Havin Yaim’s ID BLUES — JEWISH AND DEMOCRATIC examines Jewish and Arab identity in Israel
JCC in Manhattan, 334 Amsterdam Ave. at West 76th St.
Cinema Village, 22 East 12th St. between University Pl. & Fifth Ave.
November 11-21, $11
www.otherisrael.org
The Other Israel Film Festival was founded in 2007 by Carole Zabar as “a vehicle for cultural change and social insights into the nature of Israel as a democracy and the complex condition of the lives of its minorities that are living in the Jewish State.” The fourth annual festival runs November 11-21 at the JCC in Manhattan and Cinema Village, comprising feature-length works, a photography exhibit, panel discussions, and other gatherings that focus on Arab society in Israel. Mohammad Bakri fights to save his family’s land in Rani Bleier’s ADAMA, a fourteen-year-old girl leaves her home in Galilee and marries a Muslim in a refugee camp in Noa Ben Hagaii’s BLOOD RELATION, a Filipino worker adopts a blind Israeli child in Anat Tel’s I’M NOT FILIPINA, and Haim Yavin completes his trilogy about Arabs living in Israel with ID BLUES — JEWISH AND DEMOCRATIC. Other highlights include the U.S. premiere of the Israeli version of Ricky Gervais’s THE OFFICE (HA’MISRAD), the New York premiere of episodes from the second season of Sayed Kashua’s ARAB LABOR, and selections from the Israeli SESAME STREET (RECHOV SUMSUM). Each screening will be followed by a Q&A with the writer, director, producer, and/or star, including Sofi Tzdaka, Bakri, Tel, Edna Kowarsky, Uri Rosenwaks, and Shlomi Eldar. Among the special events — many of which are free but require advance registration — are “The Search for Justice” with Naomi Ragen, “Hot Off the Press” with Amy Goodman, Gideon Levy, and Khalil Rinnawi, a conversation about ARAB LABOR with Debra Winger, Danny Paran, and Kashua, a coffee tasting with Saul Zabar, a screening of Yaron Shani and Scandar Copti’s Oscar-nominated AJAMI, and “Crossover,” a concert by Mira Awad and Tamar Muskal. In addition, Natan Dvir’s photography exhibit, “18,” consisting of pictures of eighteen-year-old Arabs who live in Israel, will be on view through November 18 at Columbia University’s Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life on 115th St.