Both Turkish and Iranian cinema can be defined as borderline, and in this sense, they follow the geographical and cultural dimension between Europe and Asia. Both are hybrid countries. Geographically, they are located in the East and belong to its problematic. But they are also gateways to Europe, receiving the impact of Westernization, and Turkish films in particular record and debate the duality between West and East, modernity and tradition, secularization and religious influence. The West, in this context, is both promise and hostility. Israeli cinema, on the other hand, reflects, in some of its best films, the political, military, and identity conflicts that surround them. And in these films, the debate is conducted with surprising frankness, with filmmakers refusing to choose an enemy or work from dualities. Both Turkish and Israeli filmmakers, after all, have created a specific reflection on the reality of their countries and developed a cinematic identity based on it. This is the identity addressed by Ricardo Luiz de Souza in the following pages, based on the analysis of a series of films made in both countries.