Favorite Israeli Film of All Time
list created by the website Ynet in 2004. this list include 56 films.
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56 titles
- DirectorAssi DayanStarsYisrael PoliakovGavri BanaiShaike LeviSwindler Sergio Konstanza owes money to Mr. Hasson. He escapes to the desert where he joins a wacky Army reserve unit whose Sergeant has his eye on one of Mr. Hasson's daughters, although Mr. Hasson won't let her get married until her older sister is safely married and situated.winner with 25,000 votes
- DirectorBoaz DavidsonStarsYehuda BarkanYosef ShiloachZe'ev RevachThe story is about two twin brothers, Azriel and Gavriel (both played by Yehuda Barkan). Azriel is a shy and religious Jew who works in a fruit shop in Jaffa. Gavriel, is a hoodlum and a good-for-nothing hustler who runs a Snooker Bar. Gavriel and his friend Hanuka make easy money by swindling innocent people into gambling on Snooker games. One day Gavriel is forced to renew contact with his brother, because he is in trouble with a gangster who won the bet on a snooker game, and the only way to pay is by selling the family estate which is co-owned by Gavriel and his brother Azriel.
- DirectorBoaz DavidsonStarsEitan SnehHana RotAvraham MorThis romantic comedy takes place in Israel during the Austerity period of the 1950s as 13-year-old Alex is about to attend his Bar Mitzvah. Alex has a typical Polish mother and father who suffer quietly in their apartment which because of the difficult economic situation they are compelled to share with a Persian tenant named Faruk who tries to fight his baldness with different creams. Alex falls in love with the new girl in his class, Mimi. Everything changes when his aunt Lola arrives in Israel from Poland to search for lost love. They were together when she lived in Poland but he vanished when Nazis conquered the country. Alex falls for his aunt and she gives him more than just maternal love. The film describes exactly the ambiance that dominated the country in 1950s Austerity Israel--the black markets, the radio broadcasts concentrating on the search for lost relatives, the music of the 1950s, the clothes and dresses and pastimes.
- DirectorBoaz DavidsonStarsYftach KatzurAnat AtzmonJonathan SagallThree friends live their lives in 1950s Israel, each looking for someone to love.
- DirectorEphraim KishonStarsShaike OphirZaharira HarifaiAvner HizkiyahuOne of Israel's most beloved films, this film centers around the policeman Azulai, who is as kind as he as inept.
- DirectorAvi NesherStarsGidi GovLiron NirgadSassi KeshetComedic musical about an army singing group.
- DirectorBoaz DavidsonStarsYehuda BarkanZe'ev RevachArieh EliasCharlie passes himself off as a rich businessman but gets by through fleecing suckers with 3-Card Monte. Miko is a street kid who spends his time with Charlie instead of going to school; his sister unsuccessfully tries to raise him on her own. The plot follows Charlie's attempts to conquer the heart of Gila, a rich girl whose parents are trying to get her married to an American millionaire, something she doesn't want.
- DirectorUri ZoharStarsArik EinsteinUri ZoharSima EliyahuGote and Eli are two aging friends who don't want to age. Gote is a lifeguard who's fighting peepers on the Tel-Aviv beach. Eli is a guitar player who dreams of building a night club in Altman's restaurant.
- DirectorNir BergmanStarsOrly SilbersatzMaya MaronNitai GvirtzDaphne and her four children try to cope with the abrupt death of husband/father. As the family seems to fall apart, a sudden incident gives them a chance to heal their 'broken wings'.
- DirectorEphraim KishonStarsTopolGeula NuniGila AlmagorThe sharp, often hilarious satire that became the most successful film in Israeli history (until that time) is about new immigrants Sallah and his family, who are left in a shack near their promised apartment and are abandoned for months. A Yemenite Jewish family that was flown to Israel during "Operation Magic Carpet" - a clandestine operation that flew 49,000 Yemenite Jews to Israel the year after the state was formed - is forced to move to a government settlement camp. The patriarch of the family, portrayed by Chaim Topol, tries to make money and get better housing, in a country that can barely provide for its own and is in the midst absorbing hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees from Arab countries.
