CINEMA SABAYA World Cinema

Talent attending in-person screening: Orit Fouks Rotem (Director).

Rona is teaching a film class to a diverse group of eight women. The class becomes the catalyst for deeper discovery as these women bond over their shared experience. While completing the exercises and assignments, the issues of modern-day Israel and Palestine are exposed, leaving the students no choice but to acknowledge and confront them. Inspired by writer/director Orit Fouks Rotem’s own experiences as a teacher, the film provides no easy answers to the complex circumstances these women face. The film moves effortlessly between the weight of the conversations and the genuine joy of this unlikely community. CINEMA SABAYA is as complex as it is powerful – a feat for a first-time director – and shines a light on how unifying art can be, even in the most contentious of situations. –Eric Moore