Tuesday, April 24----In honor of Israeli Independence Day, the Palm Beach International Film Festival (PBIFF) is featuring Israel in the inaugural World Showcase of Films on Tuesday, April 24. The daylong event presented in partnership with the Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival and the Jewish Community Center of the Greater Palm Beaches will feature premieres of independent films from Israel at Sunrise Cinemas in Mizner Park. 

Participating films include: OUT OF SIGHT, a gripping, psychological mystery about Yaara, a young, blind woman who returns to Israel, to investigate the suicide of Talia, her cousin, starring Assi Dayan (son of Moshe Dayan) and which won director Daniel Syrkin the Israeli Oscar as Best Director; YADAYIM KSHUROT (Tied Hands), a drama about a  middle-aged mother who steps out into the Tel Aviv night in search of marijuana for the pain of her son who is dying of AIDS; and DEAD END, a drama about the forbidden journey around the border sharpens the differences between Eran, an Israeli musician, and Ali, a young Palestinian.

The program also includes three separate documentary showcases of medium and short length films on a variety of critical topics, including the Gaza Withdrawl, Faces of Israel Seldom Seen (including a portrait of Israeli’s Bedouin population and emerging feminism among Israel’s Russian immigrants) and the Israel/Lebanon border conflict.

Sandy Mandelberger, Festival Online Dailies Editor