Beverly Hills, California — The 37th ISRAEL FILM FESTIVAL in Los Angeles, highlighting the very best of award-winning Israeli dramatic and comedic features and engrossing documentaries, will take place February 4th – 19th and include four U.S. premieres, five west coast premieres, nine Los Angeles premieres and one international premiere while also hosting renowned Israeli filmmakers and talent for post screening Q&As. The Opening Night Gala will honor film and television producer Lawrence Bender (Pulp Fiction, Inglorious Basterds, Good Will Hunting, Red Alert) with the 2026 Israel Film Festival (IFF) Visionary Award, presented to him by actress and humanitarian Sharon Stone. Award-winning filmmaker Eran Riklis (The Syrian Bride, Lemon Tree, Reading Lolita in Tehran) will receive the 2026 Israel Film Festival (IFF) Cinematic Achievement Award, which will be followed by the Los Angeles Premiere of A Letter to David, directed by Tom Shoval, winner of this year’s Israeli Academy Ophir Award for Best Documentary Award. The acclaimed late actor Alon Aboutboul will be remembered with a special Centerpiece 40th anniversary screening of Ricochets. The announcement was made by Meir Fenigstein, founder and executive director of the ISRAEL FILM FESTIVAL.
The ISRAEL FILM FESTIVAL will hold its Opening Night Gala at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills and will screen films at the Regal North Hollywood and the Fine Arts Theatre (Beverly Hills). Visit www.israelfilmfestival.com for a full schedule of festival screenings and to purchase tickets, or call 310-247-1800.
“Now, more than ever, is a time for all of us to come together to share and celebrate our rich and culturally diverse communities and Israeli culture. This year, Israel Film Festival audiences will truly be entertained by gripping dramas, hilarious comedies and compelling documentaries created by both new and renowned Israeli filmmakers and starring the country’s most gifted actors,” noted Fenigstein. “We also look forward to recognizing the valuable artistic contributions made by this year’s honorees Lawrence Bender and Eran Riklis and to remembering the late actor Alon Aboutboul with a Spotlight tribute screening of Ricochets tied to the film’s 40th anniversary.”
The February 4th Opening Night Gala is sponsored by American Friends of NATAL (AFN) and AFN Board Member, Dr. Dity Brunn. NATAL is Israel’s leading trauma-focused organization, providing comprehensive services to individuals, families, and communities impacted by war, terror, and violence.
Among the highlights for this year’s 37th ISRAEL FILM FESTIVAL in Los Angeles:
A LETTER TO DAVID | מכתב לדויד
Winner of the Israeli Film Academy Ophir Award for Best Documentary, filmmaker Tom Shoval crafts a personal cinematic letter to David Cunio, who was abducted from Nir Oz to Gaza on October 7th and was released after 738 days in captivity.
A BURNING MAN | ברנינג מן
Winner of the Haifa International Film Festival Best Israeli Film Award and Best Actor for Shai Avivi, this drama captures the reality of parental fear and dread as a father drives his soldier son to a remote military base, where he says goodbye and is immediately seized by a deep-seated anxiety, terrified he may never see his son again.
BELLA | בלה
A funny, chaotic, and heartwarming Jewish-Arab comedy, the movie chronicles the tumultuous road trip that Yaki, a struggling Israeli musician, takes to retrieve a highly valuable dove that he gave away. It’s a riotous time filled with cynical smirk and a whole lot of heart.
CUZ YOU’RE UGLY |כי את מכוערת
Winner of the Israeli Film Academy Ophir Award for Best Actress, Best Script and Best Casting, the film is an intimate and compelling coming-of-age drama. When an insecure trainee naval officer returns from service to her cramped flat, an unstable mother, and naïve younger sister, she’s on a mission to lose her virginity. The film tackles the internal battle to find beauty within yourself while existing both in a larger body and a digital world that makes one feel too small and too big at the same time. Themes of finding inner beauty despite feeling small or overlooked.
DEAD LANGUAGE | שפה זרה
Winner of the Jerusalem Film Festival for Best Israeli Script and based on the 2015 Oscar® nominee for Best Live Action Short ‘AYA’, this tender, richly nuanced drama is a powerful romantic portrait about yearning and longing for connection, for purpose, for something beyond the confines of everyday life and the fragile spaces between hope and desire.
EID | עיד
Winner of the Israeli Film Academy Ophir Award and the Jerusalem Film Festival for Best Actor, in this touching drama a young man’s dream of becoming a writer is shattered when his family forces him into an arranged marriage. The film, the first feature ever made by a Bedouin filmmaker, offers an invaluable and insightful exploration of Bedouin culture while telling a universal, layered story of oppression, self-reclamation, and the search for freedom.
NANDAURI | נאנדאורי
Winner of five Israeli Film Academy Ophir Award for Best Director, Best Actress, Best Cinematography and Best Script, this extraordinarily beautiful and poignant drama is a riveting exploration of family, memory, and reconciliation when an Israeli woman arrives in a forgotten village in northern Georgia.
OF DOGS AND MEN | על כלבים ואנשים
Winner of the Haifa International Film Festival for Best Narrative Feature at the Haifa International Film Festival, this deeply affecting drama follows a teenage girl as she searches for her lost dog amidst a landscape marked by grief and destruction in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks.
READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN | לקרוא את לוליטה בטהרן
Winner of the Audience Award and a Special Jury Prize at the Rome Film Festival, the film is a powerful moving adaptation of Iranian-American author and professor Azar Nafisi’s memoir. This absorbing and sensitive film set in the extreme Islamic Republic of Iran follows Nafisi across a 24-year period, after the young academic holding a fresh American degree settles in Tehran with her husband in 1979 on the heels of the country’s Islamic Revolution.
RICOCHETS | שתי אצבעות מצידון
A tribute to late Actor Alon Aboutboul on the film’s 40th anniversary
The story of a platoon of Israeli soldiers in Lebanon in 1986, shortly before Israeli withdrawal, and the dilemmas they face in having to fight against Lebanese guerrillas in a hostile but civilian area.
Select screenings will include exclusive post screening interview Q&As with Israel’s most influential filmmakers and talent, each moderated by distinguished Israeli and American journalists. Among the filmmakers and