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By Stephen Silver
(Courtesy of Fortston Consulting)
The Israeli Film Festival of Philadelphia was first held in 1996, and this year marks its 30th program, which opens on March 7 and continues through March 22. Most of the films will be shown at the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History and the Narberth Theater, with one showing set at Har Zion Temple.
This year’s festival will feature 12 feature films, as well as a program of short films. Each movie will be shown only once.
Karnit Biran has been involved with the festival for 13 years, and this is her second year as its executive director. For its 30th year, the festival has debuted a new logo, while expanding the schedule to two weeks.
“We went back to two weeks, which was our original offering, but for many years we went down to one [week] since COVID and then the war. I can’t say there’s like a theme of celebrating something very specific other than just celebrating Israeli culture, Israeli art, and trying to offer a diversity of content,” Biran told the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent. “We always try to bring different things to our audience.”
The weekend showings are at the Weitzman, while the ones on weekdays are at the Narberth Theater. The one film at Har Zion, on March 17, is “Always Together,” Paz Schwartz’s documentary about a group of high school seniors in Israel, scattered after Oct. 7, who rallied to finish high school together.
The film, Biran said, “follows that last year of high school post Oct. 7, how the community, the power of community helped them cope with … the tragedy and the loss and kind of strengthening each other through their last year of high school.” The screening will be free for participants in the LLMAH & Gesher programs.
The festival will open on the March 7 at the Weitzman, with “Cabaret Total,” described as “bold, darkly funny musical satire about performance, power, and the cost of saying what you really think.” The film’s director, writer, and lead actor, Roy Assaf, will be on hand that night.
“We picked it because we think it’s a very unique [and] colorful with a big statement about social justice in Israel, but we feel it’s not political, and we’re trying to stay away from political movies, because it doesn’t really take a stand. It just tells the story of what’s happening without really taking an opinion. It’s like for the audience to decide,” Biran said.
“We felt like it was very appropriate to bring him because he can expand the conversation and deepen the experience by being there and talking about why he wrote this film and maybe share some other feedback he got from audiences around the world,” Biran said of the filmmaker.
“Heaven and Earth,” a drama showing at the Weitzman on the March 14, will be accompanied by its director, Ruby Duenyas.
Another special guest is author Yakir Englander, who will be present for the showing, on March 21, at the Weitzman, of “Pink Lady,” Nir Bergman’s film about an ultra-Orthodox couple in Jerusalem who face a crisis when the husband is caught kissing a man.
The short film program at the Narberth Theater on March 19 will feature an intro by the University of Pennsylvania professor Peter Decherney.
Another film, Nadav Shlomo Giladi’s “Lost in Territories,” on March 15 at the Weitzman, is an anthology of short films, all set in the West Bank.
“It’s a comedy, and it talks about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in different ways but in a kind of funny way, in a light way,” Biran said. “In a way that you end up having some hope because you see like that the differences are not that big and at the end of the day, people are people and you know we want the same things, we fear the same things. It’s a really cute and light film that approaches this whole conflict in a very different way.”
The festival will close on March 22, at the Weitzman with “Love, Statistically Speaking.”
“We like to close our festival with a comedy, something light to keep people with a smile because some of the films can be serious and sometimes sad or depressing,” Biran said.
On March 15 at the Weitzman, the festival will feature “The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue,” Barry Avrich’s film about a dramatic rescue on Oct. 7.
“It’s an excellent film, it’s a documentary, but it is made in a way almost like a thriller. And it’s very true to what happened that day through Noam Thibon’s experience. It includes some real footage, but in a lot of testimonials,” Biran said. “And I feel like people who may not know a lot about Oct. 7, it can tell them like a story in a very authentic way.” She added that the film is in English, while most of the films in the festival are in Hebrew.
“The Road Between Us” was part of a huge controversy last fall at the Toronto International Film Festival, when it was pulled from the program, later reinstated, and ended up winning the festival’s People’s Choice Documentary Award.
The Israeli Film Festival of Philadelphia is familiar with such affairs.
In 2024, in an incident that made international news, a screening that was part of the festival was protested and eventually canceled, although it was later held after all, following a court order. This led the Israeli Film Festival to switch venues in 2025, mostly using the Weitzman Museum and the Narberth Theater, while also committing to stronger security.
The 2025 festival proceeded without incident, with protestors appearing to sit it out. But this year, especially in light of the recent vandalism incidents at the Weitzman, the festival will be stepping up security. Both Philadelphia Police officers and armed security will be present at all Weitzman showings, Biran said.
For the full schedule and tickets, visit iffphila.com
Stephen Silver is a Broomall-based freelance writer.
