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Israel Film Festival in Los Angeles Concludes Its Sold-Out Run With More Than 7,000 Attendees
From left: Ynon Kreiz, Gal Gadot, and Meir Fenigstein attend the 36th Israel Film Festival in Los Angeles opening night on Nov 13, 2024 in Los Angeles. Photo: Jordan Strauss/JanuaryImages
The 36th Israel Film Festival in Los Angeles recently ended with sold-out screenings, more than 7,000 attendees, and the most sponsors in its history of nearly four decades.
The film festival, which is the largest display of Israeli films in the United States, took place Nov. 13-26 after a two-year hiatus due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. It ran across six theaters located in Beverly Hills, West Los Angeles, and Encino, and included screenings of more than 40 feature films, documentaries, and student short films from Israel’s film schools. Audience members were also treated to post-screening Q&A’s with a total of 20 Israeli filmmakers and other members of the film industry.
“Los Angeles audiences thoroughly embraced the return of the Israel Film Festival, which had been postponed due to the war in the Middle East,” said Meir Fenigstein, founder and executive director of the Israel Film Festival. “Residents from Santa Monica and Beverly Hills to the San Fernando valley gathered to be entertained and celebrate Israeli culture, storytelling, its filmmakers, and talent both behind and in front of the camera. As our hearts ache for so many affected by the war, the sense of community was pervasive as people shared, learned, and were reminded of all that Israel has to offer.”
“Come Closer,” which is Tom Nesher’s directorial debut and Israel’s submission for the Academy Awards in the category of best international feature film, received the film festival’s Audience Choice Award for Best Feature Film. The film is about a young woman named Eden who struggles to cope with the sudden death of her brother. After he is killed in a car accident, Eden discovers that her brother had a secret girlfriend. The two women lean on each other for support and bond in their grief, but their relationship becomes obsessive, passionate, and dangerous.
The Audience Choice Award for Best Documentary was given to “The Child Within Me,” directed by Yaniv Amoday and Eti Aneta and winner of the Ophir Award for Best Documentary Film. The film spotlights the musical career and personal life of Israeli musician Yehuda Poliker. The festival’s Audience Choice Award for Best Student Film was awarded to “Girl NO. 60427,” which is about a young girl who finds and reads a secret notebook that her grandmother kept during the Holocaust. The film was directed by Shulamit Lifshitz, who is a student at The Ma’aleh School of Film and Television in Jerusalem, and previously won the BAFTA Student Film Award for Best Live Action Film.
Israeli actress and producer Gal Gadot awarded the 2024 IFF Industry Leadership Award to Mattel Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ynon Kreiz, who helped spearhead the company’s first and highly successful global film “Barbie.” The 2024 IFF Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Israeli actor and comedian Shaike Levi.
This was the first year that the Israel Film Festival hosted a Community Partner screening series, in which nonprofit Jewish and Israeli organizations in Los Angeles sponsored more than 20 exclusive premiere screenings for their members. The festival also hosted for the first time a panel of Israeli-American producers discussing the possibility of co-productions between American and Israeli film industries.
The 37th Israel Film Festival in Los Angeles is scheduled to take place in November 2025.
The post Israel Film Festival in Los Angeles Concludes Its Sold-Out Run With More Than 7,000 Attendees first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.