Intersections

For the second year in a row, the festival takes place during a time of war. Wars. Hostages remain in Gaza, destruction continues there and here, lives are being lost. The pain surrounding us cannot, and should not, be ignored. In such times, some confront reality at hand, while others turn to imagination, envisioning worlds far removed from the culture of violence and offering glimpses of a different future.

This year’s Intersections Program navigates both paths.

The Experimental Cinema and Video Art Awards features seven artists with new works that engage with the present moment through varied, poignant, and poetic forms. At the Mamuta Art and Research Center, Ruti Sela presents Hugs, an exhibition comprising four works probing the body, intimacy, and technology. Chen Sheinberg presents a tribute to Nathaniel Dorsky and Ben Hayeem, alongside the first-ever screenings in Israel of films by renowned German-Argentinian artist Narcisa Hirsch

The Intersections Program is supported by the Ostrovsky Family Fund (O.F.F.) and produced by the Mamuta Center for Art and Research.

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Monday 21.07.25

21.07.25

18:15

Cinematheque 3

C96

2025-07-21 18:15:00 2025-07-21 21:15:00 Asia/Jerusalem The Experimental Cinema and Video Art Competition Cinematheque Jerusalem Cinematheque

The Experimental Cinema and Video Art Competition

81 Minutes

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Exhibition

Ruti Sela, Hugs 2025

Solo Exhibition

In her new exhibition at the Mamuta Center, artist Ruti Sela presents four works exploring the body, interpersonal connection, and technology.

Wednesday 23.07.25

23.07.25

15:00

Cinematheque 2

B140

2025-07-23 15:00:00 2025-07-23 18:00:00 Asia/Jerusalem Shooting Booth Three Films by Ruti Sela followed by Conversation between the Artist and Roee RosenPresented alongside Sela's solo exhibition at the Mamuta Art Research Center. Marseille Jamila2018, 27 min. (in collaboration with Roee Rosen)A vision of the city of Marseille, shaped by a post-colonial present and fractured identities, with the port of Jaffa as the starting point for this exploration. Created by Roi Rosen and Ruti Sela for an exhibition at the Triangle Museum in Marseille, this joint project questions the notion of decentering. It takes the form of a tourist advertisement for Marseille, while absurdly being filmed in another city. Led by Rosen and Sela, and with the participation of students, this collaboration raises questions of control, dominance, and chauvinistic excitement. Amid this complexity, the film maintains a significant number of representatives from Marseille, a tangle of portraits infused with a dark tone of obscure, hazy, and speculative black humor. The creative process is presented in a deliberately simple documentary style.With the participation of students from the Faculty of Art at HaMidrasha who took part in the Marseille Jamila workshop. El YumaCuba2014, 39 min."Yuma" (or "Juma") is the term used by Cubans for tourists who can support them (originally in specific reference to American tourists). The term is particularly associated with sex tourism in Cuba and with marriages between young local women and foreign men. The film follows a young European man and his local suitors in a small Cuban town, while also examining the filmmaker's own position as a Yuma, and the act of documentary filmmaking as it parallels exploitation. Viewing BoothTel Aviv2021, 2:50 min.In this short video, the artist documents a stray dog wandering the neglected streets of South Tel Aviv, attempting to capture a portrait of a place in an age of facial recognition. Cinematheque Jerusalem Cinematheque

Shooting Booth

Three Films by Ruti Sela followed by Conversation between the Artist and Roee Rosen.

Tuesday 22.07.25

22.07.25

18:00

Cinematheque 2

B117

2025-07-22 18:00:00 2025-07-22 18:00:00 Asia/Jerusalem Nathaniel Dorsky Curated and presented by Chen SheinbergNathaniel Dorsky, born in 1943, continues to make films to this day. He is an experimental filmmaker whose work focuses on light, movement, and color. His films shift between nature and plant life and enclosed urban spaces. He trains his 16mm camera on textures, sometimes detaching the figure or object from the surrounding background. Dorsky developed a method of montage known as Polyvalent Editing. His films are non-narrative, and this program offers Israeli audiences an encounter with a cinematic world entirely different from the familiar, even within the realm of experimental film. Alaya1976-1987 | 28 min. | 16 mm | Silent | Sand, wind, and light merge with emulsions. The spectator is the star. (N.D.) "Alaya manages a perfection of ‘musical’ light across a space of time greater in length than would seem possible (consider how brief most such perfected works are, such as Peter Kubelka, say) … and with minimal means of line and tone. … After about three minutes I began to be aware of the subtlety of rhythm, within each shot and shot-to-shot, which carried each cut, causing each new image to sit in-the-light of those several previous … a little short of a miracle." Stan Brakhage Variations 1992-1998 | 24 min. | 16 mm | Silent | Variations had come to a close, just as I was sketching new ideas for my other film, Triste. What tender chaos, what luminous stream of rhymes cinema can summon—beyond the grasp of daytime language. In the Bronze Age, countless sanctuaries were built for healing. Among their central rites was the art of restorative sleep. This montage speaks in the spirit of that tradition. (N.D.) Apricity2019 | 22 min. | 16 mm | Silent | The title, Apricity, refers to the warmth of the sun in winter. It is an homage to the writer Jane (Brakhage) Wodening. In speaking to her I mused, "perhaps your age is the winter and you are the warmth of the sun." (N.D.) Cinematheque Jerusalem Cinematheque

Nathaniel Dorsky

A selection of experimental films by Nathaniel Dorsky, whose work focuses on light, movement, and color. Curated and presented by Chen Sheinberg.

