NAZA (2026) NYFF 2026

The people responsible for  sending out the drones and missles to level Gaza, as well as soldiers who were tasked with burning down the homes of the people who fled the bombing so they would have nothing to come back to, speak to the filmmakers and calmly tell the stories of many (but not all) of the terrible things they did. 

Naza is the term used by the Israeli military for collateral damage instead of Palestians, refugees or human beings (Men, women, children or babies) so that the deaths they caused were not seen as real people in the eyes of the soldiers.

Before the New York Festival screening of NAZA there were some quiet protests. Box trucks with LED screens drove around the festival site saying that the stories of NAZA were false and hand not confirmed. There were also four protesters holding signs outside Alice Tully. They had not seen the film.

The audience inside Alice Tully was openly sobbing during the screening. Several people around me took out their rosaries and were praying. The film laid the the audience out. Finally the weight of what was happening was sinking into the public. The war crimes are at last being noticed.

The point of the film, as stated by the directors during the Q&A, is not to dispute the right of Israel to defend itself or to get justice for the 1200 people killed on October 7 but to question the right of a government to kill well over 75,000 people, wound almost 200,000 more, and destroy the homes of even more in attacks that are exponetially greater. The want to know why all this death and destruction against people who have almost no connection to the bad guys, and simply living in the same building as them. Why is it necessary to wipe out the homes of people who simply share their national background and did nothing wrong on October 7, and drive them into the desert without food or water or shelter? The point is to make an accounting of the crimes being committed not against the people responsible but everyone around them. As one person said it was sometimes okay to take out 500 innocent people to get one suspected bad guy. What sort of madness makes that okay?

The mind boggles even more when you consider that the choice of targets is often picked by an AI program that is frequently wrong. Yes- the Israeli military is using an AI program to choose its targets but it often picks the wrong people.

Is it any wonder people are upset? Not only are war crimes being revealed but so is gross incompetence.

While the audience around me was left broken, the film was a bit less moving me. It was not because of the lack of weight of the film and it's revelations but because, as a good friend pointed out, I have been aware of this bullshit for years. Within my circle and social media follows I have been hearing about all of the charges leveled here since they started. I have read the articles upon which this film is based when they first appeared. This is a one stop shop for those who haven't been paying attention. For those who have been paying attention is this a somber summing up that rocks the soul.

As a film I can't really review it. This is not a film so much as pained cry from caring humans who want to pain and suffering to stop. Its a film made by Israelis who want to their country to come to their senses and stop killing people. Its the culmination of two years of work that puts it all together so that people can bare witness (and who, as made clear in the film, are remaining in the shadows because the evil that is directing the attacks on innocent people would turn and attack them). This is a scream not a piece of cinema.

NAZA is a vital and a live film. It is a call for peace and sanity. It is a film looking to find the better part of humanity by revealing its dakest heart. You must see this film.

Because of the need to get the film out so that people can see it, the film will be released to theaters and on line in the next couple of days. The hope is that with the release changes will come. And perhaps many of the voices who are claiming it is all not true will see that it is true- that it all is horribly and terribly true.

With Hasan in Gaza (2025)

I went to Gaza to search for a friend without an address- end crawl 

Shot on MiniDV in 2001 by the director Kamal Aljafari when he went in search of a friend he knew in prison WITH HASAN IN GAZA is a look at the way Gaza used to be. In it we can see the roots of todays disaster with evidence of bombing and of Israeli control. Its a film that shows us what has been lost.

As timely as the film is, and as bittersweet as the film is, the film has one key problem and that the film's slice of life construction isn't always compelling. While some sections are more interesting than others, a bit too much of this comes off as watching someone's home movie. While I completely understand why that is, we are supposed to see life in Gaza a quarter century ago, it doesn't always work as intended and we drift in and out.

The truth is the most moving section of the film is the long crawl that ends the film. While it is enhanced by the footage that went before, it is strong enough that even if you just see that section of the film you are going to feel gut punched.

