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A comics legend, a punk band and an Israeli sci-fi drama bring Jewish themes to the Tribeca Film Festival
(New York Jewish Week) – Now 21 years old, New York’s biggest film festival is also reliably rife with Jewish connections. And this year, the festival — which runs at various venues throughout Manhattan, beginning Wednesday evening and continuing through June 18 — boasts a cool crop, ranging from a profile of Jewish comics legend Stan Lee to a mystery surrounding an Iranian dissident artist whose daughter formerly oversaw one of the city’s most unusual Jewish film festivals.
Here are some of the Jewish-interest films premiering at Tribeca this year. If you can’t make it in person, select films this year will be available for streaming following the festival.
“The Future”
Screening in the international narrative competition, this Israeli sci-fi drama plays off the deep divides in Israeli society today. The story is a murder mystery: The head of the country’s space program is killed in the run-up to Israel’s first mission to the moon, and the leader of a new “Minority Report”-esque algorithm designed to predict future acts of terrorism decides to interview a Palestinian university student who has confessed to the murder.
Playing June 10, 11 and 17.
“Stan Lee”
In advance of its streaming premiere on Disney+, this documentary tells the life story of the Jewish Marvel Comics legend who co-created pop culture’s most recognizable superheroes (including Spider-Man, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four). The film also profiles other Jewish comics pioneers in Lee’s orbit, including underground comics publisher Flo Steinberg, who began her career as his secretary.
Playing June 10, 11 and 18.
“A Revolution on Canvas (Untitled Nicky Nodjoumi)”
The former artistic director of the New York Sephardic Film Festival, Sara Nodjoumi has also produced documentaries like “The Iran Job” and “When God Sleeps,” both about the explosive intersection of pop culture and the Iranian regime. Now, Nodjoumi has turned the lens on her own father, Nickzad, an Iranian “treasonous” artist who saw more than 100 of his paintings mysteriously disappear. Co-directed by Nodjoumi and her husband Till Schauder, the documentary attempts to trace the paintings’ disappearance while asking larger questions about the fate of artists in a repressive society.
Playing June 11, 13 and 15.
“Every Body”
This timely documentary on intersex activists from “RBG” co-director Julie Cohen profiles three people born with ambiguous genitalia who hope to push back on common misconceptions about the gender binary and “corrective” surgery in the wake of sweeping legislation targeting trans people in a growing number of states. One of the film’s subjects, Austin-based Alicia Roth Weigel, is Jewish, and has talked about studying Kabbalah because the Book of Genesis describes “the image of God” as “male and female.” The film will receive a broader theatrical release June 30.
Playing June 11, 12 and 16.
“Scream of My Blood: A Gogol Bordello Story”
Self-proclaimed “Gypsy punk” band Gogol Bordello, which has rotated several Jewish members, has been a global cult sensation for decades (with one heck of a live act). This documentary, which will be screened before a live performance from the band, chronicles the group’s raucous history and its explosive new chapter as a loud protest voice in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the homeland of charismatic frontman Eugene Hütz. While Hütz is not Jewish, he told the Manchester Jewish Telegraph that his family often experienced antisemitism from neighbors who had assumed they were. (Hütz also starred in the film adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer’s Jewish metafiction “Everything Is Illuminated.”)
Playing June 13, 14 and 16.
Bonus: Jewish issues in audio storytelling
As podcasts grew in popularity in recent years, TriBeCa has introduced an “audio screening” program to complement its film selections. A few of its audio selections this year are of interest to Jewish audiences. There’s “Shalom, Amore,” a docu-fictional series about an Italian Jewish family during Mussolini’s Fascist regime, featuring the voice talent of Stanley Tucci. “Aisha,” a short audio drama, follows developing tension between a Palestinian girl in Gaza City and an Israeli-American aid worker.
Check festival guide for showtimes.
For more details and information about this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, click here.
