Haifa Film Festival Unveils International Lineup Featuring Global Premieres
The 42nd Haifa International Film Festival has revealed its international program, showcasing Israeli premieres of new films from acclaimed directors worldwide. Many of these selections arrive in Haifa after receiving accolades at major festivals like Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Sundance, Karlovy Vary, and San Sebastian.
The festival's international competition, "Carmel," will open with Danny Boyle's "Empire," a film depicting Rupert Murdoch's rise and his revolution in British journalism with the acquisition of The Sun. The film, starring Guy Pearce as Murdoch and Jack O'Connell as editor Larry Lamb, received a strong reception at the Venice Film Festival. The festival will close with Nanni Moretti's "It Will Happen Tonight," starring Louis Garrel and Jasmine Trinca, which is based on a story by Israeli author Eshkol Nevo.
Notable films in the lineup include Andrey Zvyagintsev's "Minotaur," winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes 2026, and Sandra Wollner's "Everytime," which won Best Film in Cannes' "Certain Regard" section. "Coward" by Lukas Dhont, whose stars Emmanuel Macta and Valentin Calomme shared the Best Actor award at Cannes, will also be screened. Other selections from Cannes include Jia Ling's "A Girl Unknown," which won awards at the Critics' Week, and Balert Bashuli's "Dua," winner of the French Directors' Guild award. Asghar Farhadi, a two-time Oscar winner, will present "Parallel Tales," and Olivier Assayas' "The Wizard of the Kremlin," which explores early 1990s Russia and Vladimir Putin's rise, will screen after its Venice competition run. Marie Kreutzer's "The Emperor," starring Lea Seydoux, also a Cannes competition entry, is featured.
Asian cinema is significantly represented, with Hirokazu Kore-eda's "Sheep in the Box" and Ryusuke Hamaguchi's "All of a Sudden," whose actresses won acting awards at Cannes. The program also includes Lance Hammer's "Queen at Sea," Grant Gee's "Everybody Digs Bill Evans," winner of the directing award at Berlin, François Ozon's "The Stranger," and Alauda Ruiz de Azúa's "Sundays," winner of Best Film at San Sebastian, alongside films from Sundance, Rotterdam, and Karlovy Vary.
Beyond the main competition, the festival will host sections dedicated to documentary, genre, animation, and culinary cinema. The "Haifa Docs" section will feature "Broken English," a film about Marianne Faithfull with appearances by Tilda Swinton and Nick Cave, and "The Match," about the 1986 World Cup game and Diego Maradona's "Hand of God" goal. Israeli filmmaker Boaz Dvir's "To Kill a Nazi," about Michel Kojo's pursuit of Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie, will also be screened, with Dvir expected to attend.
The "Wild Haifa Nights" section will present genre films such as Yeon Sang-ho's zombie film "Colony," Na Hong-jin's "Hope," the Hong Kong action film "The Furious," and Bertrand Mandico's "Roma Elastica," starring Marion Cotillard. Other screenings include Hilla Norden's "Easy Girl" and Anders Thomas Jensen's "The Last Viking," starring Mads Mikkelsen.
"Haifa Classics" will honor Barbra Streisand with screenings of "A Star Is Born" (1976), "Funny Girl" (1968), "Hello, Dolly!" (1969), and "Yentl" (1983). A retrospective titled "Between Oshima and Mishima" will explore films by directors connected to Nagisa Oshima and Yukio Mishima. Animated international productions like "Tangles," featuring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and "Viva Carmen" will also be shown.
The 42nd Haifa International Film Festival will run from September 26 to October 3, with screenings held in five halls from morning until midnight.
