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.

CoPro Impact Lab

In partnership with the Gesher Multicultural Film Fund, Kayama Institute and Shatil. This lab aims to bring together documentary filmmakers and leading social activists around issues of urgent concern, to forge new coalitions and joint action which will yield positive impact and improve the world we live in. CoPro will select a group of documentary filmmakers who have projects focused on urgent global issues. Over six months, the participants are guided by experts in marketing, distribution, and policy change.

The pinnacle of the program is a live pitching event, where the filmmakers pitch their films and associated impact campaigns to a group of decision and policy makers including foundations, NGOs, campaigners, philanthropists, politicians, brands, and the media. The resulting partnerships enable the films to secure funding, widen audiences and ultimately increase their impact.

At the pitching event, selected projects are awarded an impact grant by Albi and the Gesher Fund. This grant is intended to kickstart their campaigns and bring them to life.

Selection of Works

documentary film impact
Abortion in the Holy Land

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

documentary film impact
The First Lady

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

documentary film impact
The Children of San Simon

director: Shahar Gal Noor
producer: Mooly and Tslil Landesman

created by: Shahar Galnoor & Sima Shimony

Sima Shimony, age 69, embarks on a mission to find her friends and staff from the "ALYN" Institute for Children with Disabilities, that was situated in the secluded San-Simon monastery in Jerusalem, in the 1960's. Armed with a small camcorder attached to her wheelchair she sets on a journey together with her friend Pini Newirth to unfold and reclaim the story of the children on the Polio epidemic. Growing up together as equals, suffering excruciating medical procedures with no family at their side, forged a group of remarkable people with disabilities who eventually launched the Disability-Rights movement in Israel. An uproarious and charming depiction of seniors with disabilities navigating their golden years with candid humor and zest.

impact producer: Yael Yakirevich

documentary film impact
Hot Spot

director: Karin Kainer
producer: Ananey Studio

A five-year intimate worldwide coming-of-age journey of a remarkable group of teenagers, some from enemy nations, begins at a controversial boarding school amidst a war zone. There, they contend with love, loss, and national conflict. What will happen to their relationship after graduation when they enter the complex reality?

impact producer: Einat halevi Levin

documentary fund impact post production
The Smugglers

director: Tony Copty, Yaniv Berman
producer: Tony Copty, Yaniv Berman

Michel El-Raheb owns a bookstore café in Jaffa, a city where Arabic texts are difficult to come by. In his quest to provide Arabic books to public, Michel discovers that their absence is not accidental, but by design of the Hebrew state.

impact producer – Rami Fahel

documentary film impact
Whitewash

director: Yonatan Nir, Gavin Thurston, Andy Byatt
producer: Sipur & Amberjack Films

through intimate nature stories paired with cutting-edge research, Whitewash will reveal the secret conflicts of this extraordinary realm, the narrow meeting point of three continents, home to unique and endemic wildlife, epic mountains, broadleaved forests, salt lakes, Mediterranean scrubland, coniferous forests, and marine habitats unlike anywhere else on Earth.

impact producer – Roy Kimhi

documentary film impact
The Freedom Project

director: Efrat Lachter
producer: Michal Weits

Girls are considered cheap in Malawi. You can buy one for just $100. So, how much does it cost tosave a young girl and offer her a glimmer of hope? Is that even something money can buy?

impact producer: Maayan Ehrlich

documentary film impact
Kiki

director: Natan Rushansky
producer: Daroma Productions

After being kicked out from every available youth-at-risk framework, and after facing criminal charges for drug trafficking and violence, Kiki is about to enter a youth prison by court order. Gal, his sister, manages to convince the authorities to give Kiki one last chance.
Gal is a caregiver for youth-at-risk in a framework that takes youth on experiential, therapeutic field trips through the desert.
Gal and her co-workers take Kiki on a field trip to the desert. She is determined to succeed where everyone else has failed. Will the journey enable Kiki to grow and to take responsibility for his own fate?

impact producer: Zohar Galil

documentary film impact
In the Name of the Father

director: Bat Dor Ojalbo & Gal Goffer
producer: Yoav Leshem

With access to one of Israel’s most orthodox Hasidic communities, a look at the scandal that erupted the rabbi who established and led the community died.

impact producer: Merav Schiffman

documentary film impact
Strange Birds

director: Shakked Orbach
producer: Dan Shadur

A phone call wakes me up early in the morning. My older brother got into trouble. Again. After another entanglement, I realize that I can no longer ignore the problems that follow him around, and which seem to be taking over my life. I use the camera to get answers from my family and a wall of silence melts away. Through a mix of amusing, intense, and eye-opening encounters, I begin to understand how relations in my family, especially with my mother, were influenced by an unspoken expression - Autism. Strange Birds is an intimate film that reveals an unspoken story about special parenting, autistic parenting, and the children who grow up in its shadow.

impact producer: Inbal-Roten Sagiv

documentary film impact
The Woman in White

director: Emmanuelle Mayer
producer: Emmanuelle Mayer

Tamar Golan, a mysterious journalist dressed in white, dedicated her life to face-to-face encounters with "the enemy"- leaders from the Arab world - forever changing the Middle East. As a lone woman in a world dominated by men, her story remained in the shadows. Now, a hidden box containing personal diaries, documents, photographs, and 8mm films unveils her unbelievable life story for the first time.

