Yaël Abecassis

Cuz You're Ugly (2025)

Avigail, an overweight and insecure 18-year-old midshipwoman, returns home to the stuffy apartment in Jerusalem which she shares with her dysfunctional mother and with her young sister. Avigail hopes to untie the chains of her childhood, But something else ...

Why War (2025)

In 1932, Albert Einstein was invited by the League of Nations to address a letter on any subject to any person. He chose to correspond with Sigmund Freud about avoiding war. To this day, the correspondence about war of two great thinkers of all time proves ...

Tshuva (2024)

Following his brother's suicide, Avihu encounters a mesmerizing transgender woman who is a vivid mirror image of his brother. Together they embark on a transformative journey, compelling Avihu to confront his deep loss. ...

Shikun (2024)

A diverse cross-section of Israeli society converges in a single multi-use building, the Shikun. As people of different languages, origins and generations come together in highly theatrical encounters, they grapple with the current state of affairs. In a p ...

Legend of Destruction (2021)

What had initially started out as a Jewish revolt against the Roman occupation, quickly turned into a fierce civil war. The combination of religious messianic zeal and the friction between social classes proved disastrous and resulted in the destruction of ...

Raymonde El Bidaoia (2020)

Raymonde - diva, queen, enigma, inspiration, survivor, widow, woman, and mother. Armed with a camera, Yael Abecassis followed her mother and stepped into a world where she had always been a stranger. "You know, daughter, Morocco is a kind of therapy," Raym ...

A Tramway in Jerusalem (2018)

On a tramway that connects several of Jerusalem's neighborhoods from East to West, a mosaic of people from different religious and ethnic backgrounds are brought together. ...

Driver (2017)

A driver in the ultra-Orthodox community takes his daughter on his nightly journey, exposing her to the more questionable members of this pious society in the dark alleys of Bnei Barak. ...

Atlit (2015)

In October 1995 three French sisters gather in Atlit, Israel to sell the family home. Tensions arise between elders Darel and Cali when Darel proves unwilling to sell. That's when the sisters start seeing apparitions of their dead parents. ...

Words with Gods (2014)

The first of four installments in the groundbreaking Heartbeat of the World anthology film series. Comprised of several short films by some of the world's most exciting directors, Words with Gods follows the theme of religion - specifically as it relates t ...

That Lovely Girl (2014)

Moshe and Tami are a couple, Moshe is in his fifties and Tami is in her early twenties. They live together in a cruel and violent relationship, from which Tami seems unable to set herself free. Tami and Moshe are father and daughter... ...

Dancing Arabs (2014)

A young Arab is caught between cultures as he is sent to a prestigious Jewish boarding school in Israel in the 1980s. ...

Hunting Elephants (2013)

In this hilarious crime comedy, a gifted 12-year-old boy and three elderly men plan a bank robbery in order to seek revenge on the institution for cheating the youngster after the death of his father. ...

Lullaby to my Father (2012)

The film intertwines historical events and intimate memories. I observe how architecture represents the transformations of society and those who give form to this architecture. We follow the journey of Munio, my father, born in 1909 in Silesia, Poland, the ...

The Seven Days (2008)

The Ohaion family is mourning the death of one of their relatives. In keeping with tradition, they gather together in the home of the deceased and stay there for seven days. Forced to put up with one another day and night, the brothers and sisters soon let ...

Comme ton père (2007)

1968. La famille Maïmon : Félix, Mireille et leurs deux enfants, Eric et Michel, débarquent à Marseille. Quelques années plus tard, à peine installé à Belleville, Félix fait la connaissance de Serge, un parrain local avec qui il se lie d'amitié. ...

Surviving with Wolves (2007)

In 1942, the young Jewish girl Misha, her Russian mother Gerusha and her German father Reuven hide from the Germans in a small house in Ardennes, Belgium. Misha is very connected to her mother that advises her that if one day a person comes to her saying " ...

Without Me (2007)

Anna, a divorced single mother, employs a mysterious young woman called Lise to care for her children. ...

Papa (2005)

Louis and his Daddy are driving back home. Daddy is a past master at clowning, which does not necessarily make Louis laugh. At times Daddy gets awfully mad, picking on people who don't deserve it. That also does not make Louis laugh. But Daddy IS sweet. He ...

Live and Become (2005)

In 1980, the black Falashas in Ethiopia are recognised as genuine Jews and are secretly carried to Israel. The day before the transport the son of a Jewish mother dies. In his place and with his name (Schlomo) she takes a Christian 9-year-old boy. ...

Three-Step Dance (2003)

Four separate-but-interconnected stories - one for each season - about life in Sardinia. ...

Life Is Life (2003)

Miss Entebbe (2003)

Jerusalem 1976, a coming of age story about a confused girl, set against the Entebbe airplane hijacking. 13-year-old Noa, is convinced she can free her friend's mom by kidnapping an Arab boy. Instead, she finds herself involved in a dangerous adventure tha ...

Alila (2003)

Life in a Tel Aviv apartment complex, an urban mosaic whose seedy characters, try as they might, can't get out of one another's faces. Gabi, a bobbed haired sexpot, and her lover Hezi—who's older, balding and married—rent a room to have an affair, whil ...

Hibuki (2002)

A fairy helps children face their fears and gives them a friend. ...

Bella ciao (2000)

A man struggles to support his family while remaining true to his ideals in this drama set in Europe during the 1930s. Orfeo Mancini and his wife Nella are a pair of working-class Italians who years ago swore allegiance to the Communist party. With Mussoli ...

Maria Figlia del Suo Figlio (2000)

This téléfilm film on the life of Mary, Joseph's wife and Jesus' mother, from the conception of Jesus to the Assumption into heaven at the side of her son, is a biblical story. ...

Kadosh (1999)

The year 2000 approaches in Jerusalem's Orthodox Mea Shearim quarter, where the women work, keep house, and have children so the men can study the Torah and the Talmud. Rivka is happily and passionately married to Meir, but they remain childless. The yeshi ...

The Heritage (1993)

Two extraordinary love stories unfold 500 years apart. As modern lovers struggle against those who seek to separate them, a Christian soldier pursues a perilous romance with a young Jewish girl in the shadows of the Spanish Inquisition. ...

Tel Aviv Stories (1992)

Three stories about three women: one is trying to find the right guy; one is trying to get a divorce from her runaway husband so she takes hostages; one turns Tel Aviv upside down in order to save a kitten trapped in a storm drain. ...

Raymonde El Bidaoia (2020)

Raymonde - diva, queen, enigma, inspiration, survivor, widow, woman, and mother. Armed with a camera, Yael Abecassis followed her mother and stepped into a world where she had always been a stranger. "You know, daughter, Morocco is a kind of therapy," Raym ...

Aya (2012)

When Thomas Overby mistakenly believes Aya is his assigned driver, she spontaneously decides to go along with the charade and drives him to Jerusalem. A stiff and guarded pianist, Overby is intrigued by the impulsive though melancholy Aya. As they slowly b ...