- DirectorEli CohenStarsAlon AboutboulShaul MizrahiRoni PinkovitchThe story of a platoon of Israeli soldiers in Lebanon of 1986, shortly before Israeli withdrawal, and the dilemmas they face in having to fight against Lebanese guerilla in a hostile but civilian area.
- DirectorMenahem GolanStarsYehoram GaonEfrat LavieArieh EliasAn embittered gang leader seeks the respect of his neighbors and the love of a young woman.
- DirectorShemi ZarhinStarsOshri CohenArieh EliasEsti ZakheimThe new math teacher and new school principal discover the 16-year-old underachiever failing classes is really a genius, and the kid's own family's too busy relying on him to mend family fences to notice his brilliance either.
- DirectorEphraim KishonStarsBomba TzurNissim AzikriShraga FriedmanA slapstick comedy lampooning bureaucracy and the madness of everyday life in Israel centers on an escaped lunatic who digs up the streets of Tel-Aviv with a drill.
- DirectorDover KoshashviliStarsLior AshkenaziRonit ElkabetzMoni MoshonovZaza is a 31-year old Israeli bachelor, handsome and intelligent, and his family wants to see him married. But tradition dictates that Zaza has to choose a young virgin. She must be beautiful and from a good family, preferably rich. Zaza's parents, Yasha and Lily drag Zaza to meet potential brides and their families. Zaza has no choice. He plays along with his family, advocates of the suffocating traditions of their Georgian Jewish heritage. But Zaza always manages to somehow get out of being engaged. What his parents don't know is that Zaza is already in love. Judith is sensuous, strong and intriguing. She's also a divorcée with a 6-year-old daughter. So Zaza has kept Judith a secret from his family. He will have to choose between respect of the strict confines of family and tradition, or the love of his life.
- DirectorRenen SchorrStarsDor ZweigenboimYoav TzafirShahar SegalA group of close friends celebrate the bittersweet changes coming to their lives during the summer of their high-school graduation: adult responsibilities, adult romance -- and the soberingly adult fact that some of their number are being drafted into the Israeli army. This has very much the feel of a high-school beach-party movie -- with music, and in Hebrew -- until a sudden and disturbingly realistic reminder of their own mortality finally slashes through the kids' cheerful, close-knit obliviousness.
- DirectorSavi GabizonStarsAvigail ArielyAsher AtlasHanna Azoulay HasfariThe touching story of Victor, who lives with his mother in the REALLY bad part of town and runs an illegal TV cable station. One day he sees the beautiful Michaela and falls madly in love with her. So desperate to make her love him back he finally snaps, and sits in the rain, all night, waiting for her. Placed in a mental institution for his own sake he meets several colorful characters, such as the mysterious Levanah with whom he becomes sexually involved. Finally, one day, Michaela comes to visit him...
- DirectorJacob GoldwasserStarsYehuda BarkanAlona KimhiBen TzionRespectable single father and tour boat captain Chico fights tooth and nail to maintain custody of his dear son Ben while developing a romantic relationship with beautiful lawyer Galia.
- DirectorAvi NesherStarsGidi GovGali AtariAnat AtzmonIn the easy-going, sexually-liberated 1970's Tel Aviv, three young friends, struggling filmmaker Nati, his impressionable girlfriend Ossi and his geeky friend Mushon, move in together in a small apartment in Dizengoff Street number 99. By day, they work a boring desk office job but by night the city is their playground. Their overall goal is to make their way into the commercial movie making business, but harsh realities and romances often sidetrack them. Their fourth friend and Nati's older other girlfriend is aspiring musician, Miri.
- DirectorMenahem GolanStarsYehoram GaonGila AlmagorAssi DayanIn July 1976, an Air France flight from Tel-Aviv to Paris via Athens was hijacked and forced to land in Entebbe, Uganda. The Jewish passengers were separated and held hostage in demand to release many terrorists held in Israeli prisons. After much debate, the Israeli government sent an elite commando unit to raid the airfield and release the hostages. This movie is based on the true facts and follows the events since the flight's take-off and until the hostages' return to Israel.
