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Israel Film Festival in Los Angeles Reveals Full Lineup, Will Honor Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz
Photo: Screenshot
The 36th Israel Film Festival (IFF) will return to Los Angeles in November after a two-and-a-half year hiatus and will screen 40 feature films, documentaries, and short films produced by Israeli filmmakers.
The IFF announced on Monday its full lineup of films, and “Come Closer,” which last month became Israel’s submission for best international feature film for the 2025 Academy Awards, will make its west coast premiere when it screens at the festival’s opening night gala. The film written and directed by Tom Nesher is her feature film directorial debut and will premiere at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills.
This is the first year that the IFF will have a panel of Israeli-American producers that will be available to discuss potential co-productions between film industries in the US and Israel. The event, which will be private and is sponsored by the Israel Cinema Project-Rabinovich Foundation, will take place on Nov. 15 at the Crescent Theater in Beverly Hills.
“The Israel Film Festival has always maintained an environment of mutually respectful discussion and viewpoints as well as nonpartisanship,” said Meir Fenigstein, founder and executive director of the Israel Film Festival. “Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by the war. Festivalgoers represent the diverse communities of Los Angeles who want to be both educated and entertained by a selection of powerful and exciting Israeli films that offer a great window into Israeli culture.”
At this year’s opening ceremony, Ynon Kreiz, the chairman and chief executive officer of Mattel who helped spearhead the company’s first and highly successful film “Barbie,” will be presented with the 2024 IFF Industry Leadership Award. Israeli actor and comedian Shaike Levi will receive the 2024 IFF Lifetime Achievement Award at the festival’s closing night ceremony.
“This year’s two festival honorees are extraordinary and renowned leaders in business and the arts,” said Fenigstein. “Ynon Kreiz, who has revolutionized Mattel into an esteemed juggernaut, volunteered at the Festival over 30 years ago when he was a university student at UCLA. The legendary comedian/actor Shaike Levi has been bringing joy and laughter to generations of audiences in Israel.”
The film “Soda,” directed by Erez Tadmor, will have a special sneak preview as the festival’s Sponsor Centerpiece Film event on Nov. 18 at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills. The film is about a beautiful seamstress who moves into a neighborhood of Holocaust survivors in 1956. When rumors start in the community about her past as a kapo — a term for a prisoner at a Nazi concentration camp who was forced by the Nazis to supervise forced labor in the camps — a leader of the neighborhood, who was also a former resistance fighter during World War II, is pulled between his passion for the woman and his longing to tell his community about her past.
Other festival screenings will take place at the Laemmle Royal Theatre in West Los Angeles and the Laemmle Town Center 5 in Encino. Some screenings will include a Q&A with Israeli filmmakers and cast members that will be moderated by Israeli and American journalists.
The Israel Film Festival in Los Angeles will run Nov. 13–26 and tickets are available on the festival website starting on Nov. 5.
The post Israel Film Festival in Los Angeles Reveals Full Lineup, Will Honor Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Rubio Heads to Israel Amid Tensions Among US Middle East Allies
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to members of the media, before departing for Israel at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, US, September 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Nathan Howard/Pool
US President Donald Trump’s top diplomat, Marco Rubio headed to Israel on Saturday, amid tensions with fellow US allies in the Middle East over Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar and expansion of settlements in the West Bank.
Speaking to reporters before departure, Rubio reiterated that the US and President Donald Trump were not happy about the strikes.
Rubio said the US relationship with Israel would not be affected, but that he would discuss with the Israelis how the strike would affect Trump’s desire to secure the return of all the hostages held by Hamas, get rid of the terrorists and end the Gaza war.
“What’s happened, has happened,” he said. “We’re gonna meet with them. We’re gonna talk about what the future holds,” he said.
“There are still 48 hostages that deserve to be released immediately, all at once. And there is still the hard work ahead once this ends, of rebuilding Gaza in a way that provides people the quality of life that they all want.”
Rubio said it had yet to be determined who would do that, who would pay for it and who would be in charge of the process.
After Israel, Rubio is due to join Trump’s planned visit to Britain next week.
Hamas still holds 48 hostages, and Qatar has been one of the mediators, along with the US, trying to secure a ceasefire deal that would include the captives’ release.
On Tuesday, Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with an airstrike on Doha. US officials described it as a unilateral escalation that did not serve American or Israeli interests.
The strike on the territory of a close US ally sparked broad condemnation from other Arab states and derailed ceasefire and hostage talks brokered by Qatar.
On Friday, Rubio met with Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani at the White House, underscoring competing interests in the region that Rubio will seek to balance on his trip. Later that day, US President Donald Trump held dinner with the prime minister in New York.
Rubio’s trip comes ahead of high-level meetings at the United Nations in New York later this month. Countries including France and Britain are expected to recognize Palestinian statehood, a move opposed by Israel.
Washington says such recognition would bolster Hamas and Rubio has suggested the move could spur the annexation of the West Bank sought by hardline members of the Israeli government.
ON Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed an agreement to push ahead with a settlement expansion plan that would cut across West Bank land that the Palestinians seek for a state. Last week, the United Arab Emirates warned that this would cross a red line and undermine the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords that normalized UAE-Israel relations in 2020.
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Netanyahu Posts Message Appearing to Confirm Hamas Leaders Survived Doha Strike
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a Plenum session of the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, in Jerusalem, June 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – In a statement posted to social media on Saturday evening, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the Qatar-based leadership of Hamas, reiterating that the jihadist group had to regard for the lives of Gazans and represented an obstacle to ending the war and releasing the Israelis it held hostage.
The wording of Netanyahu’s message appeared to confirm that the strike targeting the Hamas leaders in Doha was not crowned with success.
“The Hamas terrorists chiefs living in Qatar don’t care about the people in Gaza,” wrote Netanyahu. “They blocked all ceasefire attempts in order to endlessly drag out the war.” He added that “Getting rid of them would rid the main obstacle to releasing all our hostages and ending the war.”
Israel is yet to officially comment on the result of the strike, which has incurred widespread international criticism.
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Trump Hosts Qatari Prime Minister After Israeli Attack in Doha
Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani attends an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, following an Israeli attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, Sept. 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
US President Donald Trump held dinner with the Qatari prime minister in New York on Friday, days after US ally Israel attacked Hamas leaders in Doha.
Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with an attack in Qatar on Tuesday, a strike that risked derailing US-backed efforts to broker a truce in Gaza and end the nearly two-year-old conflict. The attack was widely condemned in the Middle East and beyond as an act that could escalate tensions in a region already on edge.
Trump expressed annoyance about the strike in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and sought to assure the Qataris that such attacks would not happen again.
Trump and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani were joined by a top Trump adviser, US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
“Great dinner with POTUS. Just ended,” Qatar’s deputy chief of mission, Hamah Al-Muftah, said on X.
The White House confirmed the dinner had taken place but offered no details.
The session followed an hour-long meeting that al-Thani had at the White House on Friday with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
A source briefed on the meeting said they discussed Qatar’s future as a mediator in the region and defense cooperation in the wake of the Israeli strikes against Hamas in Doha.
Trump said he was unhappy with Israel’s strike, which he described as a unilateral action that did not advance US or Israeli interests.
Washington counts Qatar as a strong Gulf ally. Qatar has been a main mediator in long-running negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and for a post-conflict plan for the territory.
Al-Thani blamed Israel on Tuesday for trying to sabotage chances for peace but said Qatar would not be deterred from its role as mediator.