Here is a calendar of upcoming events, up and down the country. Some are organized by us, others by like-minded organizations and groups.
JIFF is the home of the most comprehensive range of Israeli and Jewish-themed films in Australia and New Zealand. The films premiere in our annual three-week film festival in November or our newly established Holocaust Film Series in March. JIFF is building on the long and proud 24-year history of Jewish film festivals in Australia.
The Prime Ministers (2015)
The Prime Ministers: Soldiers and Peacemakers, examines Ambassador Avner’s experiences with Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin, Menachem Begin and Shimon Peres as well as his service as Israel’s Ambassador to England. The early efforts at negotiating agreements with Egypt, the raid on Entebbe, Anwar Sadat’s historic visit to Jerusalem, the Camp David Accords, the bombing of Iraq’s nuclear facility, the war in Lebanon, the Oslo Accords and the ongoing struggle to make peace with Israel’s Arab neighbors and the Palestinians are some of the topics covered as The Prime Ministers: Soldiers and Peacemakers builds to its dramatic and emotional conclusion.
Weaving a rich tapestry of history and personal testimonies, The Prime Ministers brings some of the most important events of the 20th and 21st centuries to life. Starring the voices of Sandra Bullock as Golda Meir, Michael Douglas as Yitzhak Rabin, Leonard Nimoy as Levi Eshkol and Christoph Waltz as Menachem Begin, The Prime Ministers: The Pioneers is written, produced and directed by Academy Award winner Richard Trank and co-written and produced by two-time Academy Award winner Rabbi Marvin Hier. Grammy and Emmy winner Lee Holdridge composed and conducted the films’ original score. 115 minutes.
JIFF is the home of the most comprehensive range of Israeli and Jewish-themed films in Australia and New Zealand. The films premiere in our annual three-week film festival in November or our newly established Holocaust Film Series in March. JIFF is building on the long and proud 24-year history of Jewish film festivals in Australia.
The Kind Words (2015)
Follows three brothers who are going to discover the greatest secret of their late mother. This trip is going to change their lives.
118 minutes.
Israeli film Academy: Nominated for: this film, Best Dir, Best screenplay, Best actor, Best actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Editing, Best Casting, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design and Best Sound.
JIFF is the home of the most comprehensive range of Israeli and Jewish-themed films in Australia and New Zealand. The films premiere in our annual three-week film festival in November or our newly established Holocaust Film Series in March. JIFF is building on the long and proud 24-year history of Jewish film festivals in Australia.
Atomic Falafel (2015)
Two girls from nuclear towns in Israel and Iran spill their countries most valuable secrets on Facebook while trying to prevent a nuclear crisis. 100 minutes.
Awards of the Israeli Film Academy 2015
Nominated Award of the Israeli Film Academy |
Best Supporting Actress Mali Levi |
Best Casting Limor Shmila Levana Hakim Maayan Habani |
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Best Costume Design Chen Gilad |
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Best Music Ran Shem-Tov |
JIFF is the home of the most comprehensive range of Israeli and Jewish-themed films in Australia and New Zealand. The films premiere in our annual three-week film festival in November or our newly established Holocaust Film Series in March. JIFF is building on the long and proud 24-year history of Jewish film festivals in Australia.
A Tale of Love and Darkness (2015)
A drama based on the memoir of Amos Oz, a writer, journalist, and advocate of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
95 minutes.
Nominated Golden Camera |
Natalie Portman |
JIFF is the home of the most comprehensive range of Israeli and Jewish-themed films in Australia and New Zealand. The films premiere in our annual three-week film festival in November or our newly established Holocaust Film Series in March. JIFF is building on the long and proud 24-year history of Jewish film festivals in Australia.
Censored Voices (2015)
The 1967 ‘Six-Day’ war ended with Israel’s decisive victory; conquering Jerusalem, Gaza, Sinai and the West Bank. It is a war portrayed, to this day, as a righteous undertaking – a radiant emblem of Jewish pride. One week after the war, a group of young kibbutzniks, led by renowned author Amos Oz, recorded intimate conversations with soldiers returning from the battlefield. The recording revealed an honest look at the moment Israel turned from David to Goliath. The Israeli army censored the recordings, allowing the kibbutzniks to publish only a fragment of the conversations. ‘Censored Voices’ reveals the original recordings for the first time.
84 minutes.
Awards of the Israeli Film Academy 2015
Won Award of the Israeli Film Academy |
Best Documentary |
DocAviv Film Festival 2015
Won Israeli Competition |
Yafo Award for Best Debut Film Mor Loushy “It’s rare to see a film from a young filmmaker that treats a complex subject with such depth, … More |
Research Award Mor Loushy “Bringing together a wealth of previously unseen and unheard archive materials and combining them … More |
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Nominated Israeli Competition |
Best Israeli Film Mor Loushy |
London Film Festival 2015
Nominated Grierson Award |
Documentary Film Mor Loushy |
Sundance Film Festival 2015
Nominated Grand Jury Prize |
World Cinema – Documentary Mor Loushy |
JIFF is the home of the most comprehensive range of Israeli and Jewish-themed films in Australia and New Zealand. The films premiere in our annual three-week film festival in November or our newly established Holocaust Film Series in March. JIFF is building on the long and proud 24-year history of Jewish film festivals in Australia.
Felix and Meira (2015)
Making the most of the family home while her parents are away, Nicole, 22 years old, is enjoying a peaceful summer with her best friend Véronique. When Nicole’s older brother shows up with his band to record an album, the girls’ friendship is put to the test. Their vacation takes an unexpected turn, punctuated by a heatwave, Nicole’s growing insomnia and the persistent courtship of a 10-year-old boy.
