The Optimists (55 minutes, 2018) focuses on a small kibbutz community in the Israeli desert offering an alternative path to the current direction of Israeli society. The film tells the story of Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed, a Palistinian chemist, who considers relocating with his family to the Kibbutz Ketura in the southern Arava, in order to become the Academic Director of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies. The Arava Institute was founded 25 years ago on Kibbutz Ketura in order to advance cross-border environmental cooperation by bringing together Israelis, Palestinians, Jordanians, Gazans, and others in an academic program that teaches that "nature knows no borders." Kibbutz Ketura was founded in 1973 by a group of Young Judea high school graduates from the United States, who settled in the desert instead of going back to the states for university (much to their parents' dismay), and who continue to maintain the spirit and structure of a collective community. The film explores the question of whether the optimistic spirit embodied by this collective kibbutz can survive and thrive in today's Israeli society, and whether its liberal orientation can absorb Muslim Arab Israelis.

Eliezer Yaari is an accomplished Israeli journalist and a lifelong Jerusalemite. He served as a fighter pilot in the Israeli Air Force before joining the Israel Broadcasting Authority, where he held various roles, including director of programming, chief news editor, and anchor. During his time at the IBA, he produced, directed, and edited numerous news segments and documentaries.