Tuesday 22.07.25

22.07.25

16:30

Cinematheque 2

B116

2025-07-22 16:30:00 2025-07-22 19:30:00 Asia/Jerusalem Tribute to Experimental Filmmaker Benjamin Hayeem Curated and presented by Chen SheinbergBenjamin Hayeem (1933-2004) was an Israeli-American experimental filmmaker, director, writer, and editor who created experimental films, fiction features, including the controversial The Black Banana (1976), documentaries, and educational films. Born in Bombay, India, he was part of avant-garde filmmaker Maya Deren's circle. Influenced by the montage principles of director Slavko Vorkapić, he applied them extensively in his work. He was a member of the Living Theatre and part of New York's bohemian art scene. Program Length: 53 minutes PapilloteBenjamin Hayeem | USA 1964 | 8 min. | 16mmIn this film, Benjamin Hayeem creates a surrealist fantasy using silent film conventions, slow motion, and stop-motion animation. The result is an anarchic, critical statement on American capitalism. Renowned American experimental filmmaker Gregory Markopoulos wrote: "The satirical and marvelous surprise of the festival was Benjamin Hayeem's film Papillote."(Ann Arbor Film Festival catalogue) Meshes of the AfternoonMaya Deren, Alexander Hammid | USA 1943 | 14 min. | 16mmFilmmaker Maya Deren, often referred to as "the mother of American avant-garde cinema," created this seminal poetic film. A surrealist work, using slow motion, jump cuts, and sophisticated montage to shift between disconnected spaces traversed by the protagonist. The film unfolds through the consciousness and desire of its main character, documenting events that could not occur in reality but are witnessed by her regardless. It may be described as an experimental film noir. It was made in Hollywood with Deren's husband, Alexander Hammid. The Life and Death of 9413: A Hollywood ExtraSlavko Vorkapić, co-directed with Robert Florey | USA 1928 | 14 min. | 16mmThis macabre and cynical satire of Hollywood's dream machine was co-directed by experimental filmmaker Slavko Vorkapić, whose editing technique deeply influenced Benjamin Hayeem. The main character attempts to become an actor in Hollywood, only to lose his humanity—marked by the number 9413 which is printed on his face. The film was made on a budget of only $97 and shot by legendary cinematographer Gregg Toland (Citizen Kane) in one of his earliest projects. It was filmed in the directors' homes using miniatures, toy trains, paper boxes, and other makeshift props, with an expressionist approach to lighting. Promoted by Charlie Chaplin, it received unusually wide distribution for an experimental work and was screened in 700 theaters across the U.S. Extreme UnctionBenjamin Hayeem | USA 1969 | 6.5 min. | DigitalIn this film, Benjamin Hayeem applies the theoretical principles of montage and movement as developed by Slavko Vorkapić. FloraBenjamin Hayeem | USA 1965 | 6 min. | 35mmAs a woman prepares for a date, she frantically tries different outfits. The director constructs a rapid montage by cutting between the protagonist and a doll that moves its face. The film is part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York. Cinematheque Jerusalem Cinematheque

Tribute to Experimental Filmmaker Benjamin Hayeem

A selection of works by experimental filmmaker Benjamin Hayeem (1933-2004). Curated and presented by Chen Sheinberg.

Wednesday 23.07.25

23.07.25

17:15

Cinematheque 2

B141

2025-07-23 17:15:00 2025-07-23 17:15:00 Asia/Jerusalem NARCISA HIRSCH - A Famously Unknown Filmmaker Experimental filmmaker Narcisa Hirsch (1928 - 2024) was born in Berlin and moved to Argentina before WW2. Hirsch organized art happenings during the late 1960s. She turned to experimental film and video, becoming one of the most celebrated yet not broadly known South American experimental filmmakers. Her work was shown worldwide in museums and festivals. Introduction: Lea Mauas A Dios1984 | 22 min. | Super 8 to Digital | SoundA man comes back home from the war, defeated. A poetic film reflection on manhood. Pioneros Moisesville1976 | 17 min. | Super 8 to Digital | No SoundAn experimental documentary short depicting the “making of” of the feature-length documentary Pioneros and filmed in Moisesville. Meadow2019 | 3 min. | Super 8 to Digital | Sound | Together with Tomas RautenstrauchThe hands of Narcisa Hirsch, a nonagenarian, open another Super 8 cartridge to load a camera. A ritual of the transmission of a legacy between the artist grandmother and her grandson, Tomás Rautenstrauch, as they watch a film of a meadow that slowly takes over the frame. Aleph2005 | 1 min. | Super 8 to Digital |SoundThe Aleph is the point where diachronic and synchronic time converge, where life can be experienced as “an entire lifetime or a single minute.” Moments follow one another, yet they also unfold simultaneously. Each moment holds the depth of the infinite and the eternal. Each second represents a stage of life—from birth to death. The Aleph is the point that concentrates all of these instances. Rafael1984 |12 min. | Super 8 to Digital | Sound“I was very happy with you, and now the reeds bow over the waters. There is no nostalgia.” On Rafael Maino’s birthday, Hirsch creates a letter-film using images they shot together in Patagonia and during their travels through Chile and Brazil, as well as images of bodies (mainly male), that she thought he would find attractive. Manzanas Apples1969 | 5 min. |16 mm to Digital |SoundHirsch’s first shorts were a documentation of actions and performances done in public or art spaces. In Manzanas, the artists gave hundreds of apples to passersby in one of the busiest intersections of the business center of Buenos Aires. Kindly supported by: Goethe Institut JerusalemThanks to: Yael Goldman and Maayan Sheleff, Goethe Institut; Irit Carmon Popper and Debra Kaplan Cinematheque Jerusalem Cinematheque

NARCISA HIRSCH - A Famously Unknown Filmmaker

A selection of video works by experimental filmmaker Narcisa Hirsch (1928 - 2024). Introduction by Lea Mauas.