The Hollywood Reporter has included the Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School (JSFS) on its list of the 20 leading international film schools for the fifth year in a row.
The Reporter wrote: “Israel’s top film school has come through COVID largely unscathed and is planning a major upgrade next year, with a move to a new home as part of the Arts Campus in central Jerusalem. The new campus will feature three state-of-the-art cinemas to be run by students and open to the general public.”
JSFS is the only Israeli film school to make the list this year.
In spite of the pandemic, JSFS has had a strong year. Among its achievements, it signed a groundbreaking agreement with the Abu Dhabi Film Commission that includes plans for a joint online webinar.
In the midst of the pandemic, JSFS held an online live graduation event in February featuring Sophia Loren, who gave a video tribute to the school as a 2021 honorary fellow.
The ninth edition of the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab welcomed 12 new projects by participants from Israel and abroad who have been working for the past nine months with leading script mentors to develop the screenplays. Their projects will be presented at the annual pitching event later this month in front of an international jury and producers from all over the world.
2021 was an especially successful year for alumni of both the film school and the film lab. At the Cannes Film Festival, JSFS and lab alumnus Nadav Lapid won the Jury Prize for his latest feature, Ahed’s Knee, and lab alumna Antoneta Kusijanovic won the Camera d’Or for her debut feature, Murina.
The feature Asia, by JSFS alumna Ruthy Pribar (and produced by Gum Productions, also run by JSFS alumni), won several prizes at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2020 and won the Ophir Award, the prize of the Israeli Academy of Film and Television.
JSFS director Dana Blankstein Cohen said: “It is a great honor, and we are delighted to be included in The Hollywood Reporter’s list of 20 best international film schools – and especially in such a complex and challenging year. The school’s success is certainly due to our human capital.
“Thanks to the hard work, determination and solidarity of our staff, faculty and students, we are raising a generation of talented filmmakers here whose diverse and fascinating visions are now joining the Israeli and world film and television industry.”