Anywhere Else

A graduate student in Berlin, Noa seems to be on the right track: She has almost completed her thesis and has just moved in with her German musician boyfriend, Jörg. But when her grant application is turned down, and her advisor deems her project—a dictionary of words that defy translation—unsuitable, all the pressures of living in a foreign country far away from her native Israel are too much for the already stressed-out Noa to handle. With Jörg out of town for an audition, Noa spontaneously decides to fly home to surprise her family, a convenient escape from her real-world problems. But although she’s happy to see her family, especially her sweet bubbe, being back in Israel and dealing with her overbearing mother (famed Israeli comedian Hana Laszlo) and disapproving sister isn’t exactly the relaxing getaway she had hoped for, and soon the feeling of being misunderstood and out of place creeps back. When Jörg turns up unexpectedly in Israel and meets her family for the first time, Noa’s carefully separated worlds collide, with hilarious and illuminating results. Director Ester Amrami’s prize-winning first feature, Anywhere Else is an endearing film about family, home, the feeling of being lost in translation and ultimately finding your place somewhere in between. United States Premiere