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Cinema Sabaya

Play trailer 1:49 Poster for Cinema Sabaya 2023 1h 32m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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86% Tomatometer 14 Reviews 99% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
A group of Arab and Jewish women attend a video workshop at a small town community center run by Rona (Dana Ivgy, Zero Motivation), a young filmmaker from Tel Aviv, who teaches them to document their lives. As each student shares footage from her home life with the others, their beliefs and preconceptions are challenged and barriers are broken down. The group comes together as mothers, daughters, wives, and women living in a world designed to keep them apart, forming an empowering and lasting bond as they learn more about each other... and themselves. Inspired by writer-director Orit Fouks Rotem's own experiences as a teacher, Cinema Sabaya presents a deft and heartfelt portrait of art's capacity to unite disparate communities, moving effortlessly between the gravity of their conversations and the genuine joy of this unlikely group of friends. Israel's Official Submission to the 95th Academy Awards and winner of five Ophir Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actress (Joanna Said).

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Cinema Sabaya

Critics Reviews

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Robert Abele Los Angeles Times Feb 24, 2023
The old classroom concept of show-and-tell becomes a richer, deeper exercise for a workshop of Arab and Jewish women in Israeli filmmaker Orit Fouks Rotem’s heartfelt feature debut “Cinema Sabaya.” Go to Full Review Kyle Smith Wall Street Journal Feb 10, 2023
Cinema Sabaya, a quietly affecting little film about unexpected connections and unseen sorrows, shimmers with a bright optimism about how people might overlook one another’s differences if only they took a little time to learn about each other. Go to Full Review Beatrice Loayza New York Times Feb 9, 2023
The film resides in the porous boundary between fiction and reality... enriched by naturalistic flair that eschews didacticism. Go to Full Review David Bax Battleship Pretension Nov 16, 2023
Cinema Sabaya is as much a film about filmmaking as it is about national and religious identities. Go to Full Review Rubén Rosario MiamiArtZine May 30, 2023
It ought to be fun, a film about a group of Israeli and Arab women from different walks of life brought together to take part in a video production workshop. So how come the results feel like eating your veggies? Go to Full Review Sr. Rose Pacatte St. Anthony Messenger Apr 14, 2023
Cinema Sabaya is a parable about our common humanity and for people and communities who live in conflict. Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Filmfan Feb 13, 2023 Compassionate and realistic - very moving and thought-provoking film! See more minnie b Feb 12, 2023 It was a very moving, humorous and poignant film. It felt like a documentary but then I realized it couldnt be. Loved all the different women and their stories and the way they cared for and encouraged and challenged each other. See more Gonzalo Feb 18, 2023 Awesome what a take was it fiction or reality? See more Read all reviews
Cinema Sabaya

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Cast & Crew

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Orit Fouks Rotem

Director

Marlene Bajali

Actor

Dana Ivgy

Actor

Orit Fouks Rotem

Writer

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Cinema Sabaya

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Cinema Sabaya

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Movie Info

Synopsis A group of Arab and Jewish women attend a video workshop at a small town community center run by Rona (Dana Ivgy, Zero Motivation), a young filmmaker from Tel Aviv, who teaches them to document their lives. As each student shares footage from her home life with the others, their beliefs and preconceptions are challenged and barriers are broken down. The group comes together as mothers, daughters, wives, and women living in a world designed to keep them apart, forming an empowering and lasting bond as they learn more about each other... and themselves. Inspired by writer-director Orit Fouks Rotem's own experiences as a teacher, Cinema Sabaya presents a deft and heartfelt portrait of art's capacity to unite disparate communities, moving effortlessly between the gravity of their conversations and the genuine joy of this unlikely group of friends. Israel's Official Submission to the 95th Academy Awards and winner of five Ophir Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actress (Joanna Said).
Director
Orit Fouks Rotem
Screenwriter
Orit Fouks Rotem
Distributor
Kino Lorber
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Hebrew
Release Date (Theaters)
Feb 10, 2023, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Jun 13, 2023
Box Office (Gross USA)
$69.5K
Runtime
1h 32m
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