America

In this sensual, visually rich Israeli melodrama, a series of misfortunes upends the lives of old friends and an Ethiopian woman, soon entwined in an unusual love triangle. Concealing a painful past, the closed-off, soft-spoken Eli (Michael Moshonov) has made a new life in Chicago as a swim instructor. When his estranged father dies, Eli returns home, reunited with best friend Yotam (Ofri Biterman), who runs a Jaffa flower shop with fiancée Iris (Oshrat Ingedashet, Jerusalem Film Festival Best Actress prize). After tragedy strikes, Eli and the immigrant florist—both lonely and dislocated—are drawn to each other. With its floral motifs and radiant cinematography, Ofir Raul Graizer’s critically acclaimed sophomore feature is an affecting study of conflicted cultural and sexual identity.