The Jerusalem International Women's Film Festival will run October 12-16, with organizers bringing films and events to venues across the city as they contend with what artistic director Lihi Sabag described as the emotional weight of the October 7 attack, the subsequent hostage situation and 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,” Sabag said. The five-day program includes feature films from Israel and abroad, documentaries, shorts, discussions, question-and-answer sessions, workshops, video therapy sessions and free events. The Jerusalem Cinematheque, the festival's traditional hub, is among its venues.
A festival through difficult years
Sabag said organizers have kept working through difficult years for the festival. “Roni [Mahadav-Levin], the CEO of the Cinematheque, told me he has never known such challenging years for a festival to navigate,” she said. For seven years, Sabag and co-curator Shira Meishar have handled budgets and logistics.
Sabag compared those years to the biblical account of Pharaoh's dream, which Joseph interpreted. “I told Roni we've had our seven challenging years, like the seven thin cows [in Pharaoh's dream, interpreted by Joseph] in the Bible. Now we're going to have seven good years, like the seven fat cows,” she said. Many films tackle heavy subjects, but Sabag expects attendees to leave buoyant and hopeful.
The program also examines women's place in Israeli film. Sabag and Meishar compare films made for Israeli Film Day, held about twice a year. “Out of 35 films, there are three or maybe four directed by women,” she said. “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.” The festival aims to give women's narratives and perspectives as much screen time as men's, while addressing the smaller number of films directed by women.
Films on trauma, survival and care
The festival opens with “Wild Things,” the first full-length film by Klil Kovesh, who has made shorts over roughly the past decade. The film examines identity, relationships and social values. The festival will also honor actress, screenwriter, playwright, film director and social activist Hanna Azoulay Hasfari with a lifetime achievement tribute, screening her works “Sh'Chur” and “Orange People.”
“My Underground Mother,” a documentary by American journalist-filmmaker Marisa Fox, traces the life of her late mother, Tamar. Fox meets Tamar's former friends and fellow inmates from a forced labor camp in Poland, examining her life during the Holocaust, in pre-state Palestine and in the young Israeli state. The 88-minute film brings together animation, interviews and locations, following accounts of trauma, resilience, pain and survival. Fox said, “Humor is a balm for atrocity and for trauma.” The documentary also addresses all-female Nazi camps and how the then-incipient country treated Holocaust survivors.
The program also includes “Frank & Louis,” a prison drama-thriller based 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, and French drama “La Maison des Femmes,” about a support center for women facing abuse, partner violence and rape. Organizers have also planned screenings and events at women's shelters, the Mazkeka, the Van Leer Institute and in haredi neighborhoods.