b.h. Yael is an acclaimed Toronto based filmmaker, video and installation artist whose singular work combines non-linear and hybrid forms, merging the autobiographical with documentary perspectives. Yael's work has dealt with issues of identity, authority and family structures, while at the same time addressing the fragmentary nature of memory and belonging, and religious and secular narratives of apocalypse.
In CP On Demand's exclusive collection, Yael delves into generational memories and collective amnesia surrounding the Israeli colonization of Palestine. Through an intimate and artistic lens, Yael also turns her lens inward, interpreting the complex layers of Arab-Jewish identity and its cultural expressions, as well as the political intersections of family and protest in Québec.
All proceeds generated from the streaming of this video are split between the artists/rights holder and Cinema Politica. To find out more visit cinemapolitica.org.
Directed by b.h. Yael ∙ 1996 ∙ Canada
FRESH BLOOD, A CONSIDERATION OF BELONGING is a hybrid documentary or video essay which includes questions around Arab Jewishness, negotiating Palestine, gender, bellydancing and memory. This video essay, formed by personal narrative and including a return to...
Directed by b.h. Yael ∙ 2002 ∙ Canada
In the context of the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, in April 2000, a group of filmmakers and video artists came together to consider the repercussions of free trade and to collaborate on a project that resulted in “Blah, Blah, Blah. (Re)Viewing Queb...
Directed by b.h. Yael ∙ 2002 ∙ Canada
The loss of individual lives in Israel/Palestine as a result of the Israeli occupation is too much for any of us to comprehend at this point. The number of injuries and the psychic toll is even greater. We do not see the full picture. Most often the perspe...
Directed by b.h. Yael ∙ 2006 ∙ Canada
EVEN IN THE DESERT is a personal reportage focusing on concrete actions by Israelis, Palestinians and international activists working together in the face of and against current agendas to displace Palestinians and to limit their movements. The video travels...
Directed by b.h. Yael ∙ 2006 ∙ Canada
A HOT SANDFILLED WIND is a 13-minute lyrical piece, based on a poem by Nadia Habib. An appeal for recognition against despair, it emphasizes that beyond the politics of occupation, Israelis and Palestinians live in proximity, side by side.
PALESTINE TRILOGY...
Directed by b.h. Yael ∙ 2006 ∙ Canada ∙ 28'
DEIR YASSIN REMEMBERED considers the repercussions of a largely forgotten massacre of almost 100 Palestinians in 1948. The massacre at Deir Yassin was pivotal to Palestinian dispossession. Though Deir Yassin has been partially acknowledged by Israelis...
Directed by b.h. Yael ∙ 2010 ∙ Canada
KEN, TOV, BESEDER is a constructed short narrative piece, both allegorical and literal. A Palestinian man working in his garden in West Jerusalem is interrupted. The phone rings as he walks out of his home, through Jerusalem streets, past the Damascus gate, ...
Directed by b.h. Yael ∙ 2008 ∙ Canada
TRADING THE FUTURE is a video essay that questions the inevitability of apocalypse and its repercussions on environmental urgencies. Starting with a personal memory, the fear of the rapture, the video addresses the Christian narrative for the end of times, a...
Directed by b.h. Yael ∙ 2017 ∙ Canada
Employing animation and collage, LESSONS FOR POLYGAMISTS takes place inside the diary of an adolescent girl growing up in a polygamous household. She lists the lessons she would convey to Dad, if only she could.
Every teenager knows better than the adults i...