Dana Ivgy Movies

This French-German-Israeli co-production helmed by director Keren Yedaya observes the heartbreaking tragedy that erupts from an affair between a young Jewish woman and an Arab mechanic. Mali Wolf (Dana Ivgy) is the daughter of garage proprietor Reuven (Moni Moshonov) and his wife Osnat (Ronit Elkabetz); Reuven employs two Arabs, father and son Hassan (Hussein Yassin Mahajneh) and Tawfik (Mahmoud Shalaby) at his shop. He shows them basic respect, though an undercurrent of racial hostility bubbles beneath the surface among all concerned. Meanwhile, Mali and Tawfik nurture a discreet relationship -- so discreet that no one else realizes what is happening -- and in seemingly no time, Mali realizes that she is pregnant with Tawfik's daughter, but deliberately avoids telling him. Things come to a head at the shop when Tawfik gets into a brawl with Mali's hotheaded brother Meir (Roy Assaf), ends up killing the young man, and gets shuttled off to prison. Mali breaks up with Tawfik, but decides to have the baby and lies to her parents, informing them that the father is a married man and will remain out of the picture. All bodes well with the child and the family for nine years, until Tawfik gets out of prison, still unaware of the presence of his daughter Shiran (Lili Ivgy). For a stylistic model, Yedaya emulates the approach of slick Egyptian melodramas. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

A hotel cook who longs to eschew the demands of her job and highly eccentric family furtively dreams of becoming a successful writer in writer/director Shemi Zarhin's award-winning family drama. Between struggling to keep up with orders in the kitchen, tending to the quirky peccadilloes of her three children, and acknowledging the multiple suicide threats made by her unstable mother, aspiring writer Aviva Cohen (Assi Levy) barely has enough time to take the cap off of her pen - much less put that pen to paper and get her stories published. When Aviva's successful sister Anita (Rotem Abuhav) introduces her star-struck sibling to famous author Oded Zar (Sason Gabai) it appears as if things may be finally turning around for the hapless literary wannabe. Unfortunately for Aviva, Oded is suffering from a bad case of writer's block. Soon after accepting Oded's offer to serve as her personal writing tutor, Aviva begins to realize that the man whom she once idolized and who deviously assumed the guise of benevolent mentor is little more than a creatively devoid plagiarist. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Nir Bergman's debut feature, K'Nafayim Shvurot (Broken Wings), chronicles the problems of an Israeli family attempting to come to terms with the death of the husband and father. Nine months after her father's untimely passing, 17-year-old Maya (Maya Maron) spends much of her time helping to raise her younger brother and sister, as mother Dafna (Orli Zilberschatz-Banai) has to work as much as possible at the hospital. While each character struggles with his or her fears and dreams, the family's emotional and financial situation grows dire. Broken Wings was screened at both the Berlin Film Festival and the Palm Springs Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide