The new Israeli cinema will be in the spotlight at this year's Transilvania International Film Festival (TIFF).  The program Focus Israel at TIFF 2022 includes films and documentaries, a TV series, and meetings with directors, industry professionals and officials who will engage in discussions with audiences in Cluj-Napoca from June 17 to June 26.

One of the films screened as part of Focus Israel is Nadav Lapid's Ahed's Knee, a story about political censorship but also about mother-son relationships in a divided country. The film won the Jury Prize at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. The director won the 2019 Golden Bear in Berlin for his film Synonyms.

Focus Israel will also showcase the latest production by director Eran Kolirin, who was a guest of the festival back in 2012. Israel's nominee for the 2021 Oscars, Let It Be Morning "explores the plight of Israel's Arab population in a comic and bitter manner, following a man's attempt to return home after his home village, which he visits to attend his brother's wedding, is surrounded overnight by the army and caught in a lockdown." The film premiered at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section.

At the same time, director Yair Qedar will present at the festival his documentary The Fourth Window, about the life and work of writer Amos Oz. Using archival footage and interviews with Oz's official biographer, family members and famous readers like Natalie Portman, Qedar captures in The Fourth Window the writer's life, "marked by many tragedies and unparalleled success."

Known to TIFF audiences for documentaries such as Jonathan Agassi Saved My Life, Who's Gonna Love Me Now? or Mr Gaga: A True Story of Love and Dance, director Tomer Heymann is present at this year's edition for the screening of his latest film, I Am Not. It is the story of a young man diagnosed with Asperger's who travels to Guatemala with his adoptive family to meet his biological parents.

The audience will also have the opportunity to interact with Orit Fouks Rotem, director of Cinema Sabaya, winner of the Debut Award at the Jerusalem Film Festival 2021. The film follows the dynamics of a group of Arab and Jewish women participating in a film workshop, a space where their traditional beliefs collide only to find a way of concord.

David Fisher's latest documentary, The Round Number, will also be screened at the event, as will Yuval Hameiri's That Orchestra with the Broken Instruments, a documentary that follows a unique musical experiment. One hundred musicians, professional and amateur, have come together to put on a concert. They speak different languages and belong to different generations. They have one thing in common: they all play broken instruments. 

The audiences in Cluj can also see Avi Nesher's Image of Victory, a story based on real events. Kibbutz Nitzanim is conquered by Egyptian forces. A team of volunteers tries to liberate it. The story is told from two points of view: that of an Egyptian propaganda film director and that of the kibbutz community.

A US-Israel production will also be included in the Film Food section: Breaking Bread, directed by Beth Elise Hawk, follows the journey of the first Muslim woman to win Israel's Master Chef. 

The festival will also screen three episodes of the TV series Sad City Girls, created by a trio of Israeli TV stars Rivka Allen, Talya Lavie and Shir Reuven. It tells the story of a friendship between two young women in modern-day Tel Aviv.

This year's edition of TIFF is scheduled to take place between June 17 and June 26 in Cluj-Napoca.

(Photo: still from Ahed's Knee, courtesy of TIFF)

simona@romania-insider.com