105 minutes.
Chicago International Film Festival 2014
Nominated Audience Choice Award |
Audience Choice Award Maxime Giroux |
Haifa International Film Festival 2014
Won Tobias Spencer Award |
Maxime Giroux |
RiverRun International Film Festival 2015
Won Honorable Mention |
Best Cinematography Sara Mishara |
Best Actress Hadas Yaron |
San Sebastián International Film Festival 2014
Nominated Golden Seashell |
Best Film Maxime Giroux |
Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2014
Nominated Best North American Independent Film |
Maxime Giroux |
Toronto International Film Festival 2014
Won Best Canadian Feature Film |
Maxime Giroux |
Warsaw International Film Festival 2014
Nominated Grand Prix |
Maxime Giroux |
Whistler Film Festival 2014
Won Best Actor in Borsos Film |
Borsos Competition for Best Canadian Feature Hadas Yaron |
Won Best Director of a Borsos Film |
Borsos Competition for Best Canadian Feature Maxime Giroux (Director) |
Won Best Screenplay for a Borsos Film |
Borsos Competition for Best Canadian Feature Maxime Giroux Alexandre Laferrière |
Won Borsos Award of Best Canadian Feature |
Borsos Competition for Best Canadian Feature Maxime Giroux |
JIFF is the home of the most comprehensive range of Israeli and Jewish-themed films in Australia and New Zealand. The films premiere in our annual three-week film festival in November or our newly established Holocaust Film Series in March. JIFF is building on the long and proud 24-year history of Jewish film festivals in Australia.
To Life! (2015)
Fate has taken its toll on the aging cabaret singer Ruth and the young but terminally ill Jonas. Yet despite their great age difference and their entirely opposite experiences in life, they form an intense bond and give each other a reason and purpose to live.
90 minutes.
JIFF is the home of the most comprehensive range of Israeli and Jewish-themed films in Australia and New Zealand. The films premiere in our annual three-week film festival in November or our newly established Holocaust Film Series in March. JIFF is building on the long and proud 24-year history of Jewish film festivals in Australia.
Sabena Hijacking (2015)
Sabena Hijacking My Version is a powerful, suspenseful docu-drama based on previously undiscovered audio recordings of the former pilot, Captain Reginald Levy. Captain Levy (now deceased) was in command of the Sabena Flight 571 from Brussels, Belgium to Tel Aviv, Israel on 8 May 1972, when it was hijacked by four members from the “Black September”, the armed wing of Fatah or Palestine Liberalization Organisation.
The film finally shares the untold story of what exactly took place on the flight throughout 30 hours of nerve-wrecking captivity. It channels the English pilots impartial view of the events and elaborates on them with exclusive access to three revered Israeli political leaders who were in charge of the rescue effort, as well as the only surviving hijacker, who tell their own story.
Current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu featured, alongside the other key political decision makers at the time, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak and former Prime Minister, President and Nobel Prize winner Shimon Peres.
Therese Halsa, one of the four hijackers who was a girl of just 18 at the time, gives her version of events, following release from a 220 year prison sentence of which she served 13 years. Sabena Hijacking My Version fuses candid interviews with archive material and dramatic reenactments of the tense scenes inside the aircraft and the control tower as Captain Levy was held at gunpoint.
It takes viewers into the aircraft to witness the events first-hand as the hijackers threatened to explode hand grenades unless 300 prisoners were released. It also gives insight to the tense negotiations which eventually led to a heroic rescue operation during which a special unit of soldiers (disguised as technicians) stormed the plane.
The result is a captivating, fast-paced film full of suspense, which poses significant political and historical questions that are not only still important, but have shaped the Israel of today.
104 minutes.
It’s that time of the year again folks.
Please submit nominations for Committee members and President one week beforehand, being 5pm Sunday 14 August.
After the formalities are over, we will be showing the movie “The Concert.”
“The Concert” is a 2009 French comedy-drama film by Radu Mihăileanu, starring Aleksei Guskov, Mélanie Laurent and Miou-Miou.
It is about the redemption of a former world-famous conductor of the Bolshoi Theatre orchestra, known as “The Maestro,” Andrey Simonovich Filipov, who had had his career publicly broken by Leonid Brezhnev for defending Jewish musicians and is reduced to working as a mere janitor in the theatre where he once conducted, becoming an alcoholic in the process.
It won the Best Original Score and Best Sound awards at César Awards 2010. It was also nominated for two Magritte Awards in the category of Best Film in Coproduction and Best Editing for Ludo Troch in 2011, and Best Foreign Film at the 68th Golden Globe Awards.
Please bring a plate of finger food. We’d be grateful if you avoided pork or seafood products.
CANTERBURY UNIVERSITY: RAPHAEL WEIN AND NAFTALI GROSS
Tuesday October 25, 12 noon
THE NZ INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS INVITES YOU TO WHAT PROMISES TO BE AN ENGAGING AND FASCINATING ADDRESS
Ethical Dilemmas of Serving in the Israeli Defense Forces: Israel’s war against terrorism.
About the Speakers:
Raphael is a Business Administration and Political Science Student at Ariel University and is a reservist in the IDF. Naftali is a medical student at the Hebrew University and a volunteer paramedic for Magen David (the equivalent of St John’s Ambulance Service in NZ) and is also a reservist in the IDF. Both were combatants in the 2014 Gaza War.
Venue: Logie 104, University of Canterbury, Ilam, Christchurch.
A map showing the location of the venue may be obtained by clicking this link.
Admission is free
Feel free to pass this notice on to anyone else you feel may be interested.