Finally, the last work on the programming explores the emergence of an uncanny friendship. Gali Blay & Leila Zelli’s About Dam and Hofit (2022) is a short animation in which Dam, the tip of Mount Damavand in Iran, and Hofit, an intelligence air force plane from Israel, meet and start a conversation.

Since the Islamic revolution of Iran in 1979, Iran and Israel have canceled diplomatic ties, both governments have sworn to attack the other as soon as the opportunity arises, and any relationship between an Iranian and an Israeli has been banned. In a way, the film is a metaphor for the relationship between the two artists, Blay from Israel and Zelli from Iran, as it challenges its two characters to build kinship and imagine a different story for themselves beyond cultural and political conflicts. To me, the power of this animation rests precisely on the antagonism the two characters inherited; there is hope in their discovery that the structures and orientations dictating they cannot connect can be dismantled when we are open and approach each other with curiosity. Like when Hofit, the Israeli Airforce plane tries to explain why she left her home: “I want to be an anonymous airplane. A plane who travels all around the world and that can cross any kind of border, any place. Nobody knows where you’re going, where you’re from, doesn’t matter. Yeah, I want to just be me, Hofit.” “Nice to meet you Hofit. I’m Dam,” is the reply. As the conversation continues to unfold, Blay and Zelli remind us that while it is easy to get along and close to people who look like us or think like us, the real personal work comes when we are open to starting a conversation and closing real or imaginary gaps that separate us from other people. “Do you feel free in this in-between?” asks Dam. “I feel free to imagine things the way I want to, and not how others want me to imagine them.” About Dam and Hofit can resemble a story about anyone who has decided to move past prejudices.

As the video programming runs while a war between the U.S., Israel, and Iran unfolds, the conversation between Dam and Hofit takes a more urgent dimension.

Text by Erandy Vergara Vargas

Gali Blay
Gali Blay is an animation filmmaker based in Berlin, Germany, with nearly 15 years of experience crafting intricate visual narratives that blur the lines between fiction and reality.

Her work explores the intersection of art, politics, and storytelling, often using handcrafted miniatures, sets, and props to bring complex themes to life. She is currently developing the animated series Electric Water, a project inspired by true events that unfolds across two worlds—above and below the surface—where human drama and deep-sea mystery collide.

Notably, Blay was part of the miniature set-making teams for Wes Anderson’s The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Asteroid City. Alongside collaborations with artists such as Leila Zelli (About Dam and Hofit, 2022), her films investigate human connection, conflict, and hope. Her work has screened internationally at festivals like Spark Animation (Canada), PÖFF Shorts (Estonia), and Athens Animfest (Greece), where it received a distinction in the experimental competition.

Her projects have also been exhibited in galleries and design events worldwide, including Jerusalem Design Week, Salone del Mobile (Milan), Wall Street Gallery (Eindhoven), and Fresh Paint (Tel Aviv).

Blay holds a BFA from the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design and an MFA (cum laude) in Social Design from the Design Academy Eindhoven. Born in New York and raised in Israel, she now creates her artistic worlds from her studio in Berlin.

Leila Zelli
Born in Tehran (Iran), Leila Zelli lives and works in Montréal. She holds an MFA (2020) and a BFA (2016) in Visual and Media Arts from Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). Zelli is interested in the relationship that we have with the ideas of “others” and “elsewhere” and more specifically within this geopolitical space often referred to by the questionable term “Middle East.” She creates in situ installations using existing images, videos and texts often found on the Internet. The resulting visual and sound experiences create an opportunity to reflect on the state of the world, the relationship with the Other and the actual effect of our actions on humanity.

Her work has been shown, among others, at Muséed’art de Joliette at Toronto Biennial of art (2024), at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, at Dazibao (2023), the Pierre-François Ouellette Gallery (2023-2021), the Bradley Ertaskiran Gallery (2020), at the Conseil des arts de Montréal (2019-2020) and at Galerie de l’UQAM (2024, 2020, 2019, 2015). Her works are part of MAC Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts collection, The Musée Pointe-à-Callière, theMusée national des beaux-arts du Québec’s Prêt d’oeuvres d’art collection, the Musée d’art de Joliette collection, the Musée d’art contemporain de Baie-Saint-Paul collection, the collection of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, the collection of Hydro Québec, the collection of Desjardins and the collection of Galerie de l’UQÀM.

She is the laureate of the 2023 Prix Lynne-Cohen and the 2021 laureate of the Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Fellowship in Contemporary Art. She is represented by Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain.