Calendar Girls Dir.: Love Martinsen, Maria Loohufvud Sweden, USA 2022 | 84 minutes | English | Hebrew subtitles Dressed in neon leotards, surrounded by glitter, tiaras, and costumes out of an MTV clip, these are the Calendar Girls, Florida’s most dedicated dance team for women over 60. This lively and spirited group spreads joy, humor, and love by dancing at events for the elderly. Each member has her own unique story to share, and together they are a blistering female force. Calendar Girls is an inspiring documentary gem about a group of colorful women that will make you want to dance your hearts out and remember that age is nothing but a number.

  Speaker (in Heb.): Prof. Dan Geva, Beit Berl College and conversation with Prof. Tamar Elor. Hebrew University, Jerusalem On the Bowery USA 1956 | 65 minutes | English | Hebrew subtitles Dir.: Lionel Rogosin They are construction workers, coal miners, workers in the oil fields or on the port docks. They are strong but beaten, beautiful but dirty, broken and still hoping for the best – standing at the center of cinematic realism that flourished in the first half of the 20th-Century. In Lionel Rogosin’s world they wander across Manhattan – between bars, the church, soup kitchens and shelters, at work. In this realm, Rogosin directs, as a magician moving between illusion and reality, the last cinematic chapter of the myth of white and “heroic” American man. On the Bowery foreshadows the cultural revolution of the 1960s and, moreover, the fading of these representations.

  Speaker (in Heb.): Eliran Arazi, Hebrew University Jerusalem Black Mambas Dir.: Lena Karbe Germany, France 2022 | 81 minutes | English, Afrikaans, Tsonga | Hebrew, English subtitles As part of the anti-poaching efforts in the Greater Kruger Park, South Africa, the conservation authority (dominated by white Afrikaner men) forms the first all-female defense unit. A local marshal trains them in a military atmosphere as if it were a commando unit. The women learn to fulfill their duty, even if it means going up against men from their communities who turn to animal poaching due to financial adversities. This mission offers the women, perhaps for the first time in their life, a sense of liberty and empowerment. The training is strenuous, and the attitude is rough, but their participation is motivated by hope for a brighter future. Black mambas explores issues of power imbalances, social tensions, hidden colonialism, and patriarchal systems that use these women as a marketing tool.

  Speaker (in Heb.): Eliran Arazi, Hebrew University Jerusalem Veins of the Amazon Dir.:Diego E. Sarmiento Pagan, Álvaro Sarmiento, Terje Toomistu Peru 2021 | 71 minutes | Spanish | Hebrew, English subtitles Ferries run along the Peruvian Amazon. Drifting through its vast expanses, transporting people and goods, dictating the rhythm of the heartbeat and the flow of life. In this timeless space, porters collapse under loads of onions, sugar, oil, motorcycles, building supplies, and whatnot, transported from the global market into the rainforests; women and children get on and off at every stop with goods for sale, as animals emerge from all sides of the ferries. The film follows one such ferry on its journey and invites us to meet the local people waiting on the banks of the river to take and give.

  Speaker (in Heb.): Prof. Ronit Ricci, Hebrew University Jerusalem A Boarding School Dir.: Shalahuddin Siregar Indonesia, Japan, Qatar 2019 | 98 minutes | Indonesian, Japanese, Arabic | Hebrew subtitles Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world; it is also home to thousands of boarding schools that offer traditional Islamic education. These young men and women leave their homes and families behind and build alternative close relationships with each other and with their teachers. Raising their students to respect and have compassion towards others despite their differences, these schools are Indonesia’s last defense in the face of today’s rising extremism. Without judgment, the film discreetly follows the students, and the filming style matches the school’s approach – not what to think, but how to think.