Two brothers, Izak and Shepsel, were born in a displaced persons camp after World War II. They lived their entire lives in the shadow of secrets kept from them by the people closest to them. The brothers were separated as babies, neither was told the other existed. An investigation into the mysterious history of their birth family led to an amazing reunion after six decades. The film offers a rare glimpse into the displaced persons camps in post World War II Germany, showing the vibrant and sometime wild social life that flourished among the young survivors. This period has hardly been dealt with on the screen until now.

Fifteen-year-old Audrie Pott in Saratoga, California, and 14-year-old Daisy Coleman in Maryville, Missouri never met. What connects them is the sexual violence and humiliation they suffered in unrelated incidents from groups of boys who got them drunk, assaulted them and posted their actions on the internet. Thanks to probing interviews with strikingly perceptive subjects, this film provides unflinching insight into the entitlement that leads to the condoning of sexual violence. —Zoe Pollak Screened at 2016 Sundance Film Festival

Seventeen-year-old Naama is thoroughly bored with her overbearing family and uneventful suburban school days. That is until bleached-blonde bad girl Dana shows up with her flirtatious smile and a bag of weed. But while Naama is both partying hard and falling hard for Dana, her sister goes missing, and the whole family is deeply rattled. Blush is a portrait of modern Israel through the eyes of the youth who are pushing the boundaries. —Alexis Whitman

From 1942 until the end of the war, Brunhilde Pomsel worked as a stenographer for Joseph Goebbels, the infamous Nazi minister of propaganda. Now 105 years old, she is the last living witness to have seen the machinations of Nazi power from the inside. With her face in close-up, she recounts her past with lucidity and forces us to ask the timely question, “What would I have done in this situation?” —Jay Rosenblatt

In this riveting thriller, a woman in a small Polish village is murdered with a knife used for Jewish ritual slaughter. Prosecutor Teodor Szacki (Robert Wieckiewicz, Little Rose, SFJFF 2010) is called in on the case and soon uncovers a town full of deeply rooted anti-Semitism. Based on a best-selling crime novel, this gripping film, which feels like a Polish version of Seven, will keep you glued to your seat until the last frame. —Tamar Fox

Take a classic Woody Allen–style antihero, add Alfred Hitchcock–level intrigue and a strong dose of Argentine sex appeal, and you have this comic, poignant and smart feature. Director Gabriel Lichtmann shows the complicated family relations of Lucas, a young Buenos Aires Jewish lawyer and a mystery buff (he even has a dog named Sherlock) as he solves the mystery of who conned him out of a down payment on a house. —Emily Kaiser Thelin

Where can you find the best hummus in the world? From Suheila, a single Muslim woman who is known for her legendary hummus, to Jalil, a Christian Arab hipster in Ramle who runs his father’s hummus joint, to Eliyahu, a born-again Orthodox Jew who owns a hummus restaurant chain, this fun and fascinating film about the highly competitive hummus restaurant business in Israel shows how powerful this chickpea spread can be. —Tamar Fox

True life characters are often more compelling than fictional ones. A filmmaker’s childhood image from a forgotten home movie; a 90-year-old ready to eat bacon for the first time; a violinist parting with his sacred instrument, which changes the life of a 12-year-old schoolgirl; a legendary actor with dual identities, French and Jewish. These are subjects of this year's emotionally compelling documentary shorts program. - Joshua Moore

Comedy and drama can be found in many places: early ’90s New York, an Israeli drone control center, Paris in the aftermath of the recent terror attacks, Central Park invaded by a 20-piece marching band and an Israeli modern art museum. These are the diverse settings of this year’s dynamic and provocative narrative shorts program where the stories unfold in the most surprising of ways. - Joshua Moore Wannabe 16' Operator 15' And Then, Violence 15' What Cheer 17' Hounds 28'

Justin Schein originally set out to make a standard documentary on former Yippie activist Mayer Vishner. But in the middle of shooting, Vishner made it clear he had a different plan. The film ends with his last political act: his exit from this world. Schein’s dilemma becomes the film’s new narrative, as he goes from documentarian to friend to one of Vishner’s last caretakers, ultimately making him complicit in the death of his subject. —Neha Talreja Winner of the Audience Award at DOC NYC Festival 2015.

This haunting debut feature from Israeli director Yaelle Kayam explores religious themes in a tale of a young woman’s struggle to find herself. It depicts an Orthodox woman suffering in a loveless marriage, searching for companionship amidst the tombstones, pimps and prostitutes of Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives. Even as the plot turns dark, actress Shani Klein (Zero Motivation, SFJFF 2014) imbues the character Tsiva with an unforgettable tenderness. —Emily Kaiser Thelin

Led by the magnetic Tal Brody, the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team, a combination of NBA also-rans and Israeli players, rallied a nation in its David-and-Goliath pursuit of the 1977 European Championship. Director Dani Menkin presents the context for what was a much-needed morale boost amid Israel’s sagging economy, the lingering sorrow of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre and the battle-weariness in the wake of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. —Sara L. Rubin

Nathan Fabre, a teacher in a French-German school, is working on his thesis about the French Resistance during World War II. During a research trip to Buchenwald, he finds a photo of a prisoner with an uncanny resemblance to his father. When his father ignores his queries, Nathan pursues the matter himself, and his research becomes much more than academic, complicated further by his romance with a young German woman. —Sara L. Rubin

In late 1950s Germany attorney general Fritz Bauer (played by The White Ribbon’s lauded Burghart Klaussner) is intent on bringing the infamous Nazi Adolf Eichmann to trial. This riveting historical thriller chronicles the hindrances and the potentially mortal dangers Bauer faces as a closeted gay Jewish lawyer working alongside men in the government who can bring criminals like Eichmann to justice but who ultimately have the power to conceal their own Nazi pasts. —Zoe Pollak Screened at Berlinale 2016

In this Jewish Grey Gardens, Avraham is a sixtysomething Orthodox Jew living in Brooklyn in his deceased parents’ family home. Avraham passes his time in his claustrophobic apartment petting his cats and sitting on a dilapidated couch among old newspapers, books, bed bugs and rotten food. When a deep cleaning crew arrives, he finally has to face his fears and confront his inability to separate himself from the past. —Shevi Loewinger