BERLIN JERUSALEM
Directed by Amos Gitai, 1989

Two Jewish women, one an expressionist poet from Berlin and the other a Russian revolutionary, emigrate to British-mandate era Palestine. With its beautiful, haunting, and very complicated depiction of how Judaism inflects every detail of the lives of two women, Berlin Jerusalem is an obvious predecessor of Kadosh. German, Hebrew and other languages, with English subtitles.

View clip     Order DVD

BIRTH OF A GOLEM
Directed by Amos Gitai, 1991

A notebook exploring ideas for a feature on the theme of the Golem. In the process, the "notebook" begins to take on a life of its own. With Tonio Guerrera, Dominique Sanda, Sapho, Annie Lennox, Henri Alekan, and Adina Baron. French and other languages, with English subtitles.

View clip     Order DVD

DISTORTION
Directed by Haim Bouzaglo, 2005

These are the days of the Intifada in Israel: suicide bombing, tension and anxiety. Emotionally scarred in the wake of a terrorist attack, a Tel Aviv playwright attempts to make sense of the carnage and his own tangled personal life. In Hebrew with English subtitles.

View clip     Order DVD

ESTHER
Directed by Amos Gitai, 1985

The first feature fiction film Gitai directed, Esther relates the Biblical tale of a girl who wins freedom for her oppressed people, who themselves then become oppressors. The film is shot in a daring long take tableau style, uses an unusual onscreen narrator, and bold casting and sound. Esther was Gitai's first collaboration with the great cinematographer Henri Alekan (Beauty and the Beast). Hebrew with English subtitles.

View clip     Order DVD

FIELD DIARY/ARENA OF MURDER
Directed by Amos Gitai, 1982/1996

Two documentaries by Amos Gitai: Field Diary consists of about 50 sequence shots, mostly filmed from a moving car in the occupied territories before and during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Arena of Murder investigates the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin three weeks after the event. In Hebrew, Arabic, Russian and English w/English subtitles.

View Field Diary clip     Order DVD

AMOS GITAI: EXILE
1985-1993

Five feature films directed by Amos Gitai that address the subject of exile comprise this collection, including Esther, Berlin Jerusalem, Birth of a Golem, Golem: The Spirit of Exile, and Golem: The Petrified Garden. In various languages, with English subtitles.

View Esther clip     View Berlin Jerusalem clip     View Birth of a Golem clip

View Golem: Spirit of Exile clip     View Golem: The Petrified Garden clip

Order DVD

AMOS GITAI: TERRITORIES
Directed by 1980-2001

Six documentaries by this high-profile directorin a three-DVD set, including: Field Diary, Arena of Murder, House, A House in Jerusalem, Wadi 1981-1991, and Wadi Grand Canyon 2001. In Hebrew, Arabic, Russian and English with English subtitles.

View Field Diary clip     View House clip     View House in Jerusalem clip

View Wadi Grand Canyon clip     Order DVD

GOLEM: THE PETRIFIED GARDEN
Directed by Amos Gitai, 1993

An art dealer with bases in Israel and the United States travels across Russia to the autonomous Soviet Jewish Republic of Birobidzhan soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union in search of an enormous Golem statue. With Jerome Koenig, Hanna Schygulla, and Samuel Fuller. In English and various other languages with English subtitles.

View clip     Order DVD

GOLEM: THE SPIRIT OF EXILE
Directed by Amos Gitai, 1991

This film set in present-day Paris seeks to find modern meaning to the biblical text of Ruth and its commentary on the theme of exile, while drawing on references found in the Spanish Kabbalistic story of the Golem as a spirit of exile and wanderers. With, among many others, Hanna Schygulla, Samuel Fuller, Mireille Perrier, Sotigui Kouyate, Bernardo Bertolucci, Philippe Garrel, and Bernard Eisenschitz. In French and various other languages, with English subtitles.

View clip     Order DVD

HOUSE/A HOUSE IN JERUSALEM
Directed by Amos Gitai, 1979/1998

Two documentaries by Amos Gitai: Censored by Israeli television, House chronicles the inhabitants of a residence in West Jerusalem; eighteen years later, Gitai returns in A House in Jerusalem to observe the changes in the new residents as well as in the neighborhood. In Hebrew, Arabic, Russian and English with English subtitles.

View clip     Order DVD

WADI 1981-1991/WADI GRAND CANYON 2001
Directed by Amos Gitai, 1980-2001

Two documentaries by Amos Gitai depict a group of Palestinians and Israelis who nurture a fragile coexistence over a span of twenty years in Wadi Rushmia. In Hebrew, Arabic, Russian and English with English subtitles.

View Wadi Grand Canyon clip     Order DVD