documentary

Then US President Bill Clinton, center, looks on as Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, left, and PLO leader Yasser Arafat shake hands in the East Room of the White House after signing the Middle East accord in Washington on September 28, 1995. (AP Photo/Doug Mills, File)

January 22, 2021, 2:50 pm

Documentary highlights the ‘Human Factor’ in Israel-Palestinian peace talks

New film takes intimate look at efforts to broker agreement through the personal experiences of US officials who mediated the negotiations

By Jocelyn Noveck

Ibtisam Mara'ana-Menuhin, a film director from Fureidis (courtesy)

December 26, 2020, 12:56 pm

On bold TV show, Palestinian-Israeli director takes apart her society’s taboos

Ibtisam Mara’ana-Menuhin’s Israel TV series, ironically titled ‘No Offense,’ tackles the hitherto unspeakable in Arab Israeli society… and her audience is growing

By Aaron Boxerman

From the trials of Adolf Eichmann, which will be examined in 'Eichmann -- The Devil Speaks,' the first series produced by Tadmor Entertainment and MGM (Courtesy GPO)

December 15, 2020, 7:14 pm

New documentary series on Eichmann includes ‘never-before-seen interview’

Kan’s ‘Eichmann — The Devil Speaks’ will unveil fresh details on the notorious Nazi architect of the Final Solution

By Jessica Steinberg

Sisters Natalie and Louisa Clein on the steps of the house in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where their grandmother lived when she was in the Resistance during World War II. They visited for the BBC One program 'My Family, The Holocaust and Me,' by Robert Rinder. (Wall to Wall Media/ Mike Robinson)

November 16, 2020, 3:34 pm

BBC traces ‘unimaginable trauma’ of Holocaust inherited by children of survivors

Airing Sunday night on BBC One, Robert Rinder’s documentary ‘My Family, The Holocaust And Me’ explores the impact of the Shoah on three families as the chain of PTSD is unbroken

By Francine Wolfisz

In this Dec. 5, 1931 photo, Adolf Hitler, leader of the National Socialists, is saluted as he leaves the party's Munich headquarters (AP Photo, File)

November 11, 2020, 4:58 am

Dynamite German film charts the banality of always looking for meaning in Hitler

Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker retrace the Fuhrer’s footsteps in ‘The Meaning of Hitler,’ streaming online Nov. 11-19 for the DOC NYC festival

By Jordan Hoffman

Illustrative: In this Saturday, April 27, 2016 photo, supporters of the Confederate flag participate in a rally at Stone Mountain Park in Stone Mountain, Georgia. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

November 7, 2020, 4:16 pm

They called him ‘kike,’ and there were lots of Nazi salutes, other ‘gross stuff’

For ‘White Noise,’ Jewish filmmaker Daniel Lombroso spent four years getting up close and personal with the alt-right movement’s prominent personalities and supporters

By Ben Sales

Medical staff in PPE, as seen in 'Totally Under Control' documentary film (Courtesy of Neon)

October 23, 2020, 12:33 am

Whistleblower film shows Trump coronavirus response not ‘Totally Under Control’

Using unique filmmaking techniques, Suzanne Hillinger and colleagues uncover politically motivated decisions that ignore science and turn US handling of pandemic into chaotic mess

By Renee Ghert-Zand

Ma'aleh Film School created a competition for up to two-minute films about home, for creators from the world over (Courtesy of Ma'aleh)

October 15, 2020, 6:59 pm

Stuck at home? This film school wants you to make a movie about it

Creators from around the globe encouraged to send in films of up to two minutes

By Jessica Steinberg

Samuel L. Jackson taking part in a Benga initiation ceremony, Gabon. (AP Slave Ships Productions Ltd./Cornelia Street’s Ships Ltd.)

October 9, 2020, 10:40 pm

Samuel L. Jackson joins Israeli filmmaker in docuseries on global slave trade

In ‘Enslaved,’ now streaming in the US and from October 11 in the UK, director Simcha Jacobovici gathers an all-star team to delve into the roots of an unmemorialized genocide

By Jordan Hoffman

Ira Glasser speaks in this still from 'Mighty Ira.' (Courtesy)

October 2, 2020, 3:22 am

Film explores why a Jewish former ACLU head defended Nazis’ right to free speech

In ‘Mighty Ira,’ streaming Oct. 9, activist lawyer sticks to his guns about Skokie march, a defining moment of his 34-year career — and befriends a Holocaust survivor who opposed

By Jordan Hoffman

American gymnast Maggie Nichols as seen in 'Athlete A' (Netflix)

September 25, 2020, 4:35 pm

Netflix film ‘Athlete A’ puts spotlight on USA Gymnastics sexual abuse scandal

Documentarians Jon Shenk and Bonni Cohen focus their lens on toxic culture that exploited and endangered young athletes, while protecting perpetrators for decades

By Renee Ghert-Zand

A photo of Oliver Sacks featured in the Ric Burns documentary, 'Oliver Sacks: His Own Life.' (Courtesy)

September 23, 2020, 4:53 am

With months to live, neurologist Oliver Sacks gave a master class on how to die

Documentarian Ric Burns captures celebrated Jewish MD’s final days in a meditation on Sacks’s Orthodox youth, tumultuous career and acceptance of mortality. Film debuts Wednesday

By Rich Tenorio

August 4, 2020, 3:06 am

HBO doc on Hamburglar who stole millions in McDonald’s prizes gets 5 Emmy nods

‘A true-crime story that everyone’s involved in’: Series unpicks the absurd saga of a wildly popular decade-long Monopoly sweepstakes that almost no American legitimately won

By Jordan Hoffman

Sasha Joseph Neulinger as a young boy (Step 1 Films)

May 22, 2020, 8:27 pm

In ‘Rewind,’ abused nephew revisits home movies to cauterize cantor’s abuse

Sasha Joseph Neulinger ‘cleans out old wounds’ to heal from trauma inflicted by family members — including prominent Temple Emanu-El cantor uncle — and prolonged legal drama

By Renee Ghert-Zand

Tel Aviv's City Hall will be lit up for this year's Yom Ha'atzmaut celebration on April 28, 2020, which will eschew fireworks and parades for a more modest festivities in honor of Israel's 72nd year of independence. (courtesy, City of Tel Aviv-Jaffa)

April 28, 2020, 3:05 pm

With countrywide closure during Independence Day, celebrations go online

All-day virtual marathons, Zoom parties, and film screenings on offer for Israel’s 72nd birthday, during the COVID-19 pandemic

By Jessica Steinberg