I like the film, and I love what it is trying to do, but I wish it was more compelling. 

THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB (2025) opens December 17 at Film Forum

This is the true story of the Red Crescent call center workers who desperately try to rescue a six year old girl trapped in a car in Gaza after it was shot up by Israeli forces. Her uncle, aunt and cousins were all killed, but Hind was left alive and unable to leave. Because of the violent situation in Gaza and the need to try and get safe passage the rescuers who were eight minutes away had to wait hours to attempt a rescue  

When I heard about the film I wasn't certain what I thought since the voice on the calls is actually Hind's. Was it being used for sensationalism or because it needed to be there. Having seen the film, it needed to be there. There is no way that another voice would have worked as well. Does the film do anything "sensational",  not really. Even the video and photos at the end are not too much since, we never leave the call center, it makes clear the insanity of what happened.

Do not go into this film looking for happy since this is as bleak a film as you will see all year. As I said right after I saw the film, politics aside there is no way that you can not be moved by this film.  This is more or less straight reporting of what happened when a call came in.

That the film works as well as it does is because of the cast. These are the best performances you will see all year. I would gladly give Motas Malhees, as the man who gets the inital call,  the award for best actor now but I think the academy will ignore him. Saja Kilanic will also get ignored as his boss for Best Actress despite giving a performance for the ages.

Trust me when I say my words can nowhere near match the power of this film. Forget the politics, this is just a portrait of humanity under fire.

A must see.

With Hasan In Gaza (2025) NYFF 2025

I went to Gaza to search for a friend without an address- end crawl 

Shot on MiniDV in 2001 by the director Kamal Aljafari when he went in search of a friend he knew in prison WITH HASAN IN GAZA is a look at the way Gaza used to be. In it we can see the roots of todays disaster with evidence of bombing and of Israeli control. Its a film that shows us what has been lost.

As timely as the film is, and as bittersweet as the film is, the film has one key problem and that the film's slice of life construction isn't always compelling. While some sections are more interesting than others, a bit too much of this comes off as watching someone's home movie. While I completely understand why that is, we are supposed to see life in Gaza a quarter century ago, it doesn't always work as intended and we drift in and out.

The truth is the most moving section of the film is the long crawl that ends the film. While it is enhanced by the footage that went before, it is strong enough that even if you just see that section of the film you are going to feel gut punched.

I like the film, and I love what it is trying to do, but I wish it was more compelling. 

Holding Liat (2025) Tribeca 2025

This is the story of the family of Liat Atzili, an Israeli/American kidnapped by Hamas on October 7. We are focused on Liat's parents who try to push for her release through channels in the US and Israel.

I have been wrestling with this film since I saw it. While I absolutely love the way that this film shows the complicated path that families have to walk to get their loved one's back, and I love how the film doesn't  shy away from showing feelings critical of Israel and the countries handling of the hostage situation, I am not certain that the pacing works as well as it could.  There is a long section where very little happens. While I intellectually like the slow pacing because it mirrors the waiting of the families, it makes it kind of hard to stay fully engaged. My dislike of the pacing/construction is due largely because I know it's going to be make or break for people who are seeing the film. Some people are going to walk away, which is a sad thing.

The truth of the matter this film is infinitely better than any coverage of the hostage situation in the media. Not having to rely on clicks or soundbytes or a definite political position, the film gives us a deeper and more resonate look at the situation in Israel and Gaza.  Things are not black and white but gray. Members of Liat's family question the Israeli hard lining.

Sitting down to write this piece a week after seeing the film, and dozens of others, I find I am still wrestling with how I feel about the film. As I said I love that this film does not dumb anything down.  I love that we get a fuller version of the truth. I love it so much that I have taken almost a week and a half to try and work out what to say. I'm still not certain I'm expressing myself correctly.

Ultimately, this is an important film. Its a film that has makes the situation in Israel much more real and relatable. If you want increased insight, see this film.

Recommended.

