Orna and Ella

Film at Lincoln Center

Twenty-six years after the iconic “Orna and Ella” restaurant opened in Tel Aviv, having become a celebrated culinary institution, Orna Agmon and Ella Shine decided to close their shared life’s work. During the restaurant’s final week, director Tomer Heymann—who worked there for six years and for whom it was much more than just a workplace—documents the intense dynamics of the last days. Farewells to customers, recipes, and staff spark intimate and once-in-a-lifetime conversations. The film reveals the complex relationship between these two groundbreaking women through a spectrum of powerful emotions: love, dependence, conflicting desires, and fears. It boldly raises questions about self-fulfillment, the cost of freedom, and nostalgia for an era that will never return.