Haifa Film Festival in Sukkot • The best of Israeli cinematic creation

As every year, the festival will present in an Israeli premiere the best of Israeli film work and for the first time will unite the feature film and documentary film competitions into one competition: the "Israeli Film Competition". 13 films will compete this year - 7 feature films and 6 documentaries.

The Haifa International Film Festival will be held in Sukkot 15/10-26/10/2024 and it marks its 40th year. The festival will take place at the end of the difficult and challenging year that has passed since the outbreak of the war on October XNUMX, the last day of the previous festival. We wish for the return of the abductees , wishing a speedy recovery to the injured and participating in the heavy mourning of the bereaved families.

For the first time in the film festivals in Israel, at the 40th Haifa International Film Festival, the structure of the Israeli cinema competitions will change: the separation between the feature and documentary competitions will be abolished and the festival will hold one competition - the "Israeli Cinema Competition".

Yaron Shamir, artistic director: "From the recognition that was also established in the most important film festivals in the world (Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Locarno, Karlovy Vary, etc.), that there is no one genre more important or creative than the other, we decided to hold one high-quality competition in which the best cinematic works will be presented and compete of Israeli narrative and documentary cinema".

The upcoming festival will also launch a stage for premiere screenings of Israeli cinema: "First Exposure - New Israeli Cinema" - which will introduce the audience and the people of the film industry to the quality and diversity of Israeli creation.

In the Israeli cinema competition - 13 films, 7 feature films and 6 documentaries

1. an outsider. Freud Outsider. Freud (documentary)

• Israel, Austria, Germany | 2024
• Director: Yair Kedar Production: Yair Kedar      
• Screenplay: Yair Keder Cinematography: Uri Akerman Editing: Noait Geva, Tommy Shalez Shafrir
• Soundtrack design: Grand Post Studios, Vienna, Karim V. Original music: Max Liveliffe
• Source: Here 11, ORF, RBB-ARTE, Hebrews
• The life and work of Sigmund Freud is told in four acts, through Freud's personal letters, combined with animations, through the reconstruction of his study, through unknown dreams and rare archives of home movies that have not been revealed until now, and through leading psychoanalysts in the world. The film takes us on an intimate and thought-provoking journey about The dreams, Judaism, sexuality, anxieties and regrets of the Viennese psychoanalyst. 
• 66 minutes Hebrew, English, French, German | English and Hebrew translation

2. Girls Like Us (feature)

• Israel 2023
• Director: Lee Gilat Production: Aviv Ben Shloush, Roi Zioni, Uri Borg
• Screenplay: Bat-El Mosari Cinematography: Amit Yassur   
• Editing: Einat Glazer-Zarhin Soundtrack design: Ami Arad, Ran Tsaroya
• With the participation of: Hayali Yosef Zada, Hadar Dror, Bat El Mosari
• Source: Zoa Films Ltd
• Shahar, a beautiful and vigilant girl, full of dirty light and charisma, lives in one of the tough neighborhoods of the city of Bat-Yam with her dysfunctional family. Her parents are divorced, her father is hospitalized in a mental institution, her mother, who dreams of getting married, has a problem with alcohol and men and Shahar actually raises her little sister Moran. Shahar, who was expelled from a "regular" school, studies at "Beit Gila", an alternative setting where girls in at-risk situations come. Perry, a new soldier teacher arrives to instruct on the spot. She is an unconventional, charismatic and enigmatic instructor. Between the two, strong attraction and repulsion are created and power plays, which begin with the friction of a mentor and a girl, continue to be soulmates and reach a falling in love that takes them to the edge.
•  87 minutes Hebrew | English and Hebrew translation

2. My Missing Screw (documentary)

• Israel, USA 2024
• Director: Nitzan Tal Production: Nitzan Tal      
• Screenplay: Nitzan Tal Photography: Nitzan Tal    
• Edited by: Likki Tufoh Soundtrack design: Michael Amet
• Original music: Joel Kipnis, Zed Kelly
• Source: Nitzan Tal
• After a suicide attempt and a long stay in a psychiatric hospital, Raphael decides to sculpt "the screw he's missing" and take it on a trip around the world. He leaves his family and travels with a 3.5 meter long screw to Dachau, Van Gogh's tomb, the Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Ganges River in India. On the way he finds friends, is received with sympathy by artists and collectors, but his young son who remains in Israel feels abandoned. Will Raphael be forced to choose between his life as an artist and his role as a father? 
• 94 minutes Hebrew, English | English and Hebrew translation

