Albi Institute

Albi Institute influences the creative industries in Israel through pipeline programs that shift the context of creative production in Israel. With the realities of Israeli audiences and politics in mind, these programs seek to expand the space for critical voices in cultural production across fields and industries to thrive and be true vehicles for change.

Impact campaigns

Albi will maintain a pool of rapid response resources for cultural interventions to take on and transform unpredictable moments each year.
Some of our past involvements include:

2024 documentary film impact released
Death in Umm Al-Hiran

director: Doron Djerassi
producer: Rafael Balulu, Emmanuel Berrebi

Death in Umm Al-Hiran” tells one of the most shocking and significant stories that happened in Israel in the last decade, as it reveals the mechanisms behind the killing and defaming of Yaqoub Abu Al-Qia’an, a Bedouin teacher who died at the hands of the police during an eviction raid. For the first time, the film will consistently and comprehensively reveal one of the most tragic and political affairs ever to have occurred in Israel between the Bedouin population and the State of Israel.

The impact campaign for the film operated on two levels: amplifying the story of Umm Al-Hiran and other unrecognized Bedouin villages to civil society and activist groups, and engaging diverse audiences through screenings and discussions. These events, held in settings like the Van Leer Institute and Rahat’s cultural center, fostered dialogue among activists, educators, community leaders, and officials, encouraging action on displacement and demolition issues. Conversations with Umm Al-Hiran residents, including the family of Ya’acob Abu Al-Qiann, central to the film, deepened solidarity and highlighted personal experiences.

2025 documentary film impact
The First Lady - impact campaign

director: Udi Nir & Sagi Bornstein
producer: Udi Nir & Sagi Bornstein & Georg Tschurtschenthaler

Fearing for her life, Israeli transgender pioneer Efrat Tilma had to flee the country as a teenager. Now in her seventies and a celebrated activist, she must fight for her rights once again, as the country spirals into unprecedented political and social regression.

The First Lady's Impact campaign, developed with "Gila's project for Trans* empowerment", addresses the systemic challenges faced by transgender people in Israel, using the documentary as a catalyst for change. Efrat Tilma's story reveals the harsh realities of violence, exclusion, and institutional discrimination, alongside her remarkable achievements and ongoing activism. The campaign seeks to create a bridge between the transgender community and the wider Israeli society, fostering understanding, respect, and inclusion. Through a series of strategic actions and community-led initiatives, the campaign aims to improve the personal and public image of transgender women, increase their participation in the public sphere, and offer critical support services.

impact producer - Roei Shaul Hillel

2024 documentary film impact released
Abortion in the Holy Land - impact campian

director: Efrat Shalom Danon
producer: Osnat Trabelsi

In 2024 Israel, women still do not have the rights over their bodies. The narrative of abortions in Israel exposes the sexism and the patronage of men in the medical and political establishment, since the founding of the state until today. The Jewish womb carries a demographic-national role, and the women are merely the means. Through personal and archival stories, the gendered attitude towards women seeking to decide about their bodies and futures is revealed.

impact producer- Mor Azulay

2023 animation documentary feature impact released
LYD

director: Rami Younis and Sarah Ema Friedland
producer: Sawsan Asfari, Fivel Rothberg, Sarah Ema Friedland and Rami Younis

This sci-fi documentary delves into Lyd, a city in Palestine/Israel, exploring its past, present, and potential futures. Voiced by Palestinian actress Maisa Abd Elhadi, Lyd narrates its rich history, from Palestinian thriving to Israeli occupation. Through archival footage and speculative animations, the film imagines an alternate reality free from trauma and violence.

 

2024 documentary film fund impact music released
Prophets Of Change

director: Assaf Ben Shetrit
producer: Assaf Ben Shetrit

Prophets of Change began in 2017 with the hope of capturing the lives and stories of eight Palestinian and Israeli musicians who refuse to accept their reality. The film was completed in the beginning of 2023, or so we thought.

By May 2024, the latest war had claimed countless innocent lives, inflicting immeasurable suffering and destruction. Yet, in the midst of this despair, these eight artists came together for the first time in Jerusalem. Over the course of four days, they wrote and recorded five songs, blending Arabic, English, Hebrew, and Yiddish with rap, rock, hip-hop, gospel, and heavy metal. Their collaboration became a powerful testament to the unifying force of music, a continuation of their shared beliefs and tireless efforts.

The impact campaign of "Prophets of Change" aims to foster dialogue and promote unity through the power of music. By partnering with global events and leveraging the influence of high-profile  narrators: Forest Whitaker, JK Simmons, Sarah Silverman, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Leymah Gbowee, Ed O'brien and Perry Farrell. The goal is to spread a message of hope and inspire young people worldwide to overcome divisions and take action for a better future.

2022 documentary film impact
H2: The Occupation Lab

director: Idit Avrahami and Noam Sheizaf
producer: Hilla Medalia and Paul Cadieux

H2 is the name given to the eastern part of Hebron – the only Palestinian city with a Jewish settlement in it. Here, along a one-Kilometer road, lies the holy Cave of the Patriarchs, where Jews and Muslims believe their common father, Abraham, is buried. Here the massacre of 1929, known as “year zero” of the conflict, took place; here the Jewish settlement movement was born, and here a policy of ethnic separation was first implemented by the military. Through rare archive footage and interviews with Hebron’s military commanders, H2: The Occupation Lab tells the story of a place that is both a microcosm of the entire conflict and a test site for the methods of control Israel is implementing throughout the West Bank.

documentary film impact
Two Kids a Day

director: David Wachsmann
producer: Yoav Roeh and Aurit Zamir

The film offers a rare glimpse into the video interrogations of four Palestinian children.  The children's stories highlight a systematic method behind the arrests of minors in the West Bank, aiming to "break" popular uprisings in villages opposing the occupation. These arrests suppress resistance, with over 700 Palestinian minors detained each year. 95 percent of these minors live near settlements, linking their detention to the IDF's settlement protection. Interviews with a soldier involved in the arrests, a former deputy division head in the Israeli security agency, a human rights lawyer, and a former military prosecutor expand the personal story into a larger narrative.

Soon after his appointment, the Israeli Minister of Culture Miki Zohar, announced his intention to retroactively defund the film. In response, the film creators and the organization "Parents Against Child Detention" are screening the film throughout Israel, holding public discussions. The film has been screened many times since then, and continues to be shown frequently both in Israel and around the world.

 

2021 fiction film impact
Let it Be Morning - Oscars Campaign


Let It Be Morning is an Israeli drama film directed by Eran Kolirin (The Band's Visit), based on the Hebrew-language novel of the same name by Palestinian-Israeli author Sayed Kashua. The story follows a man who, after receiving an invitation to his brother's wedding, returns with his family to the Arabic village where he grew up. Following the wedding, the village is abruptly placed under lockdown by Israeli soldiers without explanation, forcing the protagonist and the community to navigate an uncertain and tense reality.

The film made headlines when it swept the Ophir Awards (Israel’s Academy Awards), securing its selection as Israel’s official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards. In a powerful show of solidarity, the director and producer used their platform to read speeches written by Palestinian cast and crew members. Notably, Let It Be Morning is almost entirely in Arabic, a significant statement just a few years after Israel passed the Nation-State Law, which demoted Arabic from being an official language. With a predominantly Palestinian cast and crew, the film’s Oscars campaign was not only an opportunity to showcase a delicate and beautiful work to an increasingly polarized Hollywood but also a challenge to the question of who gets to tell an Israeli story.