The Other (2024) NYJFF 2025

This was the first great film I saw in 2025.  In a world being broken by hatred, the film makes clear that the only way to begin to end the madness is to meet and open lines of communication.

Filmed before the October 7 massacre and the madness that followed, THE OTHER is a series of interviews with both Palestinians and Israelis telling the story of how the conflict between them directly affected their lives. Largely the stories are a catalog of loss chronicling how they lost a loved one to the violence.  Then over time the film begins to turn and become something else. It becomes and exploration of people reaching out  and trying to bridge the gap.

I was deeply moved by this film.  When it ended I was  left wiping tears from my eyes and trying to find words to express how much this film means to me.

Go see it. This will be one of the best films you see this year.

Highly recommended.

From Ground Zero (2024) opens Friday

Oscar short listed documentary is the collection of short films set in Gaza. The films show what life is like in the contested area at the present time.

This is a very good, and very up to the minute look at the situation in Gaza since the Israelis started leveling the  area in the wake of the October 7 attacks. It’s a heart breaking look at what life has become for the Palestinian population in the area. If you want to know what life is like right now this is the film for you since what you see here is not what you are going to see on American news services.

I like this film a great deal. At the same time the film is a bit of sensory overload. This is a film that makes clear what is going on and it overwhelms you, more so if you are seeing several of the other recent films on similar subjects.

Recommended – but bring tissues.

Yalla Parkour (2024) DOC NYC 2024

Filmmaker Areeb Zuaiter was fascinated with the videos of people doing parkour in Gaza, so she reached out and got into contact with one of the filmmakers and participants Ahmed Matar. The film charts their friendship before the destruction of Gaza by the Israeli military.

This is a very bitter sweet film. While the bulk of the film is set from 2015 until 2023, the framing of the film is set very much in 2024. This is a kind of elegy for the places and lives lost, with all references to the dead coming from inference and a very long list  of “In memory of….” Of the people connected to the film who died. As the film begins and  Zuaiter talks about happiness and the smile of a young man that sucked her into all of this, we know this is going to be rather sad. How could it not considering the growing number of lives lost. You can’t help but wonder did Ahmed or any of the faces we see manage to survive the last year of bombing.

This is a one of a kind film. It’s a film that shows us the life that has been lost and acts a reminder of the ability of the Palestinians to simply survive. The places that the men perform their tricks in are all largely bombed out or partially destroyed places. The places are in ruins but these men are alive in them doing wondrous things.

To be honest I’m not certain this film would have worked had the bombing taken place. Yes it would have been a very good look at parkour in Gaza, but the weight of current events, of things outside the original intention of the film, and which were inserted into it at the last minute have made the film something weightier and even better.  The film isn’t just about these guys, but instead it somehow has become about a bigger group of people.

When you see this film be aware that the pacing of the film is very deliberate and real. Zuaiter shows us conversations between herself and Ahmed as they watch videos of the acrobatics.  There is no quick cutting and jumping from thing to thing. It’s the clips as Ahmed made them. They aren’t amped up by flashy editing, we watch the moves in real time. The result is everything has added weight (more so since we see them crash).  

I was moved by the film.

This is the story of a bunch of people who we come to like and who we fear. As a result, thanks to Zuaiter’s being stationed in America, a film about how we deal with people we love who are in danger on the far side of the world.

This is a staggering achievement thanks to the films utterly simple construction.

Highly reommended.

Under a Blue Sun (2024) DOC NYC 2024

This is a look at the making of Rambo 3, colonialism  and the state of the Palestinians. I know they don’t seem like they belong together but they do since Rambo 3 was shot in the deserts of Israel. How we get to the other subjects is because while visiting the locations of the film the changes that have occurred in the last three and half decades.

This is a film you have to go with.  When I started the film I wasn’t certain what I was getting. Set up as a journey the film starts as a look at the Rambo film  before shifting gears into another direction. The shift works because we have a context for it to happen. The result is a film that is covering the notion od colonialism, particularly in regard to Israel, in a way that isn’t like any other and in a way that forces us to consider points that are not being made by other films.

