Kiss Me Kosher

That was great! Oh, that was so much fun. Shira decides to marry Maria after a whirlwind romance, but the path of true love never did run smooth. They’re still getting to know each other really, and virgin-til-now Maria isn’t exactly delighted to find out Shira is a mad shagger who’s been through half the…

Our Natural Right

That was absolutely fascinating. Our Natural Right brings together the grandchildren of the founders who signed the Declaration of Independence, establishing the nation of Israel. It takes them through the document and asks whether the vision enshrined within it has been achieved, or if it has been let down, or if it contained within it…

Truus’ Children

Ooft! The opening credits weren’t even over and I was like, “Oh, I’m gonna greet at this.” Truus Wijsmuller was a Dutch woman who was named Righteous Among Nations for saving 10,000 children from the Nazis. It began when Jews were fleeing Germany, they began leaving their children at the border with Holland, hoping their…

What If? Ehud Barak on War and Peace

Really struggled to get through this. Kept stopping and starting and walking away from this. Couldn’t stand watching this murderous bastard shrug off or chortle over the death of women and children at his hands. I know he’s meant to be a controversial figure, but I think controversial is a word that should be reserved…

Apples and Oranges

Really interesting documentary looking into the history of the kibbutz. Now, before seeing this, I had only a vague notion about what a kibbutz was like, combining ideas of settler colonies, summer camps, and hippy communes. Having now watched this film, you see the great range of kibbutz experiences, and how they changed over time.…

The Unword

The vast majority of the action of The Unword takes place in an after-school parent-teacher conference, like a bottle episode. I was delighted to find it was really funny, despite being about the grim subject of antisemitic bullying. All the humour and drama unfolds as pompous, self-assured school officials sit down to put the world…

Honey Cigar

Set in Paris in the 1990s, Honey Cigar follows Selma, an Algerian-French college student, on her sexual awakening. A coming of age film about family, identity, misogyny, and a sense of home both within yourself and without. Selma walks between worlds, her parents’ Algerian home where even to kiss a boy is scandalous, and the…

Digging For Life

In Digging For Life, Tommy Germain narrates his life story, of leaving home to start life in South Africa and being kidnapped and sold into slavery in the diamond mines of Angola. Tommy grew up in Limbe, Cameroon. His family was large, he was one of 9 kids, so as soon as he was grown,…

The White Death of the Black Wizard

If Heaven Reaches Down To Earth is a visual poem, The White Death of the Black Wizard is a visual eulogy. The text displayed on screen are exerts from the suicide note of Timoteo, an Afro-Brazilian slave who died in Salvador in 1861. The film mixes contemporary and archival footage, some of which is damaged…