- DirectorEli CohenStarsGila AlmagorKaipu CohenEli CohenA ten year old girl spends her summer with her overly protective mother, a mentally scarred holocaust survivor, while hopefully trying to find her real father in the newly established state of Israel.
- DirectorAssi DayanStarsGila AlmagorAkram TillawiSmadar KilchinskyThe film takes place in Tel Aviv, much of it in a fictitious local pub called Barbie, a satirical nickname for a famous Israeli mental health institution. The pub's name hints at the characters and the events which occur in the pub and which befall its owner (Daliah), the employees and customers. The plot unfolds with a streak of violence which takes a surprising turn.
- DirectorUri BarbashStarsArnon ZadokMohammad BakriHillel Ne'emanIn Israel's Central Prison, the security officer is corrupt, supplying drugs and stirring the hatred between Jewish and Arab prisoners to his advantage. Uri, in for 12 years for armed robbery, and Issan, in for 50 years for PLO violence, command the respect of their cells. When the Arabs are framed for the murder of a Jewish prisoner and a young inmate commits suicide rather than lie about what happened, Uri and Issan form an unlikely partnership, leading the security block on a strike. Prison officials try to break it. In the background are Uri's daughter and Issan's wife, women of beauty and passion who embody the distance from inside a cell to the outside.
- DirectorSavi GabizonStarsAyelet ZurerYoram HattabAlon AboutboulThe taboo relationship between young Nadav and his Aunt Nina transcends definition on its way to odd highs and lows.
- DirectorRafi BukaiStarsSalim DawSuhel HaddadTuvia GelberJune 11th 1967, the Six-Day War is over and the cease fire has just begun. We follow the journey of Gassan and Haled, two Egyptian soldiers whose only wish is to make their way through the Sinai desert and safely reach the Suez Canal. Thus begins a comical, almost surrealistic saga during which they meet various groups of people across the desert, including Israeli soldiers on patrol and a pushy news reporter.
- DirectorJulie ShlesStarsZvika HadarEsti ZakheimAryeh MoskonaDavid is a garage electrician, who dreamt all of his life of becoming a magician, but had no luck in it. His girlfriend Batya wants an ordinary life, but David is still looking for his dream, so he links up with Romanian immigrant Shimon, who is an expert magician.
- DirectorBoaz DavidsonStarsGabi AmraniLevana FinkelsteinChaim BanaiA story about two neighbours and their families during a weekend.
- DirectorSavi GabizonStarsMoshe IvgySharon HacohenSinai PeterComedy about life among Tel Aviv's 30-something bourgeoisie is nothing if not proof that self-absorbed, would-be hipsters are the same the world over. The central character is Asher, an unbecoming depressive and all-round schlemiel who publishes a book on 'How to Be an Idiot', and finds himself becoming the guru of a self-help circle. A liberal sprinkling of sight gags and non-sequiturs - and even a slight flavour of Almodóvar in the sexual absurdities - keeps things lively.
- DirectorUri BarbashStarsAlon AboutboulSharon AlexanderYoel Ben-SimhonA few Palestinian guerilla's break into an Israeli camp in the occupied territories. They kill a few Israeli soldiers before they are killed, apart from one who dies in the camp after being captured alive. The Israeli military despatch an investigator to the camp to see if there was cold blooded murder (people at the camp had claimed he was shot while trying to escape). It turns out that the investigator despatched is a friend of the camp commander - the rest of the plot is basically about the position of both of these characters as regards being honest or faithful to ones friends. There is unbearable tension, increased by the fact that they are both very strongly attracted to one of the female soldiers on the camp.
- DirectorAssi DayanStarsGavri BanaiYisrael PoliakovShaike LeviA dance teacher turned matchmaker searches the obituaries for promising prospects.
- DirectorEytan FoxStarsDalit KahanBoaz Gur-LaviYair LapidThe Gulf War, January 1991. Talila Katz, a yuppie Tel Avivian creative director at an ad agency falls in love with clumsy food engineer Noah Ne'eman. The war, with its Scud missiles bombarding Israel and disrupting everyday life, is the backdrop for this pair's love story, told with satirical bite that only Irit Linur [screenplay / novel] can provide.
