SHALOM ABU BASSEM
Director: Nissim Mossek
Length: 73 min and 52 min. version
Synopsis: Over a period of nearly two decades, Nissim Mossek filmed two families living on Haladiya Street in the Moslem Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City. The dark red blood stains on the cobble stones of the tense street still bear silent witness to the violence that had occurred there. And more than once!

This is a human, touching and painful film whose power lies in the direct, straightforward manner with which the director has treated a complex story.

The family of Abu Bassam, long-time Moslem residents and the family of Danny Robbins, Jewish settlers, live close to each and their lives reflect the events that have occurred on their street. Is it possible for two men and their families to live together on Haladiya Street, given the street’s history and the background of conflict, murder, and hate? Filmed over 18 years, the Shalom Abu Bassem film is a rare opportunity to see how the lives of Jewish and Moslem residents have intertwined on an unforgettable street in the Moslem Section of the Old City. With the pathos of real people, living under extremely difficult conditions, the film Shalom Abu Bassem will make you more aware of the complexity of the conflict between the two peoples. Shalom Abu Bassem will appeal to your mind. And touch your heart!
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Press Review "Shalom Abu Bassem"
Wednesday May 18 2005 by Yoav Har Oz

Yoav Har Oz encountered the moving documentary film “Shalom Abu Bassam” about the relationship of neighboring Jews and Arabs living in close proximity.

A thousand political discussion TV programs will not succeed in extinguishing the anger and hatred existing between religious Jews and Arab Moslems. On the other hand, just as a picture is worth a thousand words, one documentary is worth a hundred years of conflict. Even if I were to study the history of Jerusalem with Professor Meshulam or with one of the followers of Baruch Marzel, I would learn much more from the watching the expressive faces of Danny Robins or Abu Bassam the heroes of the film. Yesterday I experienced the documentary film by Nissim Mossek called “Shalom Abu Bassam” (channel 2, 10:45 PM yesterday). More than anything else, yesterday I learned one sad fact: all the residents of Maaleh Haldiyah, in the Moslem quarter of Jerusalem, are victims of history. Indeed, we all are.

If we attempt to discover the just and logical legal owners of Maaleh Haldiyah or Hebron St. of the past we might reach one educated answer. The truth is much more complex and is actually subjective to the viewer. The fundamentalist Arab and the extremist Jewish settler will undoubtedly have ideological answers, but neither of them can remain indifferent to the pain and suffering of the charming Abu Bassam or the heart stopping Rafika or the compassionate Danny Robins.

Abu Bassam’s family has lived in a Jewish house since 1948. No matter whom that fact may anger, he will not be able to remain indifferent to the death of Abu Bassam, shown at the end of the film. This simple likeable hummus vendor only wanted Arab and Jewish children to play together and to say good morning to one another.

Politically Maaleh Haldiyah looks like a dead end road. A Moslem quarter that includes fundamentalist Yeshivas (“Ateret Cohanim” and “Shuvu Banim”) native-born Moslems and Jewish settlers. Sharon bought a building there at the end of the 1980’s. It was never occupied by anyone but it is secured at a cost of 30 million shekels annually from the budget of the ministry of housing.
Since 1986 many events passed through – the intifadas, the Oslo Accords, the murderers of Eliyahu Amedi (apparently from Jenin), people who stabbed others with knives, people who burned Arab shops and houses, settlers who demonstrated power and sovereignty. Everything we read in the newspapers for the past 20 years happened there, everyday on that street.

Whatever happens in the film can bring to all of us the same feelings we all feel. Maaleh Haldiyah is an intense microcosm of the Israeli experience. Where the manufactured “reality” programs failed, documentaries of the type made by Nissim Mossek succeed. The pictures, the sounds, the colors, the characters, the messages, the dialogues, and the monologues of the film sent shivers up my spine. A piece of reality with no reasonable future solutions for the head or the heart. Mossek has brought to us on late night television what we would never dare to think about in morning daylight. The place is dangerous, and explosive. Just like our fate.

“Strips of Life” is a program for documentaries of the best type. Experiential TV with a mission. I am a strong supporter of experiential learning as long as the view is panoramic bringing to all, the different views of a small piece of reality. Maaleh Haldiyah of Abu Bassem and Dany Robins is such a view. It presents subjective truth from different angles. It surpasses logic and analyzing who is right, to reach our inner emotions. My personal political stance becomes irrelevant because I fell in love with the residents of the place. To hell with ideology, I already miss Abu Bassem. My only wish is that everyone on that street, Jews and Arabs, have a good life.

“Walla News”

Price: 25$

HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT THE PANTHERS?
Director: Nissim Mossek
Length: 110 min and 52 min. version
Synopsis: In 1970, a protest movement led by young people from disadvantaged neighborhoods in Jerusalem burst into the public consciousness with its unusual, anti-establishment, and sometimes violent actions. They became known as the “Black Panthers,” and ignited the imagination of the masses and terrified the establishment. In actions like “Operation Milk,” they made off with milk products and rolls piled outside the doors of grocery stores in Rehavia in the early morning; they distributed their "loot" in poor neighborhoods, such as Katamonim and Musrara, and in time, the "Black Panthers" came to be seen as the “Robin Hoods from Musrara.” They held giant demonstrations, stirred up the masses, and provoked violent confrontations with the police. Their protest was a spontaneous flood, with no organization or direction from above. After meeting them, Golda Meir’s verdict was that “they’re not nice.”

Nissim Mossek, who was then a beginning television film editor, met the "Panthers" for the first time in the storied Ta’amon coffeehouse. Mossek was enchanted by their enthusiasm and sincere intentions of the rebellious youngsters, followed their revolutionary course, which he saw as correct and just, and immediately began to document their dynamic activities. Over a period of several years Mossek and the "Panthers" made a protest movie, "Have you heard about the Panthers, uncle Moshe?" The film presented the protest and social message of the first and most important underclass movement in Israeli history. The negative, which vanished many years ago, has only recently turned up again. The film shows disadvantaged neighborhoods, towns, and other places in Israel in quest of the "Panthers" and other characters who appeared in the original film.

Price: 25$

WHO IS MORDECHAI VANUNU
Director: Nissim Mossek
Length: 117 min and 52 min. version
Synopsis: On April 21, 2004, Mordechai was released from prison. Mordechai Vanunu, Israel’s nuclear “whistle-blower”’, received an eighteen-year prison sentence, eleven of which were in solitary confinement. Today, eighteen years after being imprisoned, Vanunu’s story can be told: a multi-faceted drama that attempts to penetrate the persona of one of the most vilified people in Israeli history.

The film describes Vanunu’s life story, dwelling on the major crossroads of his life, beginning with his immigration from Morocco and his childhood in the impoverished “Neighborhood D”, of the of Beer Sheva, and continuing through to his recent release from prison. The film focuses on the personal side and human drama.

Director Nissim Mossek, who has been documenting the Vanunu affair for the last seventeen years, obtained access to exclusive information and material.

Price: 25$

AFTER SHOCK
Director: Yariv Horowitz
Length: 25 min.
Synopsis: "…In 1990, I was sent as an Army cameraman to gather video testimony from elite combat soldiers stationed in Nablus. The film was supposed to be a moral booster for the troops, but when I turned on the camera, things were said that would later endanger all of us and change our lives forever.” (Yariv Horowitz, director)
In this film for the first time, Israeli combat soldiers speak to the camera of their traumatic experiences in the first Intifada, revealing the deep moral and psychological scars left by their involvement in acts of extreme violence against the Palestinian population. The film combines explosive interviews with soldiers in Nablus in 1991, as well as their perspective ten years later.

Price: 25$

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