Israeli movie theaters begin reopening amid war

More movie theaters around the country are opening their doors, including the Sam Spiegel School for Film and Television in Jerusalem, which is now showing free movies.

Sam Spiegel, located in the Jerusalem Arts Campus at 3 Menorah Street, is bringing movies back to the center of town, once an area that had more than half a dozen wonderful theaters. Its new building, which opened less than a year ago, features three beautiful auditoriums, the newest in the city. It is showing movies free of charge for children in the afternoon and for adults in the evening.

The full program for Cinema Spiegel is available on its Instagram account at https://www.instagram.com/cinema_spiegel/ and the movies are courtesy of the Lev Cinemas chain. The program includes Virgin Mountain, a charming film from Iceland, directed by Dagur Kari, about an isolated, nerdy guy who slowly begins to make some changes in his life; it will be shown on November 1 at 8 p.m. On November 3 at noon, a Pixar film, Up, will be shown. 

It tells the story of a grumpy widower, voiced by Edward Asner, who attaches thousands of balloons to his house and flies away to South America to fulfill a promise he had made to his wife. A boy has stowed away in his house, and the two go on an adventure together once they land in a remote jungle. Sam Spiegel also has VOD films by its graduates available for free. 

The Jerusalem Cinematheque is continuing its free programs, with screenings for adults in the morning and for children in the afternoon. On November 1, 11:30 a.m., it is showing An American in Paris, a classic musical directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, and Oscar Levant, with music by George Gershwin. 

The movie is considered one of the best musicals of all time and is best known for a 17-minute ballet sequence, with sets and costumes inspired by French artists Henri Rousseau, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Toulouse-Lautrec. It features the songs, “’Wonderful,” “I Got Rhythm,” and “I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise.”

An American in Paris will be followed by the screening of a beloved Pixar movie showing the various emotions of a young girl, Inside Out, at 2:30 p.m. Each emotion in her brain is represented by a different character in a fascinating, internal journey. Inside Out will be shown again on Friday morning at 11. Advance registration is required for these showings at https://jer-cin.org.il/en.

Cinema doors will be open

Theaters in the Cinema City chain have opened their doors in Jerusalem, Rishon Letzion, Hadera, Netanya, and Kfar Saba, as well as at its flagship theater in Glilot. The Yes Planet theaters are now open in Jerusalem, Rishon Letzion, Ayalon, Haifa, and Zichron Yaakov. These theaters are showing movies that opened before October 7, including the Ophir Award-winning Seven Blessings. It is now possible to pre-order tickets for Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour movie, which many Israeli ‘Swifties’ have been awaiting anxiously; it will also be shown at the Jerusalem Cinematheque and Lev Cinemas.

The Lev Cinemas chain has returned to a limited schedule in its Lev Tel Aviv (in Dizengoff Center) and Lev Raanana locations. It features movies for both children and adults, including Korean-American romance Past Lives. The Lev chain has many movies available for VOD viewing, and films are added every week. I recommend Israeli film Here We Are, by Nir Bergman, about a father and his grown autistic son. Details are available at lev.co.il.

The cinematheques also offer movies that can be streamed. The Jerusalem Cinematheque features movies for serious cinephiles, including Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson, a slow-paced, atmospheric film starring Adam Driver and Golshifteh Farahani.

The Tel Aviv Cinematheque, which is still closed, has VOD movies for children and adults. Among those available for adults are The Etruscan Smile, which stars Brian Cox from Succession as an ornery Scottish recluse who moves to San Francisco and reconnects with his son’s family.

It was directed by Israeli filmmakers Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis. There are also online films for children of all ages from all over the world, as well as Zoom story events, with writers reading their own children’s books, accompanied by musicians. Details are available at cinema.co.il.