This film is a kick. It’s a film that sneaks up on you and gets under your skin. I say that because I thought that I had pretty much seen and heard everything there was to say and now I’m sitting here trying to sort my thoughts enough to get them on paper.

I’m not certain what else to say except see this film.

NO OTHER LAND (2024) NYFF 2024

HARUN (a qudraplegic man crippled by an Israeli bullet): Is anyone coming?
HARUN's MOTHER: No, no one is coming

Exchange in a tent between parent and child after they are left alone for the night

As people move to close down this year's NYFF because of the financial support from Israeli sources, they seem to be completely unaware that NO OTHER LAND is playing the festival  and that with in it's crushing 95 minutes is an emotional bomb that is going to change hearts and minds in ways that protests will never manage.

The film a record of the systematic destruction of an West Bank community from 2019 until 2023. It's a document of how the Israeli government is using the military and the settlers to drive out the Palestinians so that they can claim the land.

Finished literally days before the October 7 attack, the film is a blistering explanation of where the anger that spawned that attack came from. It's a film that broke the audience of writers at NYFF and was the first in 10 films screened to get long applause from most of audience.

The filmmakers make clear that the people in the village have been there for generations with some families living there since 1830. This is not a reclaiming of land the Palestinians took for a new settlement but the removal of a people who had been there since the beginning of time.

My attitude toward the film as a film was, for a certain amount of time, that the film was a solid retelling of Israeli human rights violations and then the story of Harun takes center stage an the film drops the gloves and it makes clear, in no uncertain terms, that the treatment of the Palestinians is nothing short that genocide. My heart, and the hearts of those around me were crushed.

Harun was shot for defending his home and then left for dead. He survived but as a quadriplegic who had to be cared for my his mother, because there is no medical help for him and literally moved around in a cart. It's no wonder seeing things like this day after day that the light in director Bael Adra's eyes dims and fades over the course of the film.

Let me make clear that is not a statement directed at all Israelis but the government under Netanyahu, they are criminals. 

Many will call this a political film, but it is not. It is made by a group of directors and reporters who are both Israeli and Palestinian. There is no side. Frankly it is simply a document of a great wrong against humanity. The only politics in the film is that it's Israelis with guns and heavy machinery against Palestinians with cameras.

A week before I saw this film I saw the film WE WILL DANCE AGAIN, about the October 7 attack and was shocked at the brutality of what happened, and then I saw NO OTHER LAND and my single thought was of course the October 7 attack happened...but why didn't it happen sooner?

This film is an absolute must see.

Easily one of the best and most important films of not only the festival but 2024 as well.

We Will Dance Again (2024)

A look at the October 6 attack in Israel told by the survivors and the footage that was shot that day.

First up I’m not going to get into the politics of this. The sheer loss of life and the brutality of the attack trump any thought of the amorphous and intellectual notions of the Israel/Palestine conflict. By the standard of any living and breathing human with any shred of moral decency it was an horrific sequence of events that simply proves that too many people think violence will solve problems.

As a film documenting the events that played out one morning in October this film is a punch in the face. It doesn’t matter which side you are on, or think you’re on, the film will make you truly consider the cost of violence. Made up of footage shot by the victims as well as by the attackers, WE WILL DANCE AGAIN never looks away. We see it all, from the end of the over night rave which stopped when the missiles were seen in the sky, to the attacks where few were left alive onward to the aftermath. It’s all here and I’m certain you will look away.

Yes the footage is choppy at times. Considering how it was shot, it’s amazing that any of it survives. The images will burn into your brain. Strangely the most problematic is the footage from Hamas which was shot via body cams and so is very unsteady. That’s probably a good thing since we don’t need to see all the death and destruction.

While not for all audiences those wanting to know what happened that day will end up well informed. 

THREE PROMISES (2023) opens tomorrow

Yousef Srouji takes a collection of old VHS tapes and creates a look at his family and life in the Palestinian West Bank in the early 2000’s.