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Iran to Boycott World Cup Draw Over Visa Restrictions
Soccer Football – World Cup Playoff Tournament and European Playoff draws – FIFA Headquarters, Zurich, Switzerland- November 20, 2025 The original FIFA World Cup trophy is kept on display during the draws. Photo: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
Iran intends to boycott next week’s World Cup draw due to the limited number of visas allocated to the country’s football federation.
According to the Tehran Times, the United States issued visas to only four members of Iran‘s delegation, with requests for three additional visas denied, including one for Iranian Football Federation (FFIRI) President Mehdi Taj.
“We have informed FIFA that the decisions taken are unrelated to sport and that the members of the Iranian delegation will not participate in the World Cup draw,” FFIRI spokesman Mehdi Alavi said on Friday, per the report.
Alavi said the federation has been in contact with FIFA in an effort to resolve the situation.
The World Cup draw will take place on Dec. 5 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
The expanded 48-team World Cup is being hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19, 2026. Matches will be played at 16 venues, including three in Mexico and two in Canada.
The draw will sort the teams into 12 groups of four. The top two teams from each group and the eight best third-place teams will advance to the knockout stage.
Iran has secured a spot in its fourth consecutive World Cup and seventh appearance overall.
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Dublin to Rename Chaim Herzog Park in a Move Slammed as Attempt to Erase Jewish History
Anti-Israel demonstrators stand outside the Israeli embassy after Ireland has announced it will recognize a Palestinian state, in Dublin, Ireland, May 22, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Molly Darlington
i24 News – Citing the Gaza war, Dublin city council voted to rename a park honoring Israel’s sixth president, the Irish-born Chaim Herzog, in further manifestation of anti-Israel sentiment in the country.
While a new name is yet to be chosen, reports cite efforts by pro-Palestinian activists to change it to the “Free Palestine Park.”
Former Irish justice minister Alan Shatter harshly criticized the vote, charging that “Dublin City Council has now gone full on Nazi & a committee of the Council has determined it should erase Jewish/Irish history. Herzog Park in Rathgar is named after Chaim Herzog, Israel’s 6th President, brought up in Dublin by his father, Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, a friend of Eamon De Valera, who was Chief Rabbi of Ireland & Israel’s first Chief Rabbi… Some councillors want the Park renamed ‘Free Palestine Park.”
The Jewish Representative Council of Ireland issued a statement regarding the renaming of Herzog Park.
“It sends a hurtful and isolating message to a small minority community that has contributed to Ireland for centuries. We call on Dublin City Councillors to reject this motion. The removal of the Herzog name from this park would be widely understood as an attempt to erase our Irish Jewish history.”
A virtuoso diplomat and an intellectual giant, Herzog had served in a variety of roles throughout his storied career, including a memorable stint as the ambassador to the United Nations, where in 1975 he delivered a speech condemning the Soviet-engineered resolution to brand Zionism as a form of racism. The address is now regarded as a classic, along with the oration from the same session by the US Ambassador Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar slammed the decision, saying that Ireland’s “antisemitic and anti-Israel obsession is sickening.”
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Qatar’s Al Thani to Visit Beirut Wednesday to Meet with Lebanon’s Leaders
Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani makes statements to the media with then-US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in Doha, Qatar, Oct. 13, 2023. Photo: Jacquelyn Martin/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed Al Thani will visit Beirut on Wednesday to meet with Lebanon’s leaders, Al-Jadeed reported Saturday.
The visit comes “as part of an effort inseparable from the efforts by Egypt in coordination with Arab countries, foremost among them Saudi Arabia.”
The trip coincides with a sensitive period for the country, ravaged by war and deep economic crisis.
Lebanon is under growing pressure from both Israel and the United States to more swiftly disarm Hezbollah and other Islamist groups across the country, with Israel increasingly inclined to stop the Shiite militia from rearming and rebuilding its infrastructure.
Hezbollah was left devastated in the aftermath of a nine-day war last year, that saw Israel take out its command structure and lay waste to a significant proportion of its missile arsenal.