The Jewish International Film Festival 2024 (JIFF) opens later this month, bringing a slate of 41 feature films, two television series, and a special short film showcase.
JIFF artistic director Eddie Tamir said this year’s festival would again recognise the unifying power of film.
“More than ever the arts, like film, have a role to bridge those gaps and bring some kind of unity to society,” he said.
“With good film, you go beyond stereotypes, and that’s so important to get across.
“That’s what JIFF attempts to do, and that’s why JIFF and other multicultural festivals give the opportunity to serve that purpose and get across authenticity, humanity, and diversity in each culture.”
He added the line-up’s appeal goes beyond the Jewish community.
“These are premieres of world-class films, so perfect for the cinephile, as well as for those interested and wanting to get any insight in the Jewish perspective on things,” he said.
Jesse Eisenberg’s Sundance award-winning A Real Pain, which follows two cousins who reunite for a road trip across Poland to honour their grandmother, will open this year’s event. The line-up also includes Nathan Silver’s Between the Temples, starring Jason Schwartzman as a cantor navigating loss and rediscovery following a personal loss with the help of his former music teacher, and closing film Shira Piven’s The Performance, starring Jeremy Piven as a conflicted Jewish American tap dancer presented with an offer to perform for Adolf Hitler himself.
A last-minute addition to this year’s lineup is Brady Corbet’s historical epic The Brutalist, starring Adrien Brody and Australian Guy Pearce.The Brutalist will receive a special presentation at JIFF 2024 ahead of it’s 2025 release.
Elsewhere there is Zar Amir Ebrahimi and Guy Nattiv’s Tatami, the first film co-directed by an Iranian and an Israeli director, which follows an Iranian judo fighter pressured by the Islamic Regime to throw her fight against an Israeli competitor or else be branded a traitor of the state; and Daniela Völker’s The Commandants Shadow, a documentary companion piece to 2023’s The Zone of Interest.
Tamir singled out Tatami and The Commandant’s Shadow as having wide-reaching appeal.
“Both films are really powerful in terms of a wider audience – films like that just talk about understanding, reconciliation, and trying to find a more peaceful place in the world,” he said.
JIFF 2024 will run from 27 October to 22 December 2024. The full program of films is available here.