This moving portrait of life in a war zone is even more so owing to events happening in Israel. While the film would have been good before the insanity, the film now takes on a deeper resonance as a reminder that there are good people lost in the madness. (The final piece of text made me gasp-something it was never intended to have happen)

You will forgive me if I don’t say much more, but world events are coloring ny thoughts on the film so anything I have to say doesn’t feel truly right.

Do yourself a favor and just see this.

MOURNING IN LOD (2023)

MOURNING IN LOD is a tough film to watch. Yes the subject of the cost of the war between Hamas and Israel has been done too many times, however it’s focus is such that it strips away the politics and focuses purely on the very human cost of the people caught in between the warring factions.  And when I say the film focuses on the people caught in between, I mean both Israeli and Palestinian civilians who are caught between their leaders who see them as expendable. 

Laying out the experiences of three families we come to understand how something so terrible can happen. That isn't to excuse it, but we see how the both sides, whipped into a frenzy about the alleged terrible things happening by these others, these labels, turn on the people who a short time before were their friends and neighbors. People they lived with in peace until the madness was introduced. 

I was moved. I love that director Hilla Medalia doesn't do anything fancy. She let's people talk and so we get to know the people before us. We learn of their lives and what their loved one means to them.

You need to see this film. It is one of the best film not only on the Israeli and Palestinian conflict I’ve run across but also the best films on the cost war. 

 Opening Friday in theaters, the film will stream next month.

R21 aka Restoring Solidarity (2022) March 18 at First Look Festival 2023 at the Museum of The Moving Image

The R 21 of the title is for the 21st film reel found in Japan. The reels of film were of film showing support for the Palestinian cause. They had been sent to Japan because many Japanese saw kinship with the Palestinians because of the way they were treated after the second world war. This film is made up of clips of from the films as well a narration calling for continued resistance.

This film is a trip. As a film nerd and (semi) trained historian this film was an absolute delight. It is a look at part of history and the history of film through a lens that almost no one has looked before. The pro-Palestinian films, many of which haven’t been seen in decades open up a way of looking at the world that is new to pretty much everyone. These are simply images that we haven’t seen before with a take on “current” events we haven’t heard or considered. Its heady trip that sent me pondering all sorts of things, mostly how set our view of the Palestinian mess hasn’t changed much in years and how perhaps it should be rethought.

I loved this film. It stands apart from most modern documentaries that we see today in that it gives us a lot to chew on, most of it we have never encountered before. It’s a film that opens up our hearts and minds and demands we sit with it and it ideas and not jump to the next thing.

Highly recommended

The Devil's Drivers (2021) Toronto 2021

Israel is in the process of building walls to seal up their borders with Palestinian lands. They do not want to allow free access between the two areas. However many Palestinians can not survive on the money they can make near home and have to make risky border crossings in order to get into Israel in order to make a living wage. Since Israel will not give them papers they trust themselves to people like Hamouda and his cousin Ismail who drive modified cars across the desert hoping to avoid patrols of soldiers looking to stop them.

Up close and personal tale of the men who drive for a living and the people who use their services to go back and forth. It’s a film full of crazy tension and heartbreak as we ride along on mad dashes and  see the cost of what a divided economy has done to the poor. It makes you think about the economies of both Israel and Palestine since its clear Israel can't function without the people its trying to keep out (much like the US and other countries)

I’m not going to say this is a perfect film, it’s not, but it’s a raw and real and it has gut punch of real life.  Hell the driving sequences are jagged as they come but at the same time they are more exciting than the CGI crap we get in Hollywood blockbusters. We feel for the men and their families because what we are seeing is not perfectly edited for perfect emotion, but rather everything is assembled to make it feel like we are with the people on screen. The fact that they are aware of the camera but ultimate oblivious to it, they really open themselves up to us, adds a depth of emotion you don’t usually see in films of any sort.

Honestly I haven’t been this excited by chases in film in a long time.

