATHAN - AS THE SUN SETS Director: Eytan Harris / Israel 2005 Category: History / Politics / Disability / Health Language: Hebrew, English. Subtitles: English Length: 78 minutes
Synopsis: The nostalgic and exciting story of Abe Nathan ("The Peace Pilot") - the man who became a myth in Israel and around the world for his courageous and endless fight for peace, who broadcasted rock music and messages of peace from his pirate radio station "The Voice of Peace", who organized missions, reaching forgotten corners of the world giving food to starving children, but at the same time could not be a real father to his own daughter.
AMNON & JILL Director: Gonen Glazer / Israel 2005 Category: Disability / Health & Human Rights Production: Galia Bador - Yuval Delshad Language: Hebrew, Sign language. English translation. Length: 50 minutes
Synopsis: This is the story of Amnon, a phenomenal deaf-born dancer, and his wife Jill. Jill produces their joint act and helps Amnon to communicate with his surroundings. A few years on, Jill decides to separate her professional life from Amnon's, to try out a new career as an actress. When Amnon is invited to be the Art Director of the "Deafway" festival in Washington, DC, he decides to deal with his limitations and go by himself. Jill stays behind in Israel.
Festivals & Awards:
Doc Aviv International Documentary Film Festival - Israel 2005
MUKANDA MODEL Director: Hai Cohen / Israel 2002 Category: Disability / Health & Human Rights Language: Hebrew, English, Swahili. English translation. Length: 53 minutes
Synopsis: The filmmaker, Hai Cohen, was injured in 1986. Samuel Mukanda, from Kenya, has lived in Hai's home in Jerusalem for the past 10 years, assisting him in performing all of the daily activities that today he cannot accomplish alone. The relationship that developed between them is as clearly understood, it seems. However, in the same breath, it is a great mystery. Samuel lives between two different worlds, imbued with a sense of duty for each. Samuel is from small village in northern Kenya. He visits his wife and children for one month a year, this time along with Hai.
Festivals & Awards:
Cracow Film Festival - Poland 2003
Jerusalem International Film Festival - Israel 2002
Bogota International Documentary Film Festival - Colombia 2003
Reframing Reality International Disability Film Festival, Jerusalem - Israel 2010
RIVKA AND YORAM Director: Moshe Balmas and Thomas Henke / Israel 2002 Category: Disability / Health & Human Rights Language: Hebrew. English translation Length: 48 minutes
Synopsis: Rivka and Yoram fulfilled their dream of getting married but they will never be able to build a home, raise a family, or even be alone when they want to be physically intimate. Yoram and Rivka are both confined to wheelchairs and have lived in institutional homes for most of their lives. The camera follows the couple on their wedding day and in their daily life. This film is about two people, their struggle for a lasting relationship, with no previous experience and with physical and mental difficulties.
Festivals & Awards:
Moscow Disability Film Festival - Russia 2006
Estonian National Museum special screening - Estonia 2006
NITSAN AND SAGI Director: Hadassah Benherzel and Jacky Berman / Israel 2004 Category: Disability / Health & Human Rights Language: Hebrew. English translation Length: 58 minutes
Synopsis: Nitsan and Sagi married in Israel in August 2002. Their wedding was a magnificent and well-attended ceremony. However, unlike other couples, Nitsan and Sagi are young people with Down syndrome, and as such, their path to martial bliss became an ideal for a "normal" existence that many young people with Down syndrome pray and hope for. The film accompanies the couple on their wedding day and to their new home in an emotional, thought provoking and sometimes humorous fashion.
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