Mussa

Behind 12-year-old Mussa's toothy grin and carefree laugh is a strange mystery. Although he has lived in Israel for five years and is fluent in Hebrew, Mussa is unable to speak. Mussa's parents, refugees from Darfur, like thousands of Sudanese immigrants who seek asylum in Israel, fled violence and poverty to try to build a better life for their child. Living in a downtrodden neighborhood of Tel Aviv, his mother and father struggle to make ends meet, toiling long hours as a hotel maid and a construction laborer. But despite their hardships, his parents are grateful for their opportunities, including Mussa's education at an elite private school. But he is an outsider in the privileged world of his mostly white classmates and sometimes must endure their prejudiced views of immigrants. Director Anat Goren navigates Mussa's daily life without commentary, presenting the unique perspective of an immigrant child trying to make sense of the world around him. Preceded by Greenland. —-Alissa Chadburn