Jerusalem Women's Film Festival to spotlight Israeli, international cinema and female filmmakers

The seventh Jerusalem International Women’s Film Festival is to take place October 12-16 at the Jerusalem Cinematheque and other venues around the city, presenting dozens of Israeli and international films that spotlight cinema from a female point of view.

Founded and directed by Lihi Sabag and Shira Meishar, the festival operates under the Women in the Picture association and was established through the Jerusalem Filmmakers Guild. It is held with the cooperation and support of the Jerusalem Municipality, the Jerusalem Foundation, the Culture and Sport Ministry, and the Jerusalem Cinematheque.

The opening film will be Wild Things, the debut feature by Kalil Kovesh, starring Odelia Rand and Alma Zack. Rand plays a young woman who returns to her kibbutz after being released from detention, with her driver’s license revoked.

Fired from her job in the cowshed, she reluctantly becomes a classroom aide, working with a withdrawn third-grader in foster care. Their friendship offers both a chance to grow, even as she struggles with her parents and estrangement from friends.

One of the highlights will be a tribute to Hanna Azoulay-Hasfari, an actress/writer/director who has made films such as Orange People about several generations of Moroccan women. She will receive the festival’s achievement award for her work as an actress, playwright, screenwriter, director, and activist, particularly her exploration of Mizrahi women’s lives.

Jerusalem Women's Film Festival honors Hanna Azoulay-Hasfari with tribute screenings

The tribute includes Sh’Chur, the autobiographical film she wrote and starred in, directed by Shmuel Hasfari, and Orange People, about three generations of Moroccan women who believe in magic, which she wrote, directed, produced, and starred in.

Episodes from her documentary series about working women will also be shown. Her new short, Brit Olam, stars Yael Abecassis, Irit Sheleg, Shai Lee Atary, and Yuval Segal, and examines the repercussions of a secret kept for 30 years.

One unusual aspect of this festival is that its activities continue throughout the year. A year-round project brings films, meetings with directors, and workshops in writing, acting, and video therapy to shelters for women who have experienced violence.

This year’s program also highlights people with disabilities and mental health difficulties, with screenings at the Jerusalem Cinematheque and Jerusalem’s Kfar Shaul Mental Health Center.

Four Israeli competitions cover features and documentaries, independent shorts, student films, and films by high school students.

Israeli feature films compete at Jerusalem Women's Film Festival

The feature competition, supported by the Beracha Foundation, includes Dina Zvi-Riklis’s Blue Marks, adapted from Emilie Moatti’s novel about a young woman from Netanya whose life changes in Paris, and Shiran Shaharabani’s Spikes, about three childhood friends on a hitchhiking trip.

Other entries include Reut Akerman’s Home!, about an adopted girl contacted by her dying biological mother; Nurit Jacobs-Yinon’s Alice.

Last Conversations, documenting feminist pioneer Alice Shalvi’s final year; Emmanuelle Mayer’s The Woman in White, uncovering a woman’s overlooked role in the history of peace with Egypt; and Shir Huri Abu’s Sarah’s Life, following a young woman who leaves the ultra-Orthodox world.

The independent shorts address subjects ranging from fertility treatments and audition-room boundaries to sexuality, family secrets, and urban life in Israel.

The international selection includes Uta Briesewitz’s American Sweatshop, starring Lili Reinhart as a social media content moderator drawn into an obsessive investigation, and Petra Volpe’s Frank & Louis, featuring Kingsley Ben-Adir and Laurence Fishburne in a story about prisoners and redemption.

Mélisa Godet’s A Place for Her stars Karin Viard in a drama about women helping survivors of violence, while the animated Tangles features the voices of Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, and Seth Rogen.

The Ktzarot pitching event, held with the Gesher Multicultural Film Fund, will award a NIS 250,000 production grant.

Jerusalem Women's Film Festival offers free screenings and special events

Free events organized with the municipality’s Youth Authority include a screening of Ella Armony’s documentary, called Girl, Woman, about her mother, singer Dafna Armony, at Mazkeka, and The Secrets of La’Isha at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute.

A stand-up evening will feature Mai Sayag, Hagit Weiner, and Rotem Weissberg. Selected movies will stream for free at jwff.co.il, where the full program is available and tickets are sold.