The 40th Haifa International Film Festival was planned, as in all its years, for Sukkot, but due to the war it was postponed, and started on 31/12/2024, "in a winter and heartwarming edition", according to the words of Yaron Shamir, the festival's artistic director, in his opening speech the festival.
"Better Man" / Michael Gracie
On 31/12/2024 I saw director Michael Gracie's film "Better Man" about the life of British singer Robbie Williams, who is in the film. He re-recorded his songs for the film and plays himself, but in a computerized version in the form of a chimpanzee monkey. The film screening started at 21:45, to end a few minutes past midnight, at the opening moment of the new 2025. The festival square was brightly lit, dance music was played and glasses of wine were poured. Among the celebrants I recognized Yaron Shamir, the artistic director, who chose films for the festival, and his questions, why a chimpanzee monkey?
It turns out that in conversations with the director Williams described himself as a "dancing monkey" and noted that he always felt that he was "less developed than those around him", Michael Gracie, a visual effects enthusiast, adopted the idea, and realized it, to the singer's satisfaction. The outline of the body - of Williams himself, the fur and the face - are computerized, "but the eyes - of the singer himself", emphasized Yaron Shamir. In addition, Williams, in his voice, narrates throughout the plot.

The film is rhythmic, musical, colorful. It boldly describes the ups and downs in the 50-year-old singer's personal life and musical career, and ends on an optimistic note.
Benny Matan Garner was at the festival on Saturday, watched the film in question "Brutalist", and took a picture with actress Noa Kohler, star of Sophie Artos' film "Halisa", which was screened on Saturday, and is participating in the Israeli film competition at the festival.

This competition is unique this year. As Yaron Shamir pointed out in the opening speech of the festival, this is the first time that there is no separation between feature cinema and documentary cinema: 12 films, both feature and documentary, are participating in this year's competition, and the decision stems from the recognition of the quality of documentary cinema, and the fact that in many recent films, the boundaries between feature and documentary are blurred and liquids.
"Kafka's last sentence" / Eliran Peled
On 6/1/2025 I saw the film "The Last Sentence of Kafka", which participates in the Israeli film competition, and is an example of a mixed documentary-feature work. The screening was in the presence of the creators, with the blessing of Dr. Nogit Altschuler, the artistic director of Cinematech Haifa. The director of the film, Eliran Peled, said that the beginning of the filming of the film was set for the first week of October 2023, but the team turned to documenting the interviews with the victims of the massacre. The film was completed in 2024 , in which the 100th anniversary of Kafka's death is celebrated, the film was worked on by a large team of Investigators, screenwriters, photographers, animation artists. The film is accompanied by the narration of Eli Gorenstein, who has a direct connection to the subject: his grandfather was friends with Franz Kafka.

As we know, the writer Max Broad, Kafka's best friend, did not fulfill his request to burn his writings after his death, and thus gave humanity the masterpieces, "The Trial", "The Castle", "America". The film unfolds a 100-year-old story, which begins with this act of betrayal, and continues as a multi-generational curse of breaking wills, moving from the streets of Prague to Spinoza Street in Tel Aviv. There, Esther Hoffa, Brod's secretary and partner dies at the age of 102 and leaves a will to her two daughters, which will lead to a trial, in the spirit of Kafka's own writings.
The film festival is taking place, to the joy of the film artists and the residents of Haifa, but, as it is projected on the big screen before the films, Viron Shamir emphasized at the end of his remarks, "The film does not have a happy ending until everyone returns".

A rich, well-written article that describes the festive atmosphere of the opening of the festival and also a description of some of the special films.
The article makes its readers crave and watch movies this year.
Respect to Hagit Bat Eliezer