The current crisis created, almost without intention, a positive shift for nature. But it happened for all the wrong reasons. How might we rethink the story about the relationship between humans and nature and reduce its destruction even after we emerge from the crisis?

Screening of the films:

The Forum

Dir.: Marcus Vetter I Germany 2019 I 90 minutes I German, English

Hebrew subtitles

Every January, for the past five centuries, the World Economic Forum takes place at Davos, Switzerland, in a festival of billionaires, CEOs, and heads of states. Director Marcus Vetter received unprecedented access to the Forum and its founder, Klaus Schwab.  Schwab is driven by the belief that the meeting of private and public sectors should benefit all mankind and so he and his team admirably work to support such connections. Vetter manages to capture both the humane and political dimensions of this event and presents an intriguing, astute, and complex portrait of one of the world's most powerful and bustling domains.

Dark Waters

Dir.: Todd Haynes I USA 2019 I 126 minutes I English I Hebrew subtitles

In 1998, an attorney discovers that a chemical company has been polluting a region in West Virginia. What follows are decades of legal battles against a powerful corporation and confrontations with his own family and those affected by the disaster. Todd Haynes’s (Carol, Far from Heaven) new film is “exceedingly well executed and technically impeccable...” (New York Times).

COVID-19 has forced us to change the way we live. We can imagine some things – good and bad - that may never return to the way they were, but we don’t really know what the future holds.

Despite this uncertainty, people from all political and social points of view are finding proof in the crisis to demonstrate why their pre-COVID story about the world was correct. Everyone finds facts to support their story. It’s a very human thing to do. Everyone seems confident the facts will convince others to change their minds, but if no one does, we end up with deeper partisanship and more conflict.  Alternatively, we could take this moment to imagine new stories capable of capturing the public imagination and building new coalitions.

As the world begins to open up, we want to create a space where people can experiment with new narratives about old problems - where it is possible to imagine new stories about ourselves and the future.

The Jerusalem Cinematheque in partnership with the Van Leer Group, the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, the Bernard van Leer Foundation, and Haaretz has curated The Day After program. Through a series of films and discussions with leading world figures, the program explores issues of the day after through five global challenges that COVID-19 has brought to the forefront of public debate. The program will allow for a discussion and experimentation with alternative narratives that might help us to better address these challenges as we look ahead to The Day After.