Three or maybe four of the 35 films made for Israeli Film Day are directed by women. Festival curator Lihi Sabag cited the figure ahead of the seventh Jerusalem International Women's Film Festival, scheduled for October 12-16 at the Jerusalem Cinematheque and venues across the city.
Sabag curates the program with Shira Meishar and compares it with the slate of films made for Israeli Film Day, held about twice a year. "I don't know if that is a matter of discrimination, but we want to say we have amazing female artists, and it is important to give them a stage," she said. The festival aims to give women's narratives and perspectives the same amount of screen time as men's, while addressing the smaller number of films directed by women.
Stories of Violence, Survival and Care
The five-day program brings together feature films from Israel and abroad, documentaries, shorts, discussions, question-and-answer sessions, workshops, video therapy sessions and free events. Many subjects are heavy. In "La Maison des Femmes," French director Melisa Godet follows a healthcare and support center for women facing abuse and violence by partners, rape and other difficulties.
American journalist-filmmaker Marisa Fox presents "My Underground Mother," an 88-minute documentary about her late mother, Tamar. Fox meets Tamar's former friends and fellow inmates from a forced labor camp in Poland, tracing her life during the Holocaust and her time in pre-state Palestine and the young Israeli state. The film pairs animation with interviews and locations, and examines all-female Nazi camps and the treatment of Holocaust survivors by the then-incipient country. Fox spent about 15 years making it.
Fox sees humor as one way people carry such history. "Humor is a balm for atrocity and for trauma," she said. "I think that's why Jews are such great comics. We know hardship, and we know that one of the best defense mechanisms is to laugh about it and move on."
Another selection, "Frank & Louis," is a prison-set drama-thriller. Swiss director Petra Biondina Volpe draws on the real-life Gold Coats program at the California Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo, where long-term prisoners train to care for elderly inmates with dementia. Sabag said the film stands apart from other prison dramas through its compassion and healing.
Voices Across Communities
The festival opens with "Wild Things," Klil Kovesh's first full-length film after roughly a decade of making shorts. It explores identity, relationships and social values. A lifetime achievement tribute honors Hanna Azoulay Hasfari, an actress, screenwriter, playwright, film director and social activist. The program screens her works "Sh'Chur" and "Orange People."
Filmmaker Nurit Jakobs Yinon's "Alice. Last Conversations" portrays Prof. Alice Shalvi, born in Germany, raised in Britain and moved to Israel soon after the creation of the state. An educator and advocate for feminism and women's education across religions and ethnicities, Shalvi appears in a film focused on the last year of her life, reflecting on 96 years of achievements and regrets. Jakobs Yinon will attend the screening.
Tal Kushner's short "Mikveh," in the Independent Shorts competition, looks behind the scenes at religious women's experiences of intimacy, relationships, motherhood and hopes. Other competitions focus on Student Films and Young Directors, the latter for high school filmmakers. Organizers also plan screenings and events at women's shelters, the Mazkeka, the Van Leer Institute and in haredi neighborhoods.
Carrying the Weight
The festival has faced strain. Sabag said Roni Mahadav-Levin, the Cinematheque's CEO, told her he has never known such challenging years for a festival to navigate. For seven years, she and Meishar have managed budgets and logistics as competition for financial backing remains fierce.
Sabag also described the emotional toll of the October 7 attack, the hostage situation and the violence in Gaza. "More and more things come out, each year on October 7. There is emotional baggage we carry with us. It's hard," she said.
Her response has been a programming choice. In recent years, organizers have looked for films that aren't overly challenging. "Our approach is that we need to present the public with more encouraging material. We have enough horrors around us in real life," Sabag said. She expects attendees to leave buoyant and hopeful, and she's optimistic about what's ahead: "I told Roni we've had our seven challenging years, like the seven thin cows in the Bible. Now we're going to have seven good years, like the seven fat cows."
Why This Matters: Cultural institutions in Israel are working through the aftershocks of October 7 and the war in Gaza, and the festival offers one example of how that happens: by making room for stories of abuse, survival and care, many told by women. Sabag's figure—only three or four of 35 Israeli Film Day films directed by women—points to a gap in whose stories receive funding and reach audiences. Programming at women's shelters and haredi neighborhoods suggests an effort to reach beyond the usual venues. The festival can't resolve the conflict that hangs over it, but it reflects a public still seeking ways to process grief and trauma while holding onto hope.