The Other Israel: New Perspectives Film Festival
On the 20th anniversary of the Other Israel Film Festival, organizers have unveiled a rebrand, calling this year’s films and panels New Perspectives. It will be the title moving forward.
Having written about exhibited films since the event’s inception, I was eager to see what this iteration held. Issac Zablocki, Senior Director of the Carole Zabar Center for Film and Executive Director of the Other Israel Film Festival, told me in an email, “This is a transition year. In these changing times, it was important for us to really reflect during this landmark year, and see the great impact that this festival had, and how to look toward the future.” Zablocki expressed the hope that the newly developed “mission will open the door for more films, deeper looks, and new audiences.”
The Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan has been the screening venue since the festival’s inception. CEO Rabbi Joanna Samuels wrote, “Difficult times call for more dialogue, not less.” With an eye to the past several years where there has been polarization both outside and within the Jewish community, Carole Zabar, founder of the Other Israel Film Festival, stated in a press release, “The festival remains an island for listening and conversing.
On a personal note, I can think of several presentations that have yielded “aha” moments of insight and revelation.
The New York premiere of “Where To?,” directed by Assaf Machnes, kicks off the seven-day programming. It is an interesting choice to begin with. Much of the action takes place in the cab of nighttime driver Hassan, a Palestinian who moved to Berlin at twenty-five to join a cousin already established in the city. His clientele is a variety of foreigners, tourists, and young club-goers.
Hassan witnesses plenty from the front seat, as does the audience through tight, constricted shots. Fractured identities are the key takeaway as a relationship develops between Hassan and a young gay Israeli man, Amir, whose father was from Iraq. Beginning in May 2022 and culminating in May 2024, their relationship grows as they share personal information. By July 2023, Amir sits in the front of the car with Hassan, who has become a type of father figure for him.
In a moment of comic relief, a sardonic scene shows an older Israeli couple debating their choice of transportation. The wife, upon hearing Hassan speak Arabic on the phone, gets anxious while contemplating whether she is in the vehicle of a potential terrorist.
Hassan sorts out his relationship with his daughter, who has a European boyfriend, and gains closure on a past love of his own. Amir’s search for a meaningful connection in Berlin, where he can be openly gay, is interrupted by the events of October 7. He calls Hassan to take him to the airport for his flight to Tel Aviv, where he returns home to be with his mother. We witness the longings and disappointments of both men shift and evolve as they examine their respective situations and potential resolutions, both individually and together.
Also viewed at the time of this writing was “One Street in Silwan,” directed by Bissan Tibi. A documentary, it tells its story of ethnic cleansing in East Jerusalem through the eyes of a young Palestinian girl, Dareen Al-Rajabi.
In the part of Jerusalem annexed by Israel after the 1967 war, it is detailed how “settler organizations have been taking over parts of Silwan to create a Jewish majority.” Instrumental in implementing this agenda is the 1970 Legal and Administrative Matters Law, which allows Jews to reclaim ownership of property and land where Jews once lived. However, Palestinians do not have the same rights of reclamation for homes and lands they were forced to evacuate in 1948.
On Batn Al-Hawa Street in Silwan, 750 Palestinian residents face “potential eviction.” This microcosm of East Jerusalem features colorful murals on the walls depicting birds, flowers, and trees. Israeli soldiers and Haredi men pass through. Israeli flags fly prominently. Roads are blocked. Police, enforcement agents, and Russian security guards are present, along with a stray cat or two. The situation is shared through the eyes of the “Queen of the Street,” young Dareen.
We see Dareen interacting with friends and family, getting ready for school, painting her nails, and with her brother—who has two bandaged arms. One is in a sling, the result of an interaction with Israeli police. As soldiers accompany settlers through the streets, a group of English-speaking people is shown on a tour in front of a house where Palestinian tenants were evicted in 2017. The female guide informs them that two right-wing settler organizations are focused on “evicting Palestinians out of Jerusalem in general, and Silwan specifically.” They are Ateret Cohanim and Elad.
Doreen’s birthday is shown being celebrated. In January 2025, the Israeli court ordered the evacuation of twenty-four families from Batn Al-Hawa Street. This included Doreen’s home and those of other families that have been profiled.
Coming up: Long-form pieces about additional featured films.
