Despite living legally in Israel for five years, Eritrean refugee Aumari is slated for deportation on a technicality. After ducking immigration authorities at the airport, he becomes the unlikely and very perplexed recipient of a hero’s welcome, courtesy of local football club Maccabi Netanya. Mistaken for an eagerly anticipated Nigerian striker who is supposed to arrive at the same time, Aumari is in an absurd situation. Though completely lacking a fundamental knowledge of the sport, he finds himself the face of the franchise. Caught between his new identity as “Jimmy Mikel,” the nascent star invigorating the team and fanbase, and the refugee with expired papers, Aumari must remain focused on his mission: keeping his identity under wraps long enough to secure safe passage out of the country to reunite with his beloved younger brother. Charismatic lead actor Chancela Mongoza gives a starmaking performance in this uplifting dramedy, which was an Israeli Academy Award Best Film nominee. —Lori Donnelly
Adar Shafran was born in 1982 in a small village in north of Israel called Ein Iron. When he was 18, he became a musician and had a rock band for 8 years. He was writing and composing the songs. After He produced a music video for the band the director asked to come and produce more projects together with him. After two years producing many music videos, he started his own company called Firma Films together with partner Roni Abramowsky. He started to produce Feature films and series and as a producer he was involved from the first words that were written until the last frame in the post. With one project they developed (Running on sand) they were looking for a director and he was so connected to it that he decided to direct it himself, and fell in love with it.