By Stephen Silver
Last April, the Israeli Film Festival of Philadelphia made international headlines, although not for reasons the organizers likely wanted.
The festival was picketed and targeted for boycotts by anti-Israel activists, who also pressured the festival’s venue to cancel screenings. One sold-out screening of the documentary “The Child Within Me” was cancelled by the Bryn Mawr Film Institute, although a court later ordered the screening to go forward as scheduled.
Now, the Israeli Film Festival of Philadelphia is getting ready to return for its 2025 edition, which will utilize different venues. The 29th annual festival will consist of eight films between March 22 and 30, with five of them taking place at the Weitzman Museum of American Jewish History, two other films showing at the Reel Cinemas theater in Narberth, and one at Gratz College.
“With the war in Israel, we had a lot of challenges when we were trying to screen films,” Karnit Biran, the festival’s new executive director, told the Exponent about last year’s festival in a February interview.
It’s the Weitzman’s first time hosting the festival, which has moved among different venues over the years. Going back to BMFI was a nonstarter, Biran said, after last year’s events.
As for the Philadelphia Film Society venues, which have hosted the festival in recent years and had been targeted by the protesters, “they didn’t say they did not want to screen us, but they kind of didn’t want to commit until the last minute.” So Biran, to avoid the possibility of last-minute cancellations, went with “screening our films and partnering with venues that have the same agenda like us — they support Israel, and they want to share Israeli culture. They’re where we are welcome, and not that I need to fight for us to be there.”
The Reel Cinemas theater in Narberth had offered to screen “The Child Within Me” last year after BMFI cancelled it, and this year stepped up to host part of the festival. And Gratz, which has participated in the festival in the past, also stepped in to host a screening.
Biran, who was born in Israel, has been involved with the festival for 12 years in a variety of roles. She is joined on the board by production manager Galit Iloni, operations manager Sigal David, community relations manager Reut Baror, and film media specialist Aelon Porat.
“I believe in the cause; especially now with the war going on in Israel, I think it’s important [to show Israeli films],” Biran said. “The movies we bring are all Israeli — Hebrew, Israeli actors, makers, directors, screenwriters — it’s 100 percent made in Israel,” although she added that all films shown will have English subtitles.
The Israeli Film Festival was founded in 1996 and has taken place every year since, including a virtual festival in 2021 during the pandemic; the 2020 festival hosted opening night in person in March 2020 before going virtual once theaters were shut down. The Israeli Film Festival is a separate organization from Philadelphia Jewish Film and Media, although the two groups have frequently partnered on events.
While the organization in October co-hosted a one-off screening of the Oct. 7 documentary “We Will Dance Again” at the Weitzman, the Israeli Film Festival lineup itself this year is focused less on politics and war and more on different stories of day-to-day life in Israel.
“We wanted it to be a little bit more uplifting and a celebration of Israeli culture … rather than watching another difficult movie,” she said.
The festival features three films from Israeli filmmaker Erez Tadmor, who will be on hand for two of them: 2023’s “Children of Nobody,” showing March 23 at the Weitzman, is the Tel Aviv-set story of a man running a shelter for neglected and abused teens and the fight to save that shelter; and “Soda,” from 2024 and showing that night at the Weitzman, is the story of a seamstress who arrives in a community of Holocaust survivors in the Galilee in 1956. A third Tadmor film, 2024’s “Matchmaking 2,” plays the Weitzman on March 30.
The opening film of the festival is “Bliss,” from filmmaker Shemi Zarhin, who will also appear when it is shown on Saturday, March 22, at the Weitzman. The story of a couple whose life is disrupted by the arrival of two young men, it co-stars the acclaimed actor Sasson Gabay.
On March 25, the Narberth theater is hosting a documentary called “His Own Way,” about Israeli filmmaker Avi Nesher. Two nights later, the same theater hosts “Midlife,” a drama from filmmakers Danni Reisfeld and Yariv Horowitz about two sisters with different attitudes towards religious faith.
On March 29, Gratz will host “The Ring,” a drama from filmmakers Adir Miller, Doron Paz and Yoav Paz.
Narberth and Gratz will feature security, including the cooperation of the local police departments, as well as the hiring of off-duty police officers at the entrance; the Weitzman handles its own security.
Last year, Biran said, was the first time in the festival’s history that there had been a boycott threat of any kind.
Those calling for boycotts of the festival, especially in 2024, have specifically accused the festival of carrying out the whims of the Israeli government due in part to its sponsorship by the Consulate General of Israel in New York and Israel Bonds.
“The Israeli Consulate is an arm of the Israeli state, and Israel Bonds finances the Israeli government’s budget,” an Instagram post of the Philly Palestine Coalition stated last April.
However, Biran notes that the consulate has a lot less involvement in the festival than that implies. The consulate provided some funds to the festival in the past, she said, back when the consulate had a presence in Philadelphia, but that hasn’t been the case for several years.
“We have a mission of sharing the Israeli narrative, but not from a governmental or political way,” she said. “Really, more on a social level and an artistic level.
“The last five years, I’ve seen no connection between them and us,” Biran said of the consulate. “I would say that we are 100 percent nonpolitical. … It’s mostly funded by the local community, who provide us with donations and local businesses, who sponsor us, and the income we make from selling tickets. There’s really no direct or indirect connection to the government in Israel.
“We are an independent not-for-profit organization with no ties to the Israeli government,” Biran added. “We are promoting the richness and diversity of Israeli art and culture and not a political organization.”
It’s not clear whether local activists are planning to protest the festival again.
Back in January, an Instagram page for what appears to be the national BDS movement made a post that thanked “the Philadelphia Film Society, Philly-based organizers, and all venues boycotting complicit Israeli film festivals.”
No protestors showed up last Wednesday for an International Women’s Day special screening, presented by the festival, of the documentary “Full Support,” which took place in Narberth. The Instagram page of the Philly Palestine Coalition, which featured information about the festival protests last April, appears mostly focused on the protests at Swarthmore College.
“Last year, despite a lot of noise and threats and stuff like that … everything was fine and there was no real threat,” Biran said of the security measures. “But at the same time, I’d rather be safe and make everyone feel safe, so we’re going on the side of precaution.”
Stephen Silver is a Broomall-based freelance writer.