Feminists in Focus: Dolphin Boy

Like the  original Israeli TV show  “In Treatment” and the film “Waltz with Bashir,” “Dolphin Boy” deals directly with trauma and healing, with the emphasis here on healing. Producer Judith Manassen Ramon commented in a panel following the film that the script of a film and of therapy can have the same trajectory: through self-redemption a victim becomes a hero.

Several other films being shown at the festival—which closes Thursday night November 17– were created by women and/or are about women’s lives

The charming “77 Steps” tells director Ibtasam Mara’ana’s own story, how she moved from her Arab village to Tel Aviv, her romance with a politically progressive Jewish Canadian who made aliyah, and the conflicts that overwhelm them.

In “Homecoming,” as Israel is about to deport foreign workers and their children, directors Orna Ben Dor and Noa Maiman follow three charismatic teenagers, born in Israel to foreign workers, who go to visit their grandparents and family in Congo, Philippines and Peru. The children feel more Israeli than any other nationality and imagine their futures in Israel.

(Lilith did not have a chance yet to see “A Place of Her Own,” directed by Sigal Emanuel about a Reut, who at 18 marries a Palestinian man and moves to his village.)

Learn more about the festival at otherisrael.org.

See the trailer for “Dolphin Boy” here.