This year, when peace between Israel and its neighbors might seem like an impossible dream, we highlight the stories of those who stand together for coexistence and an end to violence.

Schedule:

2:30 PM: Her Name Was Zehava (22 min)
2024 | 22 minutes | Documentary
International Premiere
Director: Tamar Baruch
Zehava, a young trans woman, was denied asylum by Israel and repeatedly imprisoned due to her “second class” status as a Palestinian. She fled from the West Bank to Israel after surviving sex trafficking and attempted murder—only to face new obstacles as an undocumented, homeless Palestinian. In her perilous journey amid the conflict, Zehava tries to navigate the multiple layers of oppression and discrimination converging on her intersecting identities.

3:30 PM: The Path Forward (40 min)
2024 | 38 minutes | Documentary
Director: Julie Cohen, Mo Husseini
A growing chorus of Palestinians and Israeli Jews are speaking up – often in cross-cultural pairs – for peace, justice, empathy and sanity. The Path Forward seeks to amplify the voices of three of the most eloquent and inspiring of these pairs. Interweaving their moving on stage dialogues in the U.S. and Europe with their poignant life stories, this documentary creates a tapestry of voices for peace and reconciliation. The film contains no images of war, death or campus protests. Instead, viewers will be immersed in the mind and heart opening world of innovative thinkers finding a new path forward.

4:30 PM: The State of Joint Activism in Israel - A Conversation with Standing Together (60 min)
Alon-Lee Green and Rula Daood from Standing Together join us to discuss the current state of joint activism in Israel.

5:00 PM: Madrasa (TV Series) (75 min - 3 episodes)
2023 | 25 minutes | Narrative
New York Premiere
Director: Guri Alfi
A comedy television series set at a bilingual Jewish-Arab high school in Israel. This unique setting serves as the background for many challenges, dilemmas, and conflicts that the students, teachers, and parents deal with throughout the episodes. The children studying at Madrasa are learning how to break down age-old walls of suspicion, racism, and hostility.

7:00 PM: Savoy (78 min)
2022 | 78 minutes | Docudrama
Director: Zohar Wagner
Filmmaker Zohar Wagner tells the story of Kochava Levy (Dana Igvy), a young woman of Yemeni descent who served as mediator between Palestinian attackers and the IDF while being held hostage in Tel Aviv—during the night of the deadly 1975 Hotel Savoy terror attack. Over the course of one night, she transformed herself into a fearless heroine and formed an unlikely connection with one of the attackers. The film intertwines rare archival materials that were never released with reenacted scenes from the night of the attack.

Festival Tickets