Cinema Sabaya

A group of Arab and Jewish women attend a video workshop at a small town community center run by

Rona, a young filmmaker from Tel Aviv, who teaches them to document their lives.

As each student shares footage from her home life with the others, their beliefs and preconceptions are

challenged and barriers are broken down.

The group comes together as mothers, daughters, wives, and women living in a world designed to keep

them apart, forming an empowering and lasting bond as they learn more about each other... and

themselves.

Inspired by writer/director Orit Fouks Rotem's own experiences as a teacher, Cinema Sabaya presents

a deft and heartfelt portrait of art's capacity to unite disparate communities, moving effortlessly

between the gravity of their conversations and the genuine joy generated by this unlikely group of

friends.

Winner of five Ophir Awards including Best Picture and Best Director and Israel's Official Submission to

the 95th Academy Awards.

DIRECTOR - Orit Fouks Rotem

Orit was born in Israel in 1983. She graduated from the Jerusalem Sam Spiegel School with honors in 2012,

winning her class' 'Promising Director' Award. Her diploma film "Staring Match" was screened in festivals

all over the world, including: San Sebastian, Montreal, Munich and won the Grand Prix award at the

Hangzhao Festival in China, Best Screenplay Award at Tel Aviv Student Film Festival, and an Honorable

Mention at the Jerusalem Film Festival.

After graduating, Orit co-directed a documentary series for the Israeli Channel YES Doco; worked as a

film facilitator and director for Israeli NGO, making films with at-risk youth; worked as a filmmaking

teacher of groups of women in Acres and Givat Haviva. She also conducted research for a

documentary by the Oscar-award-winning director Alex Gibney, and wrote and directed two short

fiction films - "You Remain Silent", that was a part of the Abraham Heffner tribute "Voice Over" and

premiered in Sarajevo and Jerusalem Film Festival 2018 and The MOMA, and "Veil" that that was selected

to various festivals around the world including The Oslo Short Film Festival, Jerusalem Film Festival and

Brussels Short Film Festival.

Cinema Sabaya, Orit's Debut feature film, won 5 Ophir (Israeli Film and TV Academy) Awards for Best

Picture, Best Director for Rotem, and Best Supporting Actress for Joanna Said. The film also received Best

Picture Award and audience Award at the Jerusalem International Film Festival. Cinema Sabaya is the

official Oscars® entry for Israel.