Recommended

Mayor (2020) DOC NYC 2020

MAYOR doesn't behave like a documentary. As the film opens and the mix of the images and the lush Oscar worth score make the film seem like a drama or a thriller. It goes along for a while as a nice portrait of a nice guy  in a nice city, but then this portrait of Musa Hadid, the Mayor of Ramallah gets serious. Donald Trump unexpectedly announces that the embassy of the US in Israel was going to be moved to Jerusalem and things get messy.

When I started Mayor I didn't understand why the film was being talked about a possible Oscar contender. By the time it ended I knew why, this is simply a great portrait of a great man. I want him to run a country. He seems to be largely unflappable even in the face of violence.

But the film is more than just the portrait of Hadid or his office, but it is also a  bracing look at the relationship between Palestine and Israel. Since Ramala is essentially the capital of the Palestinian state it is the lightning rod for everything. When things go wrong, things burn.  That anyone can remain calm is somehow miraculous.

I loved this film. I loved everything about it from it's craft, to its subject to all the thematic threads. I love that this  is a film that works on many different levels, that it entertains like a drama and makes you think. This is a magnificent film.

Highly recommended

Ofra Bloch's masterpiece AFTERWARD hits theaters Friday

This is a repost of the review I ran when the film played at DOC NYC in 2018

 AFTERWARD is by Ofra Bloch a psychoanalyst who wanted to confront the notion of hate within the Jewish/Palestinian communities. She wanted to know what the effect of the hatred was on both communities since she realized that she had been raised to hate Germans because of the Holocaust and to hate the Palestinians because "they were coming to take their land". She soon realized that part of the problem of why she hated these people was that there was no dialog between the groups. Not only hadn't she spoken with Germans or Palestinians- many Germans didn’t know how to talk to Jews because they were afraid the sins of their fathers would get them hurt, while the Israelis and Palestinians seemed to only interact violently. As a result no one talked and the uncertainty bred suspicion and uncertainty. To break the ice she would talk to those she was supposed to hate and hate her.

Ms Bloch has made a film of such incredible power it has left me tongue tied and rambling...

Digging deep into her own life and family Bloch explains takes us on a journey to understand why and how the hatred has been allowed to fester. She gives us example from her own family how stories as a child didn't fully allow her to understand what happened during World War Two. In order to put things right she goes to Germany and into the occupied territories and talks to people and experiences what things were/are like.

And what she finds is troubling. People can not move forward from their own and our shared history. The Holocaust, which sought to eliminate the Jewish people is being used against the Palestinians as a way of shutting them up. The Palestinians don't like that their "oppressors" are portraying themselves as victims in a way that makes it impossible to fight back back. The displacement of the Palestinians, the Nakba, where a million or more people were displaced in a single day, is still an open wound. Part of the reason being the rules laid down by Israel which make the basic process of living difficult even to the point where they can not bury their own dead.

Bloch is confused by it all at times, but she, and we, begin to gather some answers over the course of her journey. Working slowly and patiently she begins to find through lines. There is perhaps a way to begin to heal some of the wounds.

The journey is AFTERWARD and it is an unconditional masterpiece.

I honestly don't know what to say. This is a film I need to see again to due it justice, but because of the sheer weight of the DOC NYC I am going to have to circle back after the festival and take a more detailed look. But you shouldn't wait-you should just go see it.

Know that Bloch succeeds in taking a complex subject and making it personal. By relating everything back to her own experiences she makes her journey our own. We feel her confusion because she makes us understand where she is coming from. Bloch also doesn't shy away from mixing heady subjects with emotion your hear will breaking at some revelation while your brain ponders what it all means..

That this is Ofra Bloch's first film is truly amazing. How this person has managed to make a film of such staggering power the first time out of the box is mind blowing. No filmmaker I can think of, male or female, has ever made a film as nigh perfect and as deeply affecting as this one the first time. Watching the film I kept to IMDB to see what else she has done and only to discover this was her first film.