- DirectorShemi ZarhinStarsGila AlmagorYosef ShiloachAlon AboutboulOn the evening of Passover dinner holiday ,a family gathering reveals the delicate relationships between parents, brothers,sisters, husbands and wives. Secrets and lies force them to understand how fragile everything is.
- DirectorEran RiklisStarsShaul MizrahiDafna DekelJuliano Mer-KhamisA biopic about Israel's most successful and famous Mizrahi artist, Zohar Argov, his rise to fame, drug addiction and eventual suicide.
- DirectorShmuel ImbermanStarsIka ZoharAnat WaxmanShmuel Vilozni
- DirectorZe'ev RevachStarsYigal AdikaDalia BegerZahava Ben
- DirectorNadav LevitanStarsHanna Azoulay HasfariAnat TopolChelli GoldenbergFour weeks of basic training for girls in the IDF: seven girls and two sergeants from different backgrounds.
- DirectorJoel SilbergStarsShlomo ArtziZe'ev RevachDubi GalA group of girls and boys set up a secret society called "Hasamba"; their adventures take place, first during the British Mandate and the struggle for statehood of Israel, and then as they battle their country's enemies: infiltrators, spies, criminals and other offenders.
- DirectorGeorge ObadiahStarsSassi KeshetYona ElianJacques CohenShoshana, a rich young woman from Tiberias loves Moshe, a poor truck driver from Tel Aviv. They intend to marry, but Nissim, her father, forbids it. They intend to take advantage of Nissim's business trip to Argentina to fulfill their romantic wishes. But an unfortunate mishap happens when Shoshana hears on the radio that Moshe has been involved in an accident and she thinks he was killed. She travels to the Sea of Galilee wishing to commit suicide like her mother did years ago. At the last minute she changes her mind. She is hit by a car driven by three strange man and is blinded. The three men take care of her and Nurit, her young baby from Moshe. They become a street entertainment group: the three men play music, Shoshana sings and Nurit dances. After eight years, Moshe changes his name to Mike and becomes a famous singer, while Shoshana has eye surgery and regains her eyesight, and then Mike marries Shoshana.
- DirectorGur BentwichStarsAlon AboutboulRafi DinnarZohar DinnarMulli, an Israeli young man, looses his backpack en route to Cairo and instead heads off to a surreal quest around the streets of Tel Aviv and Israel.
- DirectorShmuel HasfariStarsGila AlmagorRonit ElkabetzEti AdarA Westernized teenager struggles to come to terms with the white magic practiced by members of her family.
- DirectorAssi DayanStarsDan TorenIrit FrankAriella Rabinovich
- DirectorMenahem GolanStarsYehuda BarkanGadi YagilShmuel RodenskyTwo feuding insurance brokers vie for a big oil company contract. One family sends the son to meet with the prospective clients and the other sends their daughter and the two fall in love.
- DirectorAmos GuttmanStarsSharon AlexanderAki AvniDvora BartonovAgainst the backdrop of AIDS, the film explores two families, each with a gay son. Jonathan is splitting from Miki because the more experienced Miki is playing around. Then Jonathan sees Thomas, the son and grandson of his neighbors, who is back in Israel after failing to make it as a musician in New York: Thomas is ill, detached, in search of hard drugs. Jonathan tries to connect with him. Meanwhile, Thomas's grandmother, facing old age, has become bitter, particularly toward her hard-working daughter. They worry about Thomas. A few blocks away, Jonathan's mother, brother and sister maintain their sometimes bickering relationships, watching Jonathan brave adulthood.
- DirectorUri ZoharStarsAlona EinsteinArik EinsteinSima EliyahuBenny Furman is a basketball headcoach who can't decide what he realy wants.
- DirectorAmos GitaiStarsYaël AbecassisYoram HattabMeital BerdahTwo sisters become victims of the patriarchal, ultra-orthodox society.
