Awakening

In August of 2011, months before the world became familiar with the Occupy Wall Street movement in the U.S., a handful of tents in the center of Tel Aviv sparked the largest social protest in Israel’s history. Within days, tens of thousands of people were sleeping on the streets of Tel Aviv and tent cities mushroomed across the country in protest of Israel’s crippling cost of living. Just one week after the protests erupted, a group of documentary filmmakers set out to capture the spirit of defiance and solidarity that had gripped the nation. Every filmmaker directed a sevenminute cinematic documentary, and each of these films was broadcast during prime time, bringing the national struggle to people’s living rooms as it unfolded. Insequence, these 20 short films created a powerful, moving narrative about people from different parts of Israeli society who came together to try and effect change.After all 20 movies were broadcast on Israeli TV, nine of them were edited into one 60-minute documentary that premiered in October 2011 at the International Film Festival in Haifa.