Haifa Film Festival Unveils Israeli Program Featuring Top Stars

The 42nd Haifa International Film Festival has announced its Israeli competition lineup, featuring 12 films, including seven narrative features and five documentaries. The festival will run from September 26 to October 3 during Sukkot.

Among the highlights is Tomer Heymann's documentary "I Want to Tell My Story," focusing on 100-year-old Holocaust survivor Shimon Rothschild, who revisits his life story using actors to portray his lost family members and recounting his survival of Auschwitz and Buchenwald.

In the narrative competition, Dina Zvi Riklis's "Blue Signs" stars Noa Ohayon, Yael Abecassis, and Lior Ashkenazi, telling the story of a young woman from Netanya who travels to Paris for fashion design school, is sexually assaulted, and plans revenge. Nitzan Giladi's "Ve'ahavta" explores a Haredi woman's marriage facing challenges after a shocking discovery about her husband.

Other competing films include "Ha'Agger - Eretz" about Ethiopian Jewish immigration, "Double Panther" based on a Black Panthers informant, and "Shalom 30 20" following a man who lost both parents on October 7 and advocates for peace.

A new "Cultural Icons" section will showcase documentaries on Naomi Shemer, the life and surprising choices of Chaim Topol including his Mossad work, and the final year of feminist pioneer Prof. Alice Shalvi.

Outside the competition, a special screening of "Yehoram and Gila" will feature Yehoram Gaon and Gila Almagor as a legendary acting couple dealing with Gaon's early-stage Alzheimer's diagnosis, exploring themes of aging, memory, and career.