The Tribeca Festival, an international film festival in lower Manhattan, opens this year on June 4 and, as usual, will feature a number of movies of Israel and Jewish interest.

One of two Israeli-oriented films will be Holding Liat, a documentary by Brendon Kramer that won the Berlinale Documentary Award at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year. The Tribeca screenings will be its North American premiere.

The film explores the harrowing journey of the family of Liat Beinin Atzili, an American-Israeli dual citizen born to American immigrants to Israel, who was kidnapped from her home in the South on October 7, 2023, along with her partner, Aviv Atzili. Liat was one of 12 American citizens abducted by Hamas, and her parents found themselves forced to fight for her life, knowing that the terror group had already murdered 1,200 people. 

The film focuses on the stress on her family, particularly her father, Yehuda, a left-leaning Israeli whose views don’t align with the Netanyahu government but who throws himself into the international struggle for a hostage-ceasefire deal, meeting with government leaders and politicians all over the US. It’s a candid and engaging portrait of a family under pressure, made with sensitivity and skill by a director who is a distant family member. 

Liat was released in a hostage deal in late 2023, but Aviv was murdered and his body is still being held in Gaza. There will be four screenings of the movie at Tribeca.

A SCENE from ‘Dead Language.’ (credit: Green Productions/United King Films)
A SCENE from ‘Dead Language.’ (credit: Green Productions/United King Films)

Dead Language, an expanded version of an Oscar nominee

The sole Israeli feature film in the festival is Dead Language by Michal Brezis and Oded Binnun, an expanded version of their Oscar-nominated short, Aya, about a woman (Sarah Adler) who impulsively picks up a stranger (Ulrich Thomsen) at the airport, pretending to be his chauffeur. It’s in the Viewpoints section, which was won last year by another Israeli film, Tom Nesher’s Come Closer, which went on to win the Ophir Award for Best Picture. The Tribeca screenings will be the film’s world premiere.

Israeli movies have a history of winning prizes at Tribeca, which was created by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro, and Craig Hatkoff to help revitalize lower Manhattan following the 9/11 terror attack. David Volach’s My Father My Lord and Talya Lavie’s Zero Motivation each won the Best Narrative Feature Award at the festival. Ohad Knoller received the Best Actor Award for Yossi & Jagger, while Shira Haas and Joy Rieger won Best Actress Awards there for the films, Asia and Virgins, respectively.

There are several documentaries about well-known Jewish figures this year. Jackie Jesko’s Barbara Walters Tell Me Everything looks at the first woman to break into network evening news. Walters was a legendary interviewer who had a knack for coaxing celebrities to open up in a way that nobody ever had before. The movie features rare interviews where Walters herself opened up, and interviews with her friends and colleagues.

Cantankerous and contrarian comedian, actor, and podcast host Marc Maron will be on hand at the first screening of the documentary about him, Are We Good?, directed by Steven Feinartz. He looks back on the ups and downs of his distinctive career, and the sudden loss several years ago of his partner, Lynn Shelton.

Marlee Matlin, a deaf actress who was the youngest Best Actress Oscar winner for her performance in Children of a Lesser God – and who redefined the way people with disabilities are portrayed and cast in the entertainment industry – is the subject of the documentary Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore by Shoshannah Stern.

Two of the most appealing young Jewish actors, Molly Gordon and Logan Lerman, star in the feature film Oh, Hi!, a comedy by Sophie Brooks about the ups and downs of 21st-century dating.

For the full festival program, go to https://tribecafilm.com/