Eyal Halfon directs this comedy-drama about a Russian circus that disrupts a volatile community of irate Palestinians, high-strung Israeli settlers, and shifty hucksters on either side. At first, everyone wants to check out this new diversion; they become less enthusiastic when the troupe's aging lion escapes. Suddenly, this already tense neighborhood is thrown into a tizzy. Circus Palestina swept the Israeli equivalent of the Academy Awards and was screened at the 1999 Vancouver Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi