ARTHOUSE CINEMA with BAR and BISTRO in the heart of NEUKÖLLN
What has changed
Short Film – 16 min., 2022, Hebrew with EN subtitles
Director: Salomon Chekol
Shai, an Ethiopian Jewish soldier in the Israeli army, returns home for Passover with a welfare food package for his family, only to discover that his father is keeping a secret. A quietly powerful short film about what it means to be of Ethiopian descent while navigating Jewish religious traditions in Israel in the 2000s.
Fig Tree
Feature Film – 93 min., 2018, Amharic with EN subtitles
Director: Aäläm-Wärqe Davidian
Addis Ababa, 1989. Mina is 16, Jewish, and about to leave Ethiopia for Israel, where her mother awaits their reunion. But this plan leaves behind the person she loves most: Eli, her Christian boyfriend, hiding in the woods to evade conscription into Mengistu Haile Mariam's army. A coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of the Ethiopian Civil War.
Our October edition of “Transit” explores the history of Ethiopian Jews in Israel – a migration that remains little known both within and beyond Israel's borders. For generations, Ethiopian Jews dreamed of returning to Jerusalem. In the 1980s and 1990s, the State of Israel carried out complex operations to bring tens of thousands of Ethiopian Jews to their ancestral homeland. Upon arrival, they were met with an exoticized image of the "lost tribes" of the Bible – and soon faced racism, discrimination, and the difficult realities of integration. Today, approximately 178,000 Jews of Ethiopian origin live in Israel.
Program
10:00 am – Doors open
11:00 am – "What has changed"
11:20 am – "Fig Tree"
ca. 1:30 pm – Conversation in the foyer
Included with your ticket: a bruschetta or a sfogliata.
Conversation:
Yael Reuveny and Evgenia Gostrer (curators)
with activist Tikva Sendeke and members of the "Fig Tree" production team.
Topic:
The unique history of the Ethiopian Jewish community and the challenges it continues to face
The Institut für Neue Soziale Plastik
The film series is presented in cooperation with the Institute for New Social Sculpture. The Institute for New Social Sculpture is an association of Jewish and antisemitism-critical directors, dramaturgs, writers, and artists. Since its founding in 2015, it has developed artistic projects from Jewish perspectives, focusing on contemporary Jewish life and history as well as memory culture and antisemitism. Another key area of its work is advising cultural institutions, independent groups, curators, and artists on issues related to antisemitism.
https://neue-soziale-plastik.de/en/
The Shorts Show is the event the Berlin film scene was missing: a real cinema night, but not for Hollywood blockbusters; for SHORTS! Started in 2026, our curated monthly screenings have been enthusiastically received by the local community of filmmakers and moviegoers.
We welcome films of all genres and filmmakers of all levels of experience. A big name or budget won’t help you here; we simply choose the best. We have hosted award-winning directors, and directors who were with us watching their film on the silver screen for the very first time.
The Shorts Show has become more than just a film festival screening; one evening of the month, it’s where all Berlin film lovers come to digest the best the short form has to offer. Your film will be enjoyed and dissected frame by frame by people obsessed with the art of cinema.
To celebrate our 12th birthday we have special sneak preview for you! Trust us, it's well worth the gamble. Come and celebrate with us!
