Short Films: Documentary
A showcase of some of the most exciting and thought-provoking documentary short films from Israel, America, and around the world featuring stories from established filmmakers and new emerging talent.
THE COPYISTS
North American Premiere | Directed by Bartosz Tryzna & Monika Stpiczyńska
Poland | 15 minutes | 2021
The little-known story of a group of Jewish artists in occupied Bialystok who survived by making art forgeries for the Nazis.
DONYONI
World Premiere | Directed by Gisela Savdie
USA | 23 minutes | 2021
From "pizza face" to "Don Yoni", a Bolivian Jewish family living in Miami recounts the sacrifices and contradictions inherent in raising a son with tuberous sclerosis, a rare condition from which only his raw, uncanny works of art can provide solace.
FAMILY PHOTO
North American Premiere | Directed by Jakub Duszynski
Poland | 23 minutes | 2021
This personal documentary takes place in modern-day Warsaw, Paris, and Tel Aviv, and is centered around the filmmaker's family who look back at old photographs, at people who are long gone but are forever alive in their memories.
FROM AUSCHWITZ TO HOLLYWOOD
Southeast US Premiere | Directed by Jakov Sedlar & Mira Wolf
Croatia | 40 minutes | 2021
Narrated by Chaim Topol, From Auschwitz to Hollywood unveils the true story of the life and career of two-time Academy Award-winning producer Branko Lustig (Schindler’s List and Gladiator).
LARRY & ME
Florida Premiere | Directed by Lisa Melmed
USA | 12 minutes | 2021
Larry King’s lifelong best friend, renowned negotiator and author Herb Cohen, shares memories of their 75-year friendship.
MARTHA
US Premiere | Directed by Daniel Schubert
Canada | 21 minutes | 2021
Filmmaker Daniel Schubert visits his grandmother, Martha, in this warm, intimate portrait of a Survivor.
NO FILTERS
World Premiere | Directed by Carmit Shlomi
Israel | 16 minutes | 2021
This heartfelt, inspiring documentary follows Adi Hen on his journey to become the first model in Israel who is on the autism spectrum and doesn’t speak.
REQUIEM FOR A FISH
North American Premiere | Directed by Gadi Rimer
Israel | 33 minutes | 2021
In 1968, Gadi Rimer's grandfather — an electrician and an amateur diver — decided to direct the first-ever underwater Israeli film. Fifty years later, after discovering his forgotten film, Gadi goes on a cinematic journey in search of the grandparent he never knew, and the only artwork he had ever created.
SURVIVING
Florida Premiere | Directed by Jennie Kamin & Kira Kleaveland
USA | 9 minutes | 2021
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jodi Kantor interviews her grandmother Hana (97) about surviving the Holocaust and what it took from their family.
TWO SIDES OF SURVIVAL
Southeast US Premiere | Directed by Amanda Pope & Violet Du Feng
USA-China| 30 minutes | 2021
Produced by the USC Shoah Foundation, Two Sides of Survival brings together stories from the East and West, chronicling how Jews who fled the Nazis in Europe and the Chinese who were threatened by the Japanese occupation, improbably found refuge close to one another in the 1930s and during World War II.
