In a small, all-night bar owned by two women (played by Irit Frank and the legendary Gila Almagor), a colorful assortment of Tel Aviv citizenry gathers—men and women, Jews and Arabs, Ashkenazi and Sephardi, kibbutzniks and city-dwellers, drug dealers and soldiers. As dramas among the patrons unfold over the course of the evening, tension mounts, culminating in a tragic denouement. Life According to Agfa was released to universal acclaim almost three decades ago and has since become a touchstone of Israeli cinema—a film of fully realized characters whose personal dramas reflect and then give way, in the bitter outcomes of small and increasingly large conflicts, to a broader national story about the fractures in Israeli society and the isolation and emotional devastation of modern life. U.S. Premiere of the restoration.

Preceded by
Travelogue Tel Aviv
Samuel Patthey
Switzerland, 2017, 6 min.
A Swiss art student studying abroad captures Tel Aviv’s vitality and boldness in this vibrant, impressionistic animation. N.Y. Premiere