4. Kafka's Last Trial (documentary)

• Israel 2024
• Director: Eliran Peled Production: Eliran Peled, Talia Harris      
• Screenplay: Talia Harris, Eliran Peled, Yotam Knispel
• Photo: Ben Levy, Ofek Chassid    
• Editing: Daniel Shueli
• Soundtrack design: Nin Hazan Original music: Daniel Markovitch Acting: Eli Gorenstein
• Source: Here 11, Aldi Pie TLV, Deborah Harris Agency
• When he died, Franz Kafka left behind a rich collection of manuscripts that never saw the light of day, and with them instructions to his best friend Max Brod to burn them all. But Broad did not do this, and under his patronage the world gained one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. The altruistic act of betrayal gives rise to the multi-generational curse that will accompany our story throughout, a 100-year-old story that moves from the winding streets of Prague to Spinoza Street in Tel Aviv, where Brod's legendary secretary passes away at the age of 102 and leaves behind manuscripts in her home that will lead to a trial as if written by Kafka himself.
• 84 minutes Hebrew, German, English English and Hebrew translation

5. The Property (fiction)

• Israel, Poland 2024
• Director: Dana Moden Production: Yohanan Cardo      
• Screenplay: Dana Moden, Ruto Moden Cinematography: Yaron Shaf    
• Editing: Ido Mochrik Soundtrack design: Itzik Cohen 
• Original music: Shuzin
• Featuring: Rivka Michaeli, Andja Savarin, Sharon Strimban, Piotr Pachak
• Source: Lev Cinema, July August Productions, Deadline Productions
• Romantic comedy drama. Regina and her granddaughter Mika, travel to Poland to return the family property that was nationalized in World War II. But the task gets complicated very quickly - Regina announces that she is giving up on the whole thing and wants to return to Israel, Mika doesn't know where to start, and the family's annoying relative keeps popping up at every corner. When Mika meets a handsome and charming tour guide and begins to fall in love, the path to the real goal of why she came to Poland in the first place opens up for Regina: to find the love of her youth, from whom she was separated seventy years ago.
• 110 minutes Hebrew, English, Polish English and Hebrew translation

6. Abortion in the Holy Land (documentary)

• Israel 2024
• Director: Efrat Shalom Danon Production: Esnat Trabalsi      
• Screenplay: Efrat Shalom Danon Photography: Tanya Izkovitz   
• Editing: Miri Lauper Original music: Shuzin
• Source: Here 11, Trabalsi Productions Ltd
• In Israel 2024 women still have no right to their bodies. Women who chose to terminate their pregnancy break the bond of silence and talk about the wound, the trauma, the shame and the pain that make up the difficult and emotional process that accompanies the decision to abort. The Jewish womb in Israel has a role. A demographic-national role, assigned to him by the male patriarchy. From the medical establishment to the government on its various branches, men have decided and forced the control of Rahman on women. Through personal stories and rare archives, the complicated, discriminatory and rigid system that controls the lives and futures of many women in Israel is revealed.
• 70 minutes Hebrew | English and Hebrew translation

7. Life Without Cover (fiction)

• Israel 2024
• Directed by: Tom Shuval
• Production: Itay Akirav      
• Screenplay: Tom Shovel
• Photo: Midan Arma   
• Editing: Joel Alexis
• Soundtrack design: Itzik Cohen
• Original music: Ben Frost
• With the participation of: Dana Ivegi, Menashe Noy, Fira Kantor, Alyssa Zano
• Source: Film Harbor
• My heart, a mysterious, wild woman, without age, inhibitions and history, takes us with her on an unexpected journey. Libby is desperately searching for Ezra, her legal guardian, who has cut off contact and disappeared. With a number of vague details about his possible whereabouts, my heart explodes in a surprising and intense odyssey that opens up to us her unique consciousness.
• 102 minutes Hebrew | English and Hebrew translation

8. Halisa (fiction)

• Israel 2024
• Directed by: Sophie Artos
• Production: Yohanan Cardo      
• Screenplay: Sophie Artos
• Photo: Mai Abadi Grabler   
• editing: Boaz Leon
• Soundtrack Design: Yuval Bar-On
• Original music: Ran Bagno
• Featuring: Noa Kohler, Dana Berkovich, Anatoly Blay
• Source: Lev Cinema, July August Productions, Deadline Productions
• Sarah, a nurse at a milk drop in Haifa's Halisa neighborhood, takes care of babies every day, but she has no children of her own. Sarah has been trying, for years, to get pregnant through fertility treatments. When Ania, a young mother in distress, comes to her with her baby, Sara does everything she can to help her. The relationship with Anya and Eden, her child, will become a remedy for Sarah's deep lack. It seems that each of them can give the other what she needs: a house on the one hand and a child on the other.
• 102 minutes Hebrew | English and Hebrew translation

