Beirut, 1982: a young Palestinian refugee helps an Israeli fighter pilot escape from PLO captivity because he wants to visit his ancestral family home. En route through war-torn Lebanon their relationship develops into a close bond.
In Majdal Shams, the largest Druze village in Golan Heights on the Israeli-Syrian border, the Druze bride Mona is engaged to get married with Tallel, a television comedian that works in the... See full summary »
WHEELER is the story of an aspiring musician from Kaufman, Texas who travels to Nashville with the lifelong dream of trying his hand at country music. By embodying the title character under... See full summary »
Director:
Ryan Ross
Stars:
Stephen Dorff,
Kris Kristofferson,
Audrey Spillman
The story of a Palestinian widow who must defend her lemontree field when a new Israeli Defense Minister moves next to her and threatens to have her lemon grove torn down.
Director:
Eran Riklis
Stars:
Hiam Abbass,
Rona Lipaz-Michael,
Ali Suliman
Set against the backdrop of an international finance deal in New York and Peru, Oliver's Deal is an intense political drama which explores how far people will go to get what they want.
Director:
Barney Elliott
Stars:
Stephen Dorff,
David Strathairn,
Brooke Langton
A Palestinian-Israeli boy named Eyad is sent to a prestigious boarding school in Jerusalem, where he struggles with issues of language, culture, and identity.
Charlie Rankin, recently released from prison, seeks vengeance for his jail-house mentor William "The Buddha" Pettigrew. Along the way, he meets the ethereal, yet streetwise, Florence Jane. They embark on a unlikely road trip, careening towards an unlikely redemption and uncertain resolution.
Director:
David Jacobson
Stars:
Michelle Monaghan,
Willem Dafoe,
Stephen Dorff
Playoff tells the story of legendary Israeli basketball coach Ralph Klein. He became a national hero, when he made Maccabi Tel Aviv into European Champions in the late Seventies, one of ... See full summary »
On a family trip in the African desert, a research scientist unintentionally travels off course and is brutally murdered by an arms dealer. His girlfriend is put to the ultimate survival ... See full summary »
Director:
Evelyn Purcell
Stars:
Stephen Dorff,
Svetlana Metkina,
Maisie Williams
Love Letters to Cinema is a collection of ten "letters" in the form of short films (4 minutes each), written and directed by ten outstanding Israeli directors. The films and the directors ... See full summary »
Mossad agent Naomi is called back from sick leave and assigned to a "babysitting" job. Under a new identity, she heads to Germany to protect Mona a beautiful Lebanese informant, whom ... See full summary »
Beirut, 1982: a young Palestinian refugee helps an Israeli fighter pilot escape from PLO captivity because he wants to visit his ancestral family home. En route through war-torn Lebanon their relationship develops into a close bond.
While not explicitly stated in the film, the word "zaytoun" is Arabic for "olive", and refers to the tree that Fahed carries. See more »
Goofs
In the confrontation with the Syrian soldiers, Fahed runs to the Syrian vehicle carrying only his pistol. The next time he is seen at their vehicle, he now has his backpack on with his olive tree in it. There has been neither time nor opportunity for him to have collected these from the taxi. See more »
Zaytoun (2012) is an Israeli film directed by Eran Riklis. Abdallah El Akal stars as Fahed, a Palestinian adolescent who lives in a camp in Lebanon. The American Actor Stephen Dorff is the Israeli fighter pilot Yoni, who is captured by the PLO when his plane is shot down.
The two make common cause when their goals come together. Yoni wants to escape and return to his unit in Israel. Fahed wants Yoni to take him to Palestine. When he gets to Palestine, he wants to plant an olive tree that the family has kept alive in the hope that they can return to their home and replant it.
The basic plot is not new. We saw it over 50 years ago when Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis starred in the 1958 movie "The Defiant Ones." Poitier and Curtis--natural enemies--are literally chained together. El Akal and Dorff are symbolically chained together, but the concept is the same. Can two people from different camps, who dislike and distrust each other, work together to achieve something important to both of them? Can the wall of hatred that separates them be weakened or even taken down?
Although the plot isn't new, the movie is still spellbinding. The actors are both excellent, and the settings look and feel real. The story requires some suspension of disbelief, but the gritty, authentic atmosphere, as well as the interaction between the pilot and the boy, worked for me.
We saw this movie at the Little Theatre, as part of the first-rate Rochester Jewish Film Festival. It will work well enough on DVD, but seeing it on the large screen would be better. For some reason, Zaytoun carries a dismal 6.2 rating on IMDb. This doesn't make sense to me--it's a much better film than that. Find it and see it!
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Zaytoun (2012) is an Israeli film directed by Eran Riklis. Abdallah El Akal stars as Fahed, a Palestinian adolescent who lives in a camp in Lebanon. The American Actor Stephen Dorff is the Israeli fighter pilot Yoni, who is captured by the PLO when his plane is shot down.
The two make common cause when their goals come together. Yoni wants to escape and return to his unit in Israel. Fahed wants Yoni to take him to Palestine. When he gets to Palestine, he wants to plant an olive tree that the family has kept alive in the hope that they can return to their home and replant it.
The basic plot is not new. We saw it over 50 years ago when Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis starred in the 1958 movie "The Defiant Ones." Poitier and Curtis--natural enemies--are literally chained together. El Akal and Dorff are symbolically chained together, but the concept is the same. Can two people from different camps, who dislike and distrust each other, work together to achieve something important to both of them? Can the wall of hatred that separates them be weakened or even taken down?
Although the plot isn't new, the movie is still spellbinding. The actors are both excellent, and the settings look and feel real. The story requires some suspension of disbelief, but the gritty, authentic atmosphere, as well as the interaction between the pilot and the boy, worked for me.
We saw this movie at the Little Theatre, as part of the first-rate Rochester Jewish Film Festival. It will work well enough on DVD, but seeing it on the large screen would be better. For some reason, Zaytoun carries a dismal 6.2 rating on IMDb. This doesn't make sense to me--it's a much better film than that. Find it and see it!