On the morning of October 7, 2023, as Hamas terrorists invaded Israel, the Haifa International Film Festival shut down early on its final day. Now, almost a year later, the festival has announced its slate of Israeli films for its 40th-anniversary edition.
This year, festival organizers have made a major change to its Israeli competitions: Instead of separate competitions for dramatic feature films and documentaries, they will all be in one category, called the Israeli Cinema Competition.
The festival will held during Sukkot (October 15-26) at the Haifa Cinematheque and other theaters around the city.
“Due to a realization 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, both Israeli narrative and documentary cinema,” said Yaron Shamir, the festival’s artistic director.
The new category will include 13 films, seven dramas, and six documentaries.
Among the dramas will be Dani Rosenberg’s Of Dogs and Men, a fact-based story about a girl (Or Avinoam) from Kibbutz Nir Oz, who lost her dog during the October 7 massacre by Hamas and goes back to look for it. This movie was recently shown at the Venice Film Festival.
Who will be there
Tom Shoval made Youth, a movie starring David Cunio, who is currently held hostage in Gaza (as is one of his brothers), a decade ago. His latest film, Life Without Cover, which will take part in the upcoming festival, stars Dana Ivgy as a mysterious woman searching for her guardian, who has disappeared.
Dana Modan’s The Property, based on Rutu Modan’s graphic novel, stars Rivka Michaeli as a grandmother who takes her granddaughter to Poland to reclaim family property.
Li Gilat’s Girls Like Us tells the story of a girl from a troubled family who falls in love with a female soldier who becomes her teacher.
Sophie Artus’s Halisa stars Noa Koler as a nurse who becomes involved in the life of an unwed mother in her clinic.
Two major figures in cultural and literary history are the subjects of documentaries: Yair Qedar’s Outsider.Freud highlights Sigmund Freud’s life through his letters, and Eliran Peled’s Kafka’s Last Trial traces the incredible journey of the unpublished manuscripts that Franz Kafka entrusted to his friend, Max Brod, which ended up in a Tel Aviv apartment.
In addition, the festival will feature a showcase for new Israeli films, as well as a short film competition, and a screening of a newly restored version of Eran Riklis’s The Syrian Bride, in honor of the 20th anniversary of the film’s release.
The full festival program will be available later this month at haifaff.co.il
