The New Jews - a Documentary Film

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LOGLINE

In a city haunted by its past, a group of non-Zionist Israeli Jews seek refuge in Berlin—only to find themselves caught in a surreal tangle of political hypocrisy, Holocaust guilt, and the fetishization of their Jewish bodies, where history, sex, and exile collide in disturbing and darkly absurd ways.

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SYNOPSIS

A decade in the making, The New Jews is a bold and provocative documentary following a group of non-Zionist Israeli Jews who flee the rise of right-wing nationalism and relentless violence. Seeking refuge in Berlin, they become entangled in the city’s layered history, only to find that their search for belonging leads them into a web of sexual, social, and political contradictions, complicated by the fetishization of Jews.

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Visually witty and partially animated, the film centers around filmmakers Amir and Inés on a hunt for intimacy and sexual adventure in their new home. In a darkly humorous twist, their encounters—through dating apps and sex calls—expose the lingering shadow of Nazism, Holocaust guilt, and a disturbing objectification of their Jewish bodies.

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Other participants are interrogated in a dimly lit room, confessing their conflicted relationships with Israel and the bittersweet experience of making Berlin their new home. Their testimonies reveal that the violence that once shaped their rebellious Jewish identity in Israel continues to haunt them, now appearing in a different guise in multicultural Berlin.

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In a country eager to love its Jews—but only the 'right' kind—the film unfolds as both an ironic reminder of the world the participants sought to escape and a wake-up call to the one they now face.

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DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

When I moved to Berlin, I didn’t expect my Jewish identity to define me as much as it does here. I left Israel in opposition to the occupation of Palestine, hoping to escape the nationalism and conflict that shaped my homeland. Instead, I found myself caught in a different kind of entanglement—one where my national identity is inescapable, and my Jewishness is both fetishized and scrutinized. In Israel, left-wing views like mine mark you as a traitor; in Germany, they make you an anti-Semitic. In many ways, I’ve come to feel like an asylum seeker, suspended between two worlds.

The New Jews is a deeply personal exploration of this exile. Through my own experiences and those of fellow Israeli expats, the film unpacks the contradictions of being a Jewish outsider in Berlin—a city haunted by its past yet eager to embrace its Jews, as long as they fit a specific mold. Germans display an obsessive interest in Israel and Jewishness, often treating us with a reverence that can feel suffocating. Yet beneath this politeness lies an unresolved tension—latent racism, historical guilt, and rigid ideas of what being Jewish should mean. This dynamic shapes not only political discourse but also personal relationships, seeping into everything from casual interactions to dating culture, where Holocaust guilt and fantasies about Jews take on unsettlingly erotic forms.

To capture this fluid, often surreal experience, the film blends stark interviews with rotoscope animation, mirroring the fragmented identities we navigate. The animation reflects our detachment, our constant reinvention, and the performative nature of identity in today’s digital world—where Jewishness, too, is curated, projected, and misunderstood. Much of our film unfolds in online spaces—social media, dating apps, late-night phone calls—where connection and alienation exist side by side, blurring the line between authenticity and performance.

The New Jews was conceived and researched in 2015 and the majority of it was shot in 2018 and 2020, long before the October 7th, 2023, Hamas attack and the devastating war that followed in Gaza. Even then, as Jewish filmmakers critical of Zionism, we faced accusations of being provocative, even anti-Semitic—from both Jewish and non-Jewish critics in Israel and Germany. These pressures kept the film unfinished—until now. In a time when dissenting Jewish voices are increasingly silenced, this film is more urgent than ever. The New Jews is not just a search for a new identity—it is a challenge to the narratives that seek to define us.