- DirectorJoseph CedarStarsAki AvniTinkerbellIdan AltermanIs today's fanaticism tomorrow's policy? In a West Bank settlement, Rabbi Meltzer has a grand design: he's building a movement "to pray at the Temple Mount." His yeshiva has scholars, and the settlement is getting its own military company to be commanded by Menachem, a disciple of the rabbi. He also wants his daughter, Michal, to marry Pini, the yeshiva's best scholar. Michal has no interest in Pini, but she is attracted to Menachem. When she rebuffs Pini, he hatches a bold and secret plan. Is jealousy the motivation or something else? Meanwhile, the army and Mossad are closely watching the rabbi's activities and Menachem's military training. Who is trustworthy?
- DirectorHaim BouzagloStarsShlomo Bar-AbaIrit ShelegAdib JahschanEldad is about to go abroad, but changes his mind at the last minute. Instead of going home to Jerusalem, he disguises himself and takes a cheap hotel room in Tel Aviv. There he meets the receptionist Judy who he makes believe he'll marry so she can go to American with him and get a working visa there. In another disguise he is mistaken for a deaf-mute Arab and joins a group of them both at their Israeli construction site and back in their village.
- DirectorItzik KolUri ZoharStarsGabi AmraniGila AlmagorYosef BashiA lifeguard lives an ideal life with his wife and children. When his father-in-law begins to think he's cheating, the man sets up a scam to catch Zohar in the act. The plan works, but things get complicated when it appears the father-in-law may have had a case of mistaken identity. Or did he?
- DirectorEitan GreenStarsAvi GrainikYael AlmogShir Ben YunesYaakov Tcherniak and his son Yitzhak have a small company that organizes parties and events. They travel to weddings, bar mitzvas and birthdays, and supply the sound equipment and a female vocalist who sings Israeli songs. Their dream is to expand the business and supply catering services as well. To this end, they need another vehicle in addition to their pick-up truck. Yitzhak is supposed to be the driver of the second vehicle. Sadly, he just can't manage to pass his driving test. During the course of the film, the Tcherniak family must deal with this and other problems that arise.
- DirectorJoel SilbergStarsZeev BerlinskyIgor BorisovMike BurstynRabbi Kuni Lemle has just finished a Torah and is going to donate it to a congregation in Cairo. In exchange for the Torah scroll, the congregation in Cairo will give Kuni's congregation some antique coins valued at a million dollars. Kuni's twin brother's bosses hear about it and they make Muni dress up as Kuni so that he will get the coins instead. Muni gives the coins back to Kuni and the movie ends with a bunch of dancing Hassidim.
- DirectorZe'ev RevachStarsGabi AmraniAlik ArmaTikva AzizA classic situations comedy about two twin brothers - Victor and Michel who didn't see each other for twenty years.
- DirectorYosef MilloStarsAssi DayanIris YotvatShraga FriedmanBased on the novel by Moshe Shamìr.
- DirectorYehuda BarkanYigal ShilonStarsYehuda BarkanAryeh MoskonaCaroline LangfordA few seconds are devoted to giving this candid-camera movie a bit of a framework: prankster Yuda Barkan volunteers to show bright-eyed visitor Caroline Langford the foibles of the Israeli public.
- DirectorIsaac Zepel YeshurunStarsMoshe HavazeletAdi Ne'emanOsnat OferSet in Israel 1951, Noa is a member of a youth movement who fights for her individuality, her right to doubt and question all beliefs - all conformisms. An ideological battle takes place when the Kibbutz Movement must decided whether to follow Soviet Russia or join the Western world. The debate splits families and the kibbutz, and Noa's group of friends. She is not a person of compromise and fights her way independently through a world of shattered values.
- DirectorAvraham HeffnerStarsLior YieniyYishai ShaharEsther Zewko10 years after he left Israel and "played it big-time in America", Benny Shpitz returns for a visit, self-exploring his youth, friends, dreams, beliefs and idol, Daniel Wax, who symbolized the "beautiful Israeli". Shpitz finds out his friends are melancholic, unsatisfied with marriage life, hiding a vast hole in their sole. In a wider context, Israel post 67' will no longer be the society that it was meant to be.
- DirectorMoshé MizrahiStarsGila AlmagorShaike OphirYosef ShiloachA fatherless family immigrates to Israel from Egypt during the British Mandate period. The film traces the hardships the family suffers in the politically unstable country.