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GET READY FOR A CINEMATIC FEAST🎭🎭🎭 THE ISRAELI FILM FESTIVAL OF PHILADELPHIA SEASON TWENTY SEVEN IS COMING SOON📽🎞📽🎞 SAVE THE DATES: APRIL 15-APRIL 23 ,2023 🎬🎬🎬🎬🎬🎬🎬🎬🎬🎬
SAVE THE DATE !!!! for a special "virtual" screening for members of the Israeli Film Festival MURANOW The Muranów neighborhood in Warsaw was a flourishing and important Jewish center. During World War II the neighborhood was turned into the ”Warsaw Ghetto” When the war ended the neighborhood was rebuilt with the rubble of its own destruction. Today thousands of Polish people live in the green and spacious Muranow neighborhood, yet its dark past keeps haunting it. Polish residents claim that Jewish ghosts live in the neighborhood. They say at night they shake off the dust and ashes that cover them, and wander the streets they once lived in. Other residents think the ghosts are a metaphor for the life, culture and memories of the Jewish people buried beneath the ground. Director: Chen Shelach Details: Israel, 2021, Hebrew, Polish and English with English subtitles, 70 min. Cost: FREE! The link for Muranów will be available at NOON on JANUARY 26 until JANUARY 31. Look for a link to watch soon!
WISHING YOU AND YOUR FAMILY A HAPPY HANUKKAH✨🕎✨🕎✨🕎✨ We are also very excited to announce our 2023 Festival which will kick-off at the Philadelphia Film Center on April 15, 2023. We have a really exciting Season in the works.
Closing Night at the Festival ! תמונת הניצחון IMAGE OF VICTORY Sunday, April 10, 7:00 pm Philadelphia Film Center 1412 Chestnut St. Philadelphia, PA 19102 Documentary: A dramatic historical film, Image of Victory follows an Egyptian filmmaker in 1948 that sets out to create news stories about the task force that liberates Palestinian farmers. Told from the perspective of both the propaganda filmmaker and the Kubbitz community, this eye-opening film shows how a nearby commune leader will soon change all of their lives.
Closing weekend at the Festival ! אשת חיל WOMEN OF VALOR Sunday, April 10, 3:00 pm Philadelphia Film Center 1412 Chestnut St. Philadelphia, PA 19102 Documentary: This riveting documentary follows Esty and her co-CEO in their mission to fight for womens’ equality in the orthodox community. From setting up leadership programs to submitting lawsuits to the supreme court, the pair brings a new meaning to the biblical expression of Women of Valor.
Closing Weekend at the Festival! המלכה שושנה QUEEN SHOSHANA Saturday, April 9, 8:30 Pm Philadelphia Film Center 1412 Chestnut St. Philadelphia, PA 19102 Documentary: This revealing documentary covers the life of Shoshana Damari. Known globally as the first Israeli diva, Shoshana had much more to her than her riveting performances and unparalleled voice. However, it wasn’t until this documentary that her hidden traits came to life.
עיניים שלי CHAINED Sunday, April 3, 7:00 pm Bryn Mawr Film Institute 824 West Lancaster Avenue Bryn Mawr, PA 19010 Crime, Drama: Longstanding police officer Rafi Malka struggles to uphold his innocence when he is accused of sexually harassing two young boys. Helpless in the face of his investigation, Rafi gets suspended from the police force and becomes dangerous to himself and others.
https://www.kimmelculturalcampus.org/events-and-tickets/202122/rentals/that-orchestra-with-the-broken-instruments/
THE ISRAELI FILM FESTIVAL IS BACK🎬📽🎬
Today! Join us for a live Zoom panel. Free to attend. A Special Live Panel: A Lullaby for the Valley שיר ערש לעמק Sunday, April 18 at 12:00 Noon EDT Join us for a live Q&A with filmmaker Ben Shani and artist Elie Shamir moderated by Dr. Aya Lurie, Director and Chief Curator of the Herzilyah Museum of Contemporary Art. More info at www.iffphila.com
This Thursday: A Lullaby for the Valley שיר ערש לעמק A film director Ben Shani’s chance encounter with an Eli Shamir painting spawns the idea for a documentary about Shamir’s work. Neither could know that serious disease would change everything. This documentary, filmed over the course of nine years, centers around the fascinating figure of Shamir and his creations which, like the broad valley vistas, gradually change shape before our very eyes. www.iffphila.com
Hoping for the Wrong Future: A Special Live Panel Join us on Sunday, March 21 at 4pm EDT, Join Miryam Kabakov, Executive Director of Eshel who will moderate a discussion with filmmaker, Rabbi Mordechai Vardi, author/educator Rabbi Steven Greenberg, clinical social worker, Motti Salzberg and Shoni Braun, a mother of four children, formally married to gay husband. Live moderated discussion following the screening of Marry Me However חתונה הפוכה, which tells the stories of LGBT men and women who, for religious reasons, decided to marry against their own sexual orientation.
