Concrete Playground

The seventh Israeli Film Festival is taking place in Sydney this week. Showcasing an exciting, diverse range of films, the programme includes the controversial Eyes Wide Open, which navigates the subjugation of gay culture in an Ultra-Orthodox community in Jerusalem. Much is also being made of Phobidilia, the kinetic psychological portrait of a man who locks out the world, then loses his grip on reality. For a slightly lighter tone, there’s A Matter of Size, which follows the trials and tribulations of 160 kilo Herzl as he battles the bulge, before discovering sumo wrestling.

Documentaries round out the programme, with the Ultra-Orthodox community perhaps receiving a right of reply with Haredim — A Trilogy, in which members tell their own stories about existing in an increasingly secular, western State. However, for history buffs, the real draw card may well be the award-winning documentary A Film Unfinished, which further exposes the Nazi propaganda machine through the discovery of a missing reel of film from the Warsaw Ghetto. The trailer alone should have you clamouring for tickets.