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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.
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Trump Is Lying When He Speaks of Peace
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with government officials in Tehran, Iran, April 15, 2025. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Donald Trump on Saturday of lying when the US president said during his Gulf tour this week that he wanted peace in the region.
On the contrary, said Khamenei, the United States uses its power to give “10-ton bombs to the Zionist (Israeli) regime to drop on the heads of Gaza’s children.”
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after departing the United Arab Emirates on Friday that Iran had to move quickly on a US proposal for its nuclear program or “something bad’s going to happen.”
His remarks, said Khamenei, “aren’t even worth responding to.” They are an “embarrassment to the speaker and the American people,” Khamenei added.
“Undoubtedly, the source of corruption, war, and conflict in this region is the Zionist regime — a dangerous, deadly cancerous tumor that must be uprooted; it will be uprooted,” he said at an event at a religious center in Tehran, according to state media.
Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Trump speaks about peace while simultaneously making threats.
“Which should we believe?” Pezeshkian said at a naval event in Tehran. “On the one hand, he speaks of peace and on the other, he threatens with the most advanced tools of mass killing.”
Tehran would continue Iran-US nuclear talks but is not afraid of threats. “We are not seeking war,” Pezeshkian said.
While Trump said on Friday that Iran had a US proposal about its nuclear program, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in a post on X said Tehran had not received any such proposal. “There is no scenario in which Iran abandons its hard-earned right to (uranium) enrichment for peaceful purposes…” he said.
Araqchi warned on Saturday that Washington’s constant change of stance prolongs nuclear talks, state TV reported.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that America repeatedly defines a new framework for negotiations that prolongs the process,” the broadcast quoted Araqchi as saying.
Pezeshkian said Iran would not “back down from our legitimate rights”.
“Because we refuse to bow to bullying, they say we are source of instability in the region,” he said.
A fourth round of Iran-U.S. talks ended in Oman last Sunday. A new round has not been scheduled yet.
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Hamas Confirms New Gaza Ceasefire Talks with Israel in Qatar on Saturday
Doha, Qatar. Photo: StellarD via Wikimedia Commons.
A new round of Gaza ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel is underway in Qatar’s Doha, Hamas official Taher al-Nono told Reuters on Saturday.
He said the two sides were discussing all issues without “pre-conditions.”
Nono said Hamas was “keen to exert all the effort needed” to help mediators make the negotiations a success, adding there was “no certain offer on the table.”
The negotiations come despite Israel preparing to expand operations in the Gaza Strip as they seek “operational control” in some areas of the war-torn enclave.
The return to negotiations also comes after US President Donald Trump ended a Middle East tour on Friday with no apparent progress towards a new ceasefire, although he acknowledged Gaza’s growing hunger crisis and the need for aid deliveries.
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Report: ICC’s Khan Goes on Administrative Leave Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan speaks during an interview with Reuters in The Hague, Netherlands, Feb. 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
i24 News – Chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan has stepped down temporarily as an investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct by United Nations investigators is nearing its final phase, Reuters reported on Friday citing sources from the international court.
Khan allegedly forced sexual intercourse upon a member of staff on multiple occasions, the Wall Street Journal reported last week, linking the allegations to Khan’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant.
A statement is expected later today announcing that Khan is going on administrative leave, according to a source in the prosecutor’s office.
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