Cinema Sabaya

Play trailer

1:49

Cinema Sabaya

2023

1h 32m

Drama

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

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).

Robert Abele

Los Angeles Times

02/24/2023

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

02/10/2023

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

02/09/2023

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

11/16/2023

Cinema Sabaya is as much a film about filmmaking as it is about national and religious identities.

Go to Full Review

Rubén Rosario

MiamiArtZine

05/30/2023

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

04/14/2023

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

Filmfan

02/13/2023

Compassionate and realistic - very moving and thought-provoking film!

See more

minnie b

02/12/2023

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

02/18/2023

Awesome what a take was it fiction or reality?

See more

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

POST RATING

Orit Fouks Rotem

Director

Marlene Bajali

Actor

Dana Ivgy

Actor

Orit Fouks Rotem

Writer

The Marijuana Conspiracy

50%

88%

The Marijuana Conspiracy

Watchlist

TRAILER

for The Marijuana Conspiracy

The Same Storm

77%

83%

The Same Storm

Watchlist

Casablanca Beats

86%

71%

Casablanca Beats

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Casablanca Beats

Bantú Mama

90%

40%

Bantú Mama

Watchlist

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

Cinema Sabaya: Trailer 1

1:49

View more videos

View more photos

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