Free film series offers modern views of Holy Land

An Israeli Orthodox woman urges friends not to wait for a proper marriage proposal but to propose to their boyfriends themselves. A Tel Aviv couple runs into a buzzsaw of complications on a blind date. A religious Israeli girl living on a West Bank settlement re-nounces her identity upon reaching her 18th birthday.

These are just a few of the plot lines to be savored at the mini-series of short Israeli films, a regular — and always much anticipated — feature of Israel in the Gardens.

Scene from “Cheftzi On Air,” about a radio broadcaster who offers romance advice to women.

“It’s really an opportunity to see a very contemporary Israel the way you don’t usually see it,” says Noa Turgeman, an Israeli-born staffer with the Israel Center of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation and programmer of the film series. “And it’s a great break from the sun and the gardens.”

The 12 short films will screen in a continuous one-hour loop in the auditorium of the Contemporary Jewish Museum, right across the street from Yerba Buena Gardens.

Like last year, several of the films come from Jerusalem-based Bezalel, Israel’s oldest and most prestigious arts academy. They include both animated and live-action shorts.

New this year is the participation of the Ma’aleh School of Television, Film and the Arts. Located in Jerusalem, Ma’aleh counts among its students many Orthodox men and women, and their sensibility comes through in the work they produce.

Ma’aleh graduates created the hit 2008 Israeli TV series “Srugrim,” about a group of deeply religious Orthodox bachelors and their lives in Jerusalem.

“Their material is very powerful,” notes Turgeman of the Ma’aleh shorts this year. “They give you a window onto a society [that] even I don’t know. The quality of the work is very professional.”

Like Israel in the Gardens, the film series is free to the public. All 12 films are appropriate for kids.

For Turgeman, this year’s event is bittersweet, as it is her last. At the end of June, after eight years in California, she and her husband will return to Israel. She says it’s been a great ride, especially working with the federation to strengthen ties between Israel and the Bay Area.

Before moving day, she will be at Yerba Buena, enjoying the celebration and noodjing attendees to check out the films across the street.

She’s even been working on her sales pitches.

“If you’re tired and you want to go home,” she says, “come watch a movie then go back to the gardens.”