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.
Son of Saul (2015)
In the horror of 1944 Auschwitz, a prisoner forced to burn the corpses of his own people finds moral survival upon trying to salvage from the flames the body of a boy he takes for his son. 107 minutes.
Cannes Film Festival 2015
Won FIPRESCI Prize |
Competition László Nemes |
Won François Chalais Award |
László Nemes |
Won Grand Prize of the Jury |
László Nemes |
Won Vulcain Prize for the Technical Artist |
Tamás Zányi (sound designer)
for the outstanding contribution of sound to the narration.
|
Nominated Golden Camera |
László Nemes |
Nominated Palme d’Or |
László Nemes |
Ghent International Film Festival 2015
Nominated Grand Prix |
Best Film László Nemes |
Hamburg Film Festival 2015
Nominated Critics Award |
László Nemes |
Hawaii International Film Festival 2015
Nominated EuroCinema Hawai’i Award |
Best Film László Nemes |
London Film Festival 2015
Nominated Best Film |
Official Competition László Nemes |
Sarajevo Film Festival 2015
Won Special Jury Prize |
Feature Film László Nemes |
Nominated Heart of Sarajevo |
Best Film László Nemes |
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 |
|
Best Costume Design Chen Gilad |
|
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.
If you’ve not heard of Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin, you’ll wonder how that could have been once you’ve seen what he does in this film. For dance aficionados, this is surely the most anticipated artist portrait since Wim Wenders’ Pina.
“A spectacular and celebratory investigation of a modern dancer’s creative process, this documentary tracks the four decades-long career of renowned choreographer Ohad Naharin, the artistic director of Israel’s Batsheva Dance Company. Thoughtfully and painstakingly researched, the film is packed with visually arresting archival footage from every stage of Naharin’s professional (and personal) life…
Choreographed pieces move in kinetic bursts from the rehearsal studio to the stage and, in interviews, dancers who’ve worked with him and colleagues from different periods offer insights in terms both admiring and blunt. Naharin is similarly expressive – about… the joys of physical expression, his struggles to convey his vision to those tasked with embodying it and the dance-world backdrop against which he developed his singular choreographic style and movement language, known as Gaga.
Heymann, a veteran documentarian whose filmography includes an earlier work about Naharin, skillfully constructs a portrait from these elements, methodically adding layers and sometimes revisiting previously seen footage, arming the viewer with new revelations and a more complicated understanding.” — Lynn Rapoport, San Francisco International Film Festival