The Haifa International Film Festival is celebrating its 40th year and will be held between 31/12/24-11/1 ○ This year there will be a new format for the Israeli film competition
The Haifa International Film Festival will present, as every year, 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".
The film festival will be held in its winter edition between the dates 31/12/24-11/1/25, with this year marking its 40th year.
The festival will take place at the end of the difficult and challenging year that has passed since the outbreak of war on October 2023, XNUMX - the last day of the previous festival. We wish for the return of the abducted, wish a speedy recovery for the injured and share in the heavy mourning of the bereaved families.
For the first time at the film festivals in Israel, this year the structure of the Israeli film competitions will change: the separation that existed until now between the feature and the documentary competition will be abolished, and there will be only one competition, which will unite the two:The Israeli Cinema Competition".
12 films will compete: 6 feature films and 6 documentaries
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 and more), that there is no one genre more important or creative than the other, we decided to hold a quality competition One in which the best cinematic works of Israeli feature and documentary cinema will be presented and competed for.
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.
12 films: 6 feature films and 6 documentaries
an outsider. Freud - Outsider. Freud (documentary) | Israel-Austria-Germany, 2024
Directed by: Yair Keder
Production: Yair Keder
Screenplay: Yair Keder
Photography: Uri Ackerman
Edited by: Noait Geva, Tommy Shalez Shafrir
Soundtrack Design: Grand Post Studios, Vienna, Karim Weth
Original music: Max Liebliff
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)
Girls Like Us - Girls Like Us (feature) | Israel, 2023
Directed by: Li Gilat
Production: Aviv Ben Shloush, Roi Zioni, Uri Borg
Screenplay: Bat-El Mosari
Photo: 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)
The screw I'm missing — My Missing Screw (documentary) | Israel-USA, 2024
Directed by: Nitzan Tal
Production: Nitzan Tal
Screenplay: Nitzan Tal
Photo: Nitzan Tal
Editing: Likki Topoh
Soundtrack design: Michael Emet
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)
Kafka's Last Trial — Kafka's Last Trial (documentary) | Israel, 2024
Directed by: 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 Markovich
Game: 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)
Free abortion — Abortion in the Holy Land (documentary) | Israel, 2024
Directed by: Efrat Shalom Danon
Production: Esnat Trabalsi
Screenplay: Efrat Shalom Danon
Photography: Tanya Izkovits
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)
Life Without Cover — Life Without Cover (fiction)
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)
Halisa — Halisa (narrative) | 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)
A day in Amsterdam — Day Trippers (feature) | 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 Hess
Perry, Avshalom the book
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)
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 Zeev Voorh evokes an image of a popular and ridiculed comedian. The path he made 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)
Total Show — Total Show (feature) | Israel, 2024
Directed by: Roy Assaf
Production: Kobi Mizrahi
Screenplay: Roi Assaf, Omri Van Essen
Photo: Saar Mizrahi
Edited by: Shay Blank-Messiah
Soundtrack design: Shef and Geshel
Original music: Adi Deutsch
With participation: Roi Assaf, Ornella Bass, Uri Gabriel
Source: United King Films, Kobi Mizrahi Productions
Essi, a failed actor, returns from wartime reserve to the southern town where he lives with his family. He dreams of becoming a successful actor, but during the day he is a high school drama teacher and in the evenings he performs at the local cultural hall in a naive cabaret show. An unexpected event makes him famous overnight, but not for the reasons he dreamed of. Reality will force him to choose - whether to bow down and give up the dream, or to bet on it with all his might.
(90 minutes | Hebrew | English translation)
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)
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 KoenigSource: Sarti Nachshon, movie night, 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)
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
The Haydar — 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 for ultra-Orthodox society and Israeli society as a whole.
(70 minutes | Hebrew | English and Hebrew translation)
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)
A Place of her Own — 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
Photography: Adi Toldano Editing: Rana Abu Friha-Assiag Soundtrack Design: Shaf 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 - 5 screenings
Why War (fiction) | Israel, 2024
Directed by: Amos Gitai
Production: by the way productions
Photography: Eric Guthia Editing: Yuval Or
Music: Alexey Kutskov, Simon and Markus Stockhausen
With the participation of: Iran Jacob, Mathieu Amalrik, Yael Abkasis
Source: United King Films, incidental productions
Albert Einstein was invited by the League of Nations to address a letter on any subject to any person. He chose to correspond with Sigmund Freud about avoiding war. Einstein maintained the importance of establishing an independent judicial body to mediate disputes. Freud agreed with this idea but also felt that "it is unlikely that we can suppress the aggressive tendencies of mankind".
To this day, the correspondence about war of two of the greatest thinkers of all time proves to be more relevant than ever. Inspired by this correspondence between Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud almost a century ago, the film traces the roots of the war, and embarks on a search for explanations and reasons for the violence and the many wars that populate our world even in this period.
(90 minutes | English, French, Arabic, Hebrew | Hebrew translation)\
Nina Nina (documentary) | Israel 2024
A special premiere event in collaboration with the Paralympic Committee
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)
Pink Lady Pink Lady (feature) | Israel, 2024
The closing film of the 40th International Film Festival, Haifa • Winner of the Best Director Award at the Tallinn Film Festival 2024
Directed by: Nir Bergman
Production: Strawberries Productions, United King Films
Screenplay: Mindy Ehrlich Photography: Shay Goldman
Editing: Or Li-Tal
Soundtrack design: Ronen Nagel
Original music: Matteo Corallo
With the participation of: Noor Pivak, Uri Bloufarb, Sarah von Schwartz, Gal Malka, Michal Weinberg, Romi Aviram
Source: United King Films, Strawberries Productions
Nir Bergman and Mindy Ehrlich's film presents from a female point of view the story of an ultra-Orthodox couple fighting for their love. The film describes in a combination of humor, pain and love their struggle under threats of extortion by a gang that terrorizes the sector.
(111 minutes | Hebrew | English translation)
Vulcan Junction (story) | Israel 1999
Restoration screening on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the release of the film, winner of the best film award - Haifa Festival 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)
Tzalmon (documentary) | Israel, 2024
Premiere screening of an episode of the series and a discussion with the creators and participants
Creators: Tzafir Kochanovsky, Mitar Kotler Azran
Co-creator: Tal Barda
Screenplay and direction: Tal Barda
Production: Tzafrir Kochanovsky, Miri Ezra - T.T.V
Photography: Ronen Kroc
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 minute episode | event duration 120 minutes | Hebrew, Arabic | Hebrew 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 general public is requested to come to the Haifa Film Festival.
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