Israel - An Immigration Country

Although much has been writ­ten and shown about Pales­tini­ans and Israelis, one aspect has gen­er­al­ly been left out: the Pales­tin­ian minor­i­ty in Israel. More than 900 000 Pales­tin­ian-Arab cit­i­zens live in Israel. This film explores their sit­u­a­tion. The story is told through Samiyeh, a 20 year-old Pales­tin­ian women and her cousin Nidal. Like all young people in the Arab world, who have been con­front­ed by West­ern ideals and values, Samiyeh and Nidal have their own hopes and frus­tra­tions, dreams and night­mares. How­ev­er, the Israeli gov­ern­ment intrudes into the most minute details of their Pales­tin­ian-Arab lives.

The Pales­tini­ans in Israel are pros­per­ing along with the rest of the Israeli soci­ety. But, »money is not every­thing« as Samiyeh’s father, a con­struc­tion worker puts it; »money comes and goes. But al karamah (human dig­ni­ty) – if al karamah goes, it can never come back«.

»Ten years ago, I went to Ethiopia to film the people known as ‘Falashas’ or black Jews, who were mal­treat­ed for their strict obser­vance of the Jewish reli­gion and who … read more

In the val­leys on the high­lands of Siemen in the North of Gondar (Ethiopia) 1983 had lived more than 30.000 Falashas, which means in col­lo­qui­al Amhar­ish »stranger«. In the occi­den­tal … read more

A car­a­van camp in a desert­ed mil­i­tary base is the first home in Israel for immi­grants arriv­ing from the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia. Peter from the Ukraine and Chan­nan … read more

Mosa­hav Shekef is an agri­cul­tur­al coop­er­a­tive in the Lachish region. It is inhab­it­ed by Israelis – some are sabras, some were born in Maroc­co, Argenti­na or Iraq. Today there are … read more

Pinkas, a 75-years old agri­cul­tur­al worker from Moshav Rehov in the Beit Sh’an Valley, wakes up one morn­ing trou­bled by a dream in which his sister Simha has appeared. When … read more

The film focus­es the prob­lems of sephardic Jews in Israel. Three women, three gen­er­a­tions who strug­gle to sur­vive, to have a mean­ing­ful life and to express their voice in the … read more