Einat Bikel Movies

Eyal Halfon directs this comedy-drama about a Russian circus that disrupts a volatile community of irate Palestinians, high-strung Israeli settlers, and shifty hucksters on either side. At first, everyone wants to check out this new diversion; they become less enthusiastic when the troupe's aging lion escapes. Suddenly, this already tense neighborhood is thrown into a tizzy. Circus Palestina swept the Israeli equivalent of the Academy Awards and was screened at the 1999 Vancouver Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

A handful of soldiers take a claustrophobic journey into the heart of war in this drama from Israeli writer and director Samuel Maoz. It's June 1982, and Israel is launching an invasion of Lebanon. Four men assigned to take part in the first strike are put on the same tank detail -- Assi (Itay Tiran) is the commanding officer, Shmulik (Yoav Donat) is a gunner new to the outfit, Hertzel (Oshri Cohen) keeps the weapons loaded, and Yigal (Michael Moshonov) drives the machine. After being given their orders by Jamil (Zohar Strauss), the men set out toward the Lebanese border, recognizing little of what goes on outside beyond what can be seen through Yigal's tiny window; they occasionally stop to help fellow Israelis hurt in battle, but for the most part, they roll relentlessly onward, occasionally arguing amongst themselves, until they arrive at their destination, a town already bombed into rubble by the Israeli Air Force. Few of their allies remain in the city, putting the soldiers in a perilous situation when a band of Syrian resistance fighters lays siege to the tank. Levanone (aka Lebanon) was an official selection at the 2009 Venice International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi