Spectacular rare archival film footage of Palestine in the tumultuous 1920s forms the heart of this documentary by Israeli filmmaker and scholar Ya’akov Gross. Considered lost for more than 70 years, these early films taken by Ya'akov Ben Dov, the father of Hebrew cinema, depict settlements and activities in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Rishon le Zion and Old Jaffa; visits by Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill; the funeral of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda; and early Zionists who pioneered the Third and Fourth Aliyahs. A vital and accessible look at a formative period in Israeli history.
Dreamers and Builders includes material from three rare films by Ya'akov Ben Dov – Return to Zion (1920-21), The Rebirth of a Nation (1923), and Romance of Palestine (1926) – preserved in a joint project by the National Center for Jewish Film and the Israel Film Archive.
"... A triumph of photographic composition and content."
- Amy Kronish, World Cinema: Israel
The National Center For Jewish Film
Brandeis University, Lown 102, MS053, Waltham MA 02454
P: (781) 899 7044, F: (781) 736 2070
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