Join us for the free virtual screening of Marry Me However: The film tells the stories of LGBT men and women who, for religious reasons, decided to marry against their own sexual orientation, to comply with Torah laws and be accepted into their families and religious communities. Some shared their secret with their partners, some kept it hidden, and some lied even to themselves. You can watch the movie for free using the link from our mailing list. The film will be followed by an exciting live panel on Sunday, March 21 at 4p. More information at www.iffphila.com
Join us for a virtual screening of Code Name: Ayalon - link will be available on our mailing list this Thursday at noon. Join for free at www.iffphila.com/join In 1975 a demolition crew was at work in central Israel, clearing away the remains of an old kibbutz at the top of Kibbutz Hill. When several members of the demo team wrestled aside a large rusted clothes washer, they revealed a small entryway that seemed to lead below ground. Bulldozers shut down their engines, cranes froze in place as members of the team looked down into the hole. What they saw, what they discovered had been kept secret, hidden for three decades. More information at www.iffphila.com
The link to the last movie in the 2020 Virtual Israeli Film Festival will be distributed tomorrow via our mailing list. Join for free at www.iffphila.com/join Code Name: Ayalon n 1975 a demolition crew was at work in central Israel, clearing away the remains of an old kibbutz at the top of Kibbutz Hill. When several members of the demo team wrestled aside a large rusted clothes washer, they revealed a small entryway that seemed to lead below ground. Bulldozers shut down their engines, cranes froze in place as members of the team looked down into the hole. What they saw, what they discovered had been kept secret, hidden for three decades. At the end of World War II British troops were in place in Palestine to police the region under what was known as The British Mandate. It was a messy, dangerous time. Jews were looking to flee war torn Europe for refuge in what was to be the Jewish homeland. Arab leaders were successful in fomenting opposition to the increasing Jewish presence. Arabs attacked and Jewish militias retaliated. The British were trying to keep a lid on the combustible situation between the Arabs and the Jews of Palestine, and were only serving to put gasoline on that fire. Forty-seven shiploads of Jews attempting to escape Europe, the smell of crematoriums lingering in their heads, were intercepted by the British. 65,000 of them were languishing in internment camps in Cypress. The presence of the British did little to appease the Arabs and, in fact, British policy succeeded in radicalizing segments of the Jewish population who would no longer cooperate. British troops were constantly seizing weapons and ammunition and shutting down efforts by the Jews to bring both into the country. Being caught with either was a hanging offense. Nonetheless, Zionist leaders had long understood that they were going to need weapons to defend themselves against the Arabs and to fight for their independence. The Jews of Palestine had been very resourceful in smuggling weapons and establishing clandestine arms factories. The underground factories churned out relatively easy to build Sten submachine guns, but the Haganah had difficulty obtaining the 9 mm bullets needed for the weapons. The head of the clandestine Israel Military Industry, Yosef Avidar, devised a plan to smuggle in machines for a secret factory to make the bullets. Though he was successful in purchasing machines in Poland in 1938, the Zionists could only get them as far as Beirut, where they were stored for nearly four years before Jews who served in the British army succeeded in bringing them to Palestine. The ammunition plant at Ayalon was built in 1947, almost under the noses of the British, who had a nearby base. The site was a place where pioneers would go for training in kibbutz life before moving on to establish cooperatives around the country. Under the code name "the Ayalon Institute," a group of pioneers from the Hatzofim Aleph Scout movement and members of the Haganah dug a large underground chamber the size of a tennis court, 13 feet underground with nearly 2-foot-thick walls and ceiling. The entire project was completed in 22 days. To conceal the clandestine project, the Jews built housing, a dining hall, chicken coop, cow barn, workshops, a laundry, a bakery, and a vegetable garden to give the outward appearance of an ordinary kibbutz. How the plant was built, concealed and operated is the fascinating subject of this documentary. With the context of the times firmly established, we can explore, in their own words, the courage of the brave young people who risked their lives in service to Jewish independence. Through interviews conducted with still living members of this group, we will piece together this pivotal effort in the battle for statehood for Israel.
