Israeli Amos Gitai’s innovative film essays deal with themes of dislocation and the exile of those uprooted by political and economic forces. Gitai’s two earliest films, each a controversial portrait of Israeli-Palestinian cohabitation, convey the complexity of this troubled region in humane and undogmatic terms. House (1980, 50’) uses the rebuilding of an old dwelling in the West Bank to illustrate the impact which cultural transition has had on native Palestinians; Wadi (1981, 45′) is a compassionate study of cross-cultural life in a small valley outside of Haifa.