Haifa International Film Festival

Iranian singer Gola brings message of hope to Haifa International Film Festival

Iranian singer Gola sang alongside Yuval Raphael, a Nova festival survivor, at the opening of the Haifa International Film Festival on Saturday.

|ByHANNAH BROWN
GOLAZIN ARDESTANI attends the Haifa festival this week.
AVI NESHER at the podium at his tribute.

Haifa International Film Festival opens with emotional tribute to Avi Nesher

Our Loves received a standing ovation, and the tribute referenced Nesher’s personal and professional connections to the festival in a way that was especially meaningful.

|ByHANNAH BROWN
JOHN TURTURRO stars in "The Last Pickpocket in New York."

Haifa International Film Festival brings celebrated cinema and classics to the Carmel

Major new films, a strong Israeli lineup, ambitious documentaries, Japanese masterpieces, and Streisand singing her heart out make this year’s Haifa International Film Festival a fantastic event.

|ByHANNAH BROWN
MARIANNE FAITHFULL in the documentary ‘Broken English.’

Haifa International Film Festival to present the best of world cinema

The festival’s main international competition, Carmel, will open with Boyle’s Ink, which opened this year’s Venice Film Festival.

|ByHANNAH BROWN

Haifa Film Festival announces varied Israeli lineup for 42nd edition

This year, seven narrative features and five documentaries will compete together in the Israeli competition, an innovation introduced by the festival’s artistic director, Yaron Shamir.

AUGUST 31, 2026ByHANNAH BROWN
‘DOUBLE PANTHER’ by Marco Carmel.

Renowned Israeli filmmaker Avi Nesher's new film to open Haifa International Film Festival

The movie explores the lives of seven characters whose personal crises are overshadowed by October 7, forcing them into a desperate fight for survival and to confront buried truths.

AUGUST 20, 2026ByHANNAH BROWN
SHALOM MICHAELSHWILLI in ‘Our Loves.'

‘A Burning Man’ wins Best Israeli Feature Prize at the Haifa International Film Festival

The awards were announced in a ceremony on Sunday night.

OCTOBER 14, 2025ByHANNAH BROWN
SHAI AVIVI in ‘A Burning Man,’ by Eyal Halfon, which won the award for Best Israeli Feature at the Haifa International Film Festival.

Laughs and tears: A look at the 41st Haifa International Film Festival

The festival will take a pause late in the evening of October 7, and the official ceremony marking the massacre will be broadcast in the Rapaport Auditorium, for free.

OCTOBER 3, 2025ByHANNAH BROWN
Film festival (Illustrative)

Haifa film fest announces international program

The 41st Haifa International Film Festival will be held October 5-14.

SEPTEMBER 22, 2025ByHANNAH BROWN
ETHAN HAWKE stars in ‘Blue Moon’, Richard Linklater’s drama about composer Lorenz Hart.

Olivia Coleman, Ilana Glazer, Wallace Shawn, among stars pledging to boycott Israeli film industry

Hollywood A-listers pledged to not screen films or work with Israeli film institutions…that are "implicated in genocide and apartheid" against Palestinians.

SEPTEMBER 9, 2025ByANDREW LAPIN/JTA
Actor Wallace Shawn participates in a demonstration to support Gaza outside the White House on October 16, 2023 in Washington, DC. Members of the Jewish Voice for Peace and the IfNotNow movement staged a demonstration to call for a cease of fire in the Middle East.

Apartment hunting allows a couple to confront gap between dreams, reality - review

The film will resonate with young couples getting priced out of apartments in New York, San Francisco, Paris, London, and chic cities worldwide.

APRIL 17, 2025ByHANNAH BROWN
A scene from 'Real Estate.'

Exploring humanity through animation: Hazanavicius' 'The Most Precious of Cargoes' debuts in Israel

At Haifa Film Festival, Oscar-winning director discusses France’s antisemitism.

JANUARY 24, 2025ByHANNAH BROWN
A SCENE from ‘Most Precious of Cargoes.’

SNL’s origin story and a Japanese master

Because of the news about a possible hostage deal, two Israeli spy shows were postponed, and have not yet been rescheduled as of press time.

JANUARY 16, 2025ByHANNAH BROWN
COLIN FIRTH in 'Lockerbie: A Search for Truth'

Real Estate – Love Story wins the Israeli competition at the Haifa Film Festival

This was the first year that the Israeli Film Award included both feature films and documentaries in a single category.

JANUARY 11, 2025ByHANNAH BROWN
Itai Tamar (right), the producer of the winning movie, Real Estate, with its director, Anat Malz