9. A day in Amsterdam Day Trippers (fiction)

• Israel, Netherlands | 2024
• Directed by: Roni Kidar
• Production: Roni Kider, Tamar Liberzon      
• Screenplay: Roni Kidder
• Photography: Ido Soskolani   
• Editing: Roni Kider
• Soundtrack design: Neil Gibbs
• Original music: Aryeh Al-Shepari, Avshalom Al-Shepari
• With participation: Naama Amit, Nell Barlow, Joe Sinduija, Yotam Yishai, Nitai Gvirtz
• Source: What fun productions
• Zoe is a British girl who ran away from her mother's funeral. Ruth is an Israeli who ran away from her wedding. The two lost souls meet by chance in Amsterdam and embark on a psychedelic and emotional journey to regain their trust in the world.
• 95 minutes Hebrew, English | English and Hebrew translation

10. Better Days (documentary)

• Israel 2024
• Directed by: Alon Gor Aryeh
• Production: Ofer Naim      
• Screenplay: Alon Gor Aryeh, Ofer Naim
• Photography: Ido Berald   
• Editing: Reuven Brodsky
• Original music: Ben Chopin
• Source: United King Movies, YesDocu, HOT8
• The name Ze'ev Vahef evokes an image of a popular and ridiculed comedian. The path he took from "Hamlet" at the Chamber Theater to Elimelech Zorkin and from there to "Lord Leon" tells one of the fascinating plots of commercial Israeli cinema. The film reveals a man who never found a place and peace for himself; In his home he is not considered religious enough, and in the world of cinema he is not considered connoisseur enough. With zero budgets he managed to produce a film in a year. With the help of rare materials, such as a debate with Ephraim Kishon about directing "Salah Shabti" or testimonies about controversial directing methods, the fuel for his work is revealed: a passion for cinema and the ambition to conquer film festivals. The tragedy is that he became a prisoner in the tapecast he created for himself.
• 80 minutes Hebrew | English and Hebrew translation

11. A Letter Without an Address (documentary)

• Israel 2024
• Directed by: Yael Shahar and Sharon Yaish
• Production: Hagai Arad, Aharon Farr, Elad Peleg      
• script: Yael Shahar and Sharon Yaish
• Photography: Yael Shahar and Avner Shaf    
• Editing: Roni Klimovski, Sharon Yaish
• Soundtrack design: Aviv Aldama
• Original music: Ran Bagno
• Source: Here 11, Durhampakot
• Five letters sent anonymously reveal a painful story about the emotional and sexual exploitation of a psychologist who abused his female patients for years. The letters, which were never answered, are revealed and allow the victims to make their voices heard for the first time.
• 80 minutes Hebrew | English and Hebrew translation

12. Real Estate (fiction)

• Israel 2023
• Directed by: Anat Melz
• Production: Itai Tamir, Ami Levana, Fred Blaish, Alexis Dantek      
• Screenplay: Anat Maltz
• Photography: Omri Aloni   
• Editing: Anat Meltz
• Soundtrack design: Michael Gurevich
• Original music: Shuzin
• With the participation of: Victoria Rosovsky, Lev Leib Levin, Sarah Vino-Elad, Ruth Levin, Sivan Shtibi, Yevgeny Terletsky, Lir Katz, Nitza Shaul, Haim Sharr, Tzachi Hanan, Ala Deka, Daniel Sebag, Oleg Levin, Anna Shulik, Ina Bleicher, Merav Grifel, Noa Yehudai, Alex Kharchenko, Maya Koenig
• Source: Nachshon Films, Lila Films, The French Connection A Love Story.
• Tamara and Adam, a wild young couple, are about to become parents and their lives are in a mess. Just before they are evicted from their apartment in Tel Aviv, Tamara decides to look for their new home in Adam's sleepy hometown; Haifa. During an unforgettable day of searching for an apartment to rent, they get a fleeting, but intimate, glimpse into the lives of others, and the journey to find a home turns into a journey into the depths of their stormy love.
• 95 minutes Hebrew, Arabic, Russian English and Hebrew translation

13. Of Dog and Men (fiction)

• Israel, Italy | 2024
• Directed by: Danny Rosenberg
• Production: Itay Tamir     
• Screenplay: Danny Rosenberg, Uri Avinoam, Itai Tamir
• Photography: Ziv Berkovich   
• Editing: Neely Feller
• Soundtrack design: Itzik Cohen, Neil Gibbs, Oz Shirman
• Original music: Yuval Samo
• With the participation of: Uri Avinoam, Natan Bhat, Nora Lifshitz, Yamit Avital
• Source: Lila Films
• In the early morning of October 18, 16-year-old Der goes back to her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz to look for her dog that was lost there during Black Shabbat. In the abandoned kibbutz there is no trace of the dog and only the memories of her mother, who was kidnapped from their home, float in the air.
• 82 minutes Hebrew, Arabic, Russian English and Hebrew translation

Israeli short film competition

26 short films, of which 16 are student films, will participate in the Israeli short film competitions this year: the student short film competition, the independent short film competition, the animated short film competition. The winning film in the Israeli Short Film Competition in the "Independent Short Feature Film" category will be screened before the members of the American Academy and will compete for a place on the short list of Oscar nominees.

