AJFF | "Among Neighbors"

124 minutes | Poland | 2025

Using beautiful hand-drawn animation to bring the past to life, “Among Neighbors” investigates the story of a small, rural town where the longstanding peace between Jewish and Polish neighbors was shattered by World War II. Now, in an era where difficult truths about the past are being silenced for political gain, the film focuses on one of the last living Holocaust survivors from the town, and an aging eyewitness who saw Jews murdered there — six months after the Nazis were defeated. Produced and directed by award-winning filmmaker Yoav Potash (“Crime After Crime,” Sundance Film Festival), “Among Neighbors” is an evocative and heart-pounding murder mystery with urgent political relevance.

In a Syrian border village in the early 80’s, little Sero attends school for the first time. A new teacher has arrived with the goal of making strapping Panarabic comrades out of the Kurdish children. To enable paradise to come to earth, he uses the rod to forbid the Kurdish language, orders the veneration of Assad and preaches hate of the Zionist enemy- the Jews. The lessons upset and confuse Sero because his long-time neighbors are a lovable Jewish family. With a fine sense of humor and satire, the film depicts a childhood which manages to find light moments between dictatorship and dark drama. Little Sero gets involved in dangerous pranks with his friends, and dreams of having a television so he can finally watch cartoons. But he also experiences how the adults around him are increasingly crushed by the despotism, violence and nationalism which surround them. The film was inspired by the director’s personal experiences, and so his bitter-sweet memories connect the Syrian tragedy to the present.

Q&A with director Mano Khalil will play immediately after the film in-theater and be available as bonus content for virtual participants.

WHY WE LIKE THIS FILM: At first glance this appears to be another holocaust testimony, but the film is so much more. Ten years in the making, Yaacov Goldstein’s journey from a small Polish town to life in Israel is a riveting story, expertly told through interviews and animation. At the same time the film deals with important testimony from some of his Polish neighbors about actions perpetrated by some Polish villagers agains the Jews. The film has an unexpected and very touching ending providing a element of mystery to this excellently crafted movie.

$13 pp online/$15 pp in person

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