Keeping the Kibbutz

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Keeping the Kibbutz is a 2010 American-Israeli documentary directed by Ben Crosbie and Tessa Moran. The film looks at the history of the kibbutz movement and how it has shifted from a socialist system to a market-based one, with different wages and outside labor. It was shot in 2007 in Kfar Giladi, Crosbie’s birthplace, and combines rare archival footage with the stories of four kibbutzniks who share their feelings, nostalgia, and hopes for the future.

The filmmakers ask what happens to a community when its core identity changes, a question Moran expands on with the idea that the kibbutz experience reflects a universal longing to belong. University of Victoria professor David Leach notes that the film represents the fifth stage of grief—acceptance—paired with fond memories of the old communal way of life.

Keeping the Kibbutz was Official Selection at several festivals, premiering at the Flagstaff International Film Festival and screening at Rhode Island, DOCUTAH, Orlando, Appalachian, Utopia, and Downtown Boca. It aired nationally on PBS World in fall 2011 (on more than 75 stations) and was released on DVD on October 11, 2011. The 54-minute documentary is in Hebrew and English and won a 2012 Telly Award.