First exposure - new Israeli cinema, 3 films and a short Israeli cinema collection

1. No Child Spared (documentary)

• Israel 2024
• Directed by: Manny Philip
• Production: Manny Philip      
• Screenplay: Manny Philip, Pnina Adler
• Photography: Adi Reis, Ryan Warble
• Editing: Manny Philip, Pnina Adler
• Soundtrack design: Rotem Dror
• Original music: Yosef Shalio
• Source: HOT8
• Creator Manny Philip was sure that the violence he experienced as a child in the ultra-orthodox education system had passed away, but a viral post and hundreds of testimonies that followed it proved the opposite. "The Haider" brings the stories of past and present students and reveals how the physical and mental violence they experienced in classrooms and rooms affected their psyches. This is a brave personal journey which reveals for the first time the systematic harm to children and its consequences on ultra-Orthodox society and Israeli society as a whole
• 70 minutes Hebrew | English and Hebrew translation

2. All of Us: Hertzel (documentary)

• Israel 2024
• Directed by: Gad Eisen
• Production: Gad Eisen      
• Screenplay: Gad Eisen
• Photo: Jan Finkelberg    
• Editing: Nega Weizman
• Soundtrack design: Ronen Nagel 
• Original music: Eli Loali 
• Source: Here 11, Geddes Films
• The 17-year-old private Herzl was killed in battle aboard a Dvor ship on October 7, 1973. That night, two Dvor ships patrolled the Gulf of Suez. They were sent to attack vessels on the Egyptian coast. The fighters were not told that a war had broken out. Following the commander's interpretation of the mission order, the ships entered a shallow and well-fortified Egyptian anchorage. In the chaos of the bloody battle and the inferno, the bees were stuck on the beach like a piece of doom. The real hero has disappeared from the heritage stories. Now, Herzl's family wants to recognize his heroism alongside the other recipients of the TLS. The number of casualties and the damage of the battle are revealed together with the disclosure of the investigations that were shelved for fifty years. 
• 62 minutes Hebrew | English and Hebrew translation

3. A Place of her Own (documentary)

• Israel 2024
• Directed by: Adi Toledano, Dana Peni-Gil
• Production: Hagai Arad, Aharon Farr, Elad Peleg      
• Screenplay: Adi Toledano, Dana Peni-Gil and Rana Abu Friha-Assiag
• Photo: Adi Toledano
• Editing: Rana Abu Feriha-Asiag
• Soundtrack design: Shef and Geshel
• Original music: Akram Hadad
• Source: Makan 33, Durhampakot
• In a stormy and violent time, the film takes a look at the most marginalized group in Arab society, the women of Jessar al-Zarqa, on their way to change the reality of their lives. Amina (45), who came out alone from a violent marriage and poverty, dreams of establishing a donation center for women; Munira (46), a talented artist, wants to gather the youth from the streets through art, and especially dreams of being recognized as an artist in the village; Veroya (19), a bright girl, who despite the reality of her life as a daughter of divorced parents and without a permanent home, brings a leadership and powerful spirit to the old women of the village who look to her with great hope. At the same time, a new Jewish neighborhood is being built on the sea, creating a pressure cooker in the already burning village, and threatening the Arab character there.
• 65 minutes Arabic | English and Hebrew translation

A short collection of Israeli cinema

As part of "First Exposure" a group of short Israeli films will be screened which will include 5 outstanding short films, of which four independent films and one student film. (Duration of the group - 87 minutes)