The Virtual Israeli Film Festival festival continues - tomorrow we'll post the link to The God of the Piano אלוהי הפסנתר - on our mailing list. Join for free at www.iffphlia.com/join Anat could never be the musician her father wished her to be. So when she finds out her child is deaf at birth it pushes her to a breaking point. She is willing to stop at nothing to live her musical aspirations vicariously through her child, even if that means destroying their relationship. The God of the Piano is a thrilling and dramatic story told with the accompaniment of beautiful music that fits superbly in with its themes. Director Itay Tal brings us a not-to-miss film that examines the difficult questions surrounding what talent is and the cost of being labeled a prodigy. The link to watch this movie will be available tomorrow - Thursday, October 22, 2020, 12:00 pm. To receive the link, please join the festival mailing list.
The God of the Piano אלוהי הפסנתר Anat could never be the musician her father wished her to be. So when she finds out her child is deaf at birth it pushes her to a breaking point. She is willing to stop at nothing to live her musical aspirations vicariously through her child, even if that means destroying their relationship. The God of the Piano is a thrilling and dramatic story told with the accompaniment of beautiful music that fits superbly in with its themes. Director Itay Tal brings us a not-to-miss film that examines the difficult questions surrounding what talent is and the cost of being labeled a prodigy. The link to watch this movie will be available on Thursday, October 22, 2020, 12:00 pm. To receive the link, please join the festival mailing list (for free!) at www.iffphila.com
From famed documentary filmmaker Dalit Kimor comes Mrs. G. An incredible story about how Lea Gottlieb not only survived the holocaust but went on to start one of the most famous swimsuit companies in the world. From her tiny Tel Aviv apartment to the most prominent scenes in all of fashion, Lea Gottlieb lived a life full of glamour and luxury, letting nothing and no one get in her way. Witness one of the fullest lives ever lived and the highs and lows that accompanied it. The link to watch this movie will be available on Thursday, October 15, 2020, 12:00 pm. To receive the link, please join the festival mailing list for free at www.iffphila.com/join
The Virtual Israeli Film Festival continues tomorrow with Ma’abarot מעברות Link to the movie will be available to anyone on our free mailing list. Join at www.iffphila.com/join A stark and direct examination of the transit camps that were used to handle the surge of immigrants in post World War II Israel, Ma’abarot examines a matter believed largely forgotten by the public consciousness. Collecting lost footage and interviewing former residents of the camps themselves, Dina Zvi Riklis delves into the currents that divided Jewish immigrants then and the rifts that survive to present day.
Mrs G. is next to screen at the Virtual Israeli Film Festival. Link will be available this Thursday through our mailing list. Join for free at www.iffphila.com/join
Ma’abarot מעברות is next to screen at the Virtual Israeli Film Festival. Link will be available this Thursday through our mailing list. Join for free at www.iffphila.com/join
A link to Kosher Beach החוף הנפרד will be distributed on our mailing list this Thursday at noon. Make sure you're on it by joining us (for free) at https://iffphila.com/join/ A short drive from the Orthodox city Bnei Brak, "Kosher Beach" is a gated and secluded, with dedicated days for women and men to bathe separately. Only a modesty fence separates it from the nearby secular beaches and their “taboo” practices. It is this concern that the women will be morally compromised which causes the rabbis of Bnei Brak to propose shutting down the beach. But for many of the women of the community, the beach is their place of reprieve and privacy. From Karin Krainer, this documentary examines the lives of those in and around this “Kosher Beach”.
The Virtual Israeli Film Festival continues! this week we're releasing the viewing link to The Rabbi from Hezbollah -האברך -מהחיזבאללה a fascinating story about identities and loyalty, to one's country and one's family. From director Itamar Chen comes the story of Ibrahim Yassin. A man, born in a small village in Lebanon, a shepherd like his father before him, he faced hardship after hardship. But life would take him on a strange course of events that would eventually lead him to be Israel's top spy. This documentary is packed with enough twists, turns, and political relevancy to keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. The Rabbi from Hezbollah is an amazing example of the impact that just one man can have. The link to watch this movie will be available today at 12:00 pm. To receive the link, please join the festival mailing list at https://iffphila.com/join/ . We are releasing links on the mailing list every Thursday at noon.
Our first screening in our weekly virtual festival series is coming up! A link to an online viewing of Flawless - הנשף - will be distributed via our mailing list this coming Thursday at noon EST. Join the mailing list at https://iffphila.com/join/ to be part of the festival and receive the link on Thursday at noon! More info about this award-winning movie at https://iffphila.com/movie/flawless/
10 FREE FILMS EXTENDED TILL APRIL 30th! We are happy to announce that we are EXTENDING our popular "10 films over Passover" project until the end of April. It's VERY easy to start watching films... Go to https://vimeo.com/IsraeliFilms/vod_pages . Log in with a Vimeo account - you can create one for free - and choose any of the films on the page. Apply our special promo code "PassoverPhilly". Watch as many films as you like! Happy viewing!

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