THE BUBBLE aka HA BUAH

Year: 2006
USA: Strand Releasing
Cast: Ohad Knoller, Yousef 'Joe' Sweid, Daniela Wircer, Alon Friedmann, Zion Baruch, Zohar Liba, Oded Leopold, Ruba Blal, Shredy Jabarin, Lior Ashkenazi, Yossi Marshak
Director: Eytan Fox
Country: Israel
Language: Hebrew / Arabic (English subtitles)
USA: 117 mins
USA Release Date: 7 September 2007 (Limited Release - Los Angeles)
USA Release Date: 4 September 2007 (Limited Release - New York)


Synopsis

Three young Israelis, two guys and a girl, share an apartment in Tel Aviv's hippest neighborhood. As they try to put aside political conflicts and focus on their lives and loves, these progressive 20-somethings are often accused of living in an escapist "bubble".

Among them are three young Israeli flatmates: headstrong Lulu (Daniela Wircer), who works in a bath products boutique, flamboyant Yali (Alon Friedmann), who manages a trendy cafe, and brooding music store clerk Noam (Ohad Knoller), who spends his weekends serving in the National Guard at checkpoints.

When Noam meets and falls in love with a young Palestinian man named Ashraf (Yousef 'Joe' Sweid), the young Israelis decide to help Ashraf stay on in Tel Aviv illegally. They dress him in modern Israeli garb, give him a Hebrew name and put him to work in Yali's cafe.

They all decide to celebrate their peaceful coexistence at a beach party calling for an end to the occupation of Palestinian territories. But the young people's utopia is shattered by the political and social realities of the Middle East.