Special events - 3 movies

1. Nina (documentary) - a special premiere event in collaboration with the Paralympic Committee

• Israel 2024
• Directed by: Royat Marcus
• Production: Libby Kessel, Royat Marcus      
• Screenplay: Royat Marcus
• Photography: Yonatan Zeid, Libby Kessel
• Editing: Nir Gilat
• Original music: Thomas Yount
• Source: Libby Kessel, New Love Films
• On the verge of turning 40, Israel's wheelchair badminton champion, Nina Gorodetsky, is facing her first (and perhaps last) chance to participate in the Paralympic Games. The problem is that her biological clock is ticking both as an athlete, but also as a mother, because at the exact same time Nina wants to get pregnant. And then, as if that wasn't complicated enough, everything came to a halt due to a global pandemic: the plans, the training, normal life itself. The docu "Nina" presents a three-year follow-up of an unexpected journey in which Nina defies prejudice and against all odds tries to fulfill her Paralympic dream at the same time as realizing her ambitions as a mother.
• 72 minutes Hebrew | English and Hebrew translation

2. The Syrian Bride (feature film) restoration screening for the 20th anniversary of the release of the film

• Israel, France, Germany | 2004
• Directed by: Eran Riklis
• production: Eran Riklis, Bettina Brockemper, Antoine de Clermont-Tonner, Michael Eclat
• Screenplay: Soha Araf, Eran Riklis
• Photo: Michael Weiszweg
• Editing: Tova Asher
• Soundtrack design: Gil Toran
• Original music: Cyril Morin
• With the participation of: Yam Abbas, Makram Khoury, Clara Khoury, Ashraf Barhoum, Iyad Shetty, Julie-Anne Roth, Evelyn Caplon, Marlene Bajali, Adnan Travsha, Uri Gabriel, Alon Dahan, Robert Hennig, Dirar Saliman, Renin Bolus, Norman Issa, Ali Saliman
• Source: United King Films, Eran Riklis Productions
• Mona's wedding day is the saddest day of her life. She knows that after she crosses the border between Israel and Syria and marries Talal, she will no longer be able to return to her beloved family in the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights. She knows that as soon as she crosses the border she will also cross an emotional and mental barrier and maybe she will realize the desire to set and cross borders and deal with them. When you cross a border, there is no way back from it - this will be learned by all the participants on the pessimistic day of this sad wedding.
• 97 minutes Arabic, Hebrew, English | Hebrew translation

3. Vulcan Junction (feature) restoration screening for the 25th anniversary of the release of the film

• Winner of the Best Film Award - Haifa Festival 1999
• Israel 1999
• Directed by: Eran Riklis
• Production: Eran Riklis Mosh Danon
• Screenplay: Moshe Zonder Amir Ben-David
• Photo: Amnon Zelait
• Editing: Naomi Peres-Aviram
• Soundtrack design: Israel David
• Musical production: Haim Romano Amir Ben-David
• With the participation of: Oren Shebo, Yael Hadar, Sami Hori, Danny Shtag, Tomer Sharon, Gili Shoshan, Jack Edelist, Yoram Hatev, Yehuda Barkan, Kobi Asharat, Kobi Recht, Gabi Shoshan, Liat Goren.
• Source: Eran Riklis Productions 
• My Micah receives an offer that cannot be refused. Avi Elbaz leaves Hapoel Haifa. Pink Floyd release "Dark Side of the Moon". Danny Refaeli is waiting for an answer from the Music Academy. Dalia Ankri sends an article to Uri Avneri. Yigal Yadgar is expecting a second child and puts out fires. Eli Kahana falls in love with Ida. And Jimmy Smith misses America. October 1973. Ten days of great hopes, expectations, doubts, stormy loves, disappointments, rock and roll at its best and a terrible war is coming. And everything happens at the Vulcan intersection. 
• 98 minutes Hebrew and English Hebrew translation

Industrial events - premiere of a TV series

1. Tzalmon (documentary) - premiere of one episode of a 4-episode series that was produced for Kaan 11 and will be broadcast soon

• Israel 2024
• Creators: Tzafir Kochanovsky, Mitar Kotler Azran,
• Co-creator: Tal Barda
• Directed by: Tal Barda
• Production: Tzafir Kochanovsky, Miri Ezra
• Screenplay: Tal Barda
• Photography: Ronen Kroc
• Editing: Gal Gofer, Tamir Shapira
• Soundtrack design: Avi Mizrahi
• Original music: Dudosh Clems
• Source: (broadcasting body) Here 11 - the Public Broadcasting Corporation 
• Zalmon Prison, which began as a rehabilitation prison, has become the largest criminal prison in Israel. Every day, due to lack of space, the prison closes its doors to new detainees. The series brings a glimpse into the life of the guards and prisoners, behind the bars.

50 minutes Hebrew and Arabic English translation 

The Haifa International Film Festival is held with the support of the Israel Film Council - the Ministry of Culture and Sports, the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Regional Cooperation and the Municipality of Haifa. The festival is produced by Atos - the Society for Arts, Culture and Sports Haifa. Artistic director - Yaron Shamir.