impact producer: Anat Nir

documentary film impact
A Letter without an Address

director: Yael Shachar & Sharon Yaish
producer: Daroma

Five letters sent anonymously reveal a painful story of emotional and sexual exploitation by a psychologist who harmed his patients for years. The letters, which were never answered, are now being revealed, allowing the victims to finally raise their voices.

impact producer: Michal Eliav

documentary film impact
Eddie & I

director: Maya Shekel

VR experience. When 8-year-old Ron, who is deaf, is afraid of his first camping trip, his mother’s story about ‘Eddie’ comes to life. Ron wakes up in a surreal forest and meets you, who embodies Eddie. Together, you navigate the adventure, overcome communication barriers, and discover courage and friendship through sign language.

impact producer: Eviatar Moncaz

documentary film impact
Missing Vivian

director: Hilla Medalia
producer: Mariel Ostrover

On the morning of October 7th, peace activist Vivian Silver was kidnapped by Hamas from a kibbutz near Gaza. While Israel launches an attack on the Gaza Strip, Vivian’s son and her Jewish and Palestinian friends are fighting to continue Silver’s vision and the hope for peace.

impact producer: Sahar Bar Nissan

documentary film impact
Seemingly Unimportant Thoughts

director: Sharon Luzon
producer: Astar Goldberg

Through the work of two women who treat a rehabilitation group for sex offenders, viewers will be introduced to the complexity and challenges they face in their efforts to rehabilitate and reintegrate sex offenders into society—without them reoffending. The film offers a rare glimpse into the unique process the patients go through in the group and examines how, and whether, significant perceptual change can occur in each of them, and through them—also in us, the viewers.

Impact Producer: Oded Greenvald

Docs for Change - In partnership with Makor Foundation

Supporting the development process of impact documentaries that deal with burning social and political issues.

Selection of Works

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.

2023 documentary film
Nurses

director: Israela Shaar-Meoded
producer: Stav Meron

A detective film tracing the fate of Yedida, the lost baby, through the testimonies of the nurses, doctors, and caregivers who worked in the baby wards and hospitals in the 1950s and 1960s. For the first time, the Yemenite Children Affair will be unraveled from an institutional perspective.

 

2023 documentary film production
Ginzey Ha Melech

director: Udi Kalinsky
producer: Udi Kalinsky

The film is following the daily life at a Haredi Talmud Torah in Safed, capturing scenes and interviews. The film features students, teaching staff, and the principal, Michal Lieberman, an extraordinary woman. Against all odds, Michal established the Talmud Torah, turned it into a state-recognized school, and made it inclusive by accepting all children, regardless of their challenges. She boldly manages the school despite significant opposition due to her being a woman. The film highlights the unique aspiration of "Genazai HaMelech" to maintain strict Haredi education while fostering controlled openness and participation in Israeli society in all sectors, including national and military service. This is Michal Lieberman's vision: a Haredi Talmud Torah educating students to be productive members of Israeli society.

 

2021 documentary film released
Living in the Shadow of Death

director: Bilal Yousef 
producer: Avni Mannes

With daily acts of gun violence and over 100 civilians killed each year since 2019, life in Israel’s Arab communities is unbearable. The filmmaker, unable to provide his young family with a basic notion of security, embarks on a journey to understand the limited options he has left.

 

2021 documentary film production
The Eclipse (The Battle of Balfour)

director: Doron Tsabari
producer: Doron Tsabari

The film follows the protests at Balfour against Netanyahu's government, continuing the coverage into the year of the judicial overhaul and the protest movement that arose in response. The catastrophe led by Netanyahu and his government on October 7th is the final note.

 

documentary film fund palestine politics post production
Podium (You Have Three Minutes)

director: Rachel Leah Jones
producer: Philippe Bellaiche

Since Israel was established and its legislature -- the Knesset -- first convened, Palestinian lawmakers have served alongside Jewish ones. Be they communists, liberals, nationalists, or Islamists — every Palestinian parliamentarian steps up to the podium with pain, frustration, anger, and hope. Yet most of their words fall on deaf ears. Were we to listen to a collection of 3-minute speeches by these parliamentarians, what would we hear? A hungry appeal for a rightful place at the table of governance, sovereignty, and self-determination rather than the carrot, the stick, and the civil rights crumbs begrudgingly and conditionally swept off of it.

documentary film fund literature palestine politics post production
The Smugglers

director: Tony Copti & Yaniv Berman
producer: Tony Copti & Yaniv Berman

Michel George El-Raheb owns a small bookshop and café in the city of Jaffa called Yafa Cafe. Facing mounting challenges in running the shop, he calls upon his nephew, film producer Tony Copti, to partner with him. While looking to buy books for the shop, Tony ends up on an eye-opening journey that forces him and his uncle to become book smugglers. The process brings him to question where Jaffa’s books have disappeared after the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation, known to Palestinians as the Nakba. 

“The Smugglers” is an absurd reflection of Israel’s ongoing oppression of Arabic language and Palestinian culture.

 

documentary film impact
Missing Vivian

director: Hilla Medalia
producer: Mariel Ostrover

On the morning of October 7th, peace activist Vivian Silver was kidnapped by Hamas from a kibbutz near Gaza. While Israel launches an attack on the Gaza Strip, Vivian’s son and her Jewish and Palestinian friends are fighting to continue Silver’s vision and the hope for peace.

impact producer: Sahar Bar Nissan