In a time filled with hate and mistrust and a world on the edge of collapse from all the pain, AFTERWARD is a shining beacon of hope.

AFTERWARD is a must see film for everyone.

In Theaters January 10, 2020 and on VOD January 28, 2020

A brief piece on Screwdriver (2018) Other Israel Film festival 2019

After Zaid's friend is killed by an Israeli sniper, he and his friends go out looking for revenge. When one of the friends kills a man he thinks is Israeli, the friends flee but Zaid is caught and thrown into prison. Getting out fifteen years later Zaid struggles to come to terms with the sudden change, with friends who have moved on and family who don't seem to understand why he is so with drawn.

I am mixed concerning SCREWDRIVER. While it is in no way  a bad film it never fully connected to me on an emotional level. To be certain this film is an excellent and heady discussion of what being in solitary for the better part of a decade and a half will do to you, however the fact that the time in prison made Zaid withdrawn and disconnected made him hard to connect to emotionally. Intellectually I completely understand why it was done, but at the same time it kept me distant to the point I like the film rather than love it.

Regardless it is worth a look when it plays November 21 at the Other Israel Film Festival.

Breaking Bread (2019) Other Israel Film Festival 2019

Dr. Nof Atamna-Ismaeel was the first person to win the Israeli Master Chef competition. Realizing that the best way to connect people and break down walls is to share a mill she creates the food festival which will bring together chefs who are both Jewish and Arab, Palestinian and Israeli in order to create friendships and connections based on a love of food.

This is a wonderful film. It is a glorious portrait of not only Atamna-Ismaeel but also many of the people whom she invited to the festival. Its a wonderful look into the various chefs' lives and loves of food. This is the cinematic equivalent to sitting in the kitchen of a really good cook and shooting the breeze while they cooked. Unfortunately since they are on the screen we can try what they are cooking.(this needs to screen with a buffett)

Truth be told this film is the best sort of  food porn. Watching the film I found I was getting hungrier and hungrier. I am a notoriously picky eater and yet while watching the film I kept going "I have no idea what that is but I want it". I was so hungry by the end, despite seeing this right after dinner that I ran to the kitchen and made a big second meal. (When you go see this at the film festival plan your eating accordingly)

What a great great film.

I love that this film works on so many different levels, it's a portrait of great people who cook, a portrait of society, it shows us food that we may never have known about and it shows us how we all aren't that different after all.

This film is a quiet little gem that will make your mouth water and stomach talk to you.

Thankfully the Other Israel Film Festival has scheduled it at 4:30 pm on Sunday the 17th so you can make a mad dash after the screening to one of the wonderful restaurants around the Marlene Meyerson JCC where it screens.

For tickets go here (You're on your own with dinner reservations)

Gaza (2019) Hot Docs 2019

GAZA is an absolute must see (especially on the big screen) portrait of life in the Gaza strip. A look at the good and the bad of the small strip of land barricaded by Israel from the rest of the world it is a film that will make you fall in love with the people and the place and make you wonder how anyone can treat it's inhabitants so badly.

When Israel destroyed its settlements in the early 2000's it effectively walled off the Gaza strip from the rest of the world. I suspect the idea was to contain Hamas and the Palestinians in a place they could could control. On some level they expected those strapped on the small piece of land (its only seven wide by twenty five miles wide) to either give up of die, but despite often being on the verge the people have created a living breathing community that is a wonder to behold.

GAZA is a portrait of the community and on some level it will restore your faith in mankind. That so many people can survive and thrive, as best as they can. We are brought into their families, hear their hopes, come to understand their lives and share their tragedies. Its a film that will move you.

One of the things that I love about the film is the loving cinematography. While I know Gaza is not as picturesque as the film makes it out to be it still comes across as a pretty lovely place, when it isn't being shelled. Obviously the directors love their subject a great deal and we are better for it.

I've seen several portraits of Gaza over the last couple of years but as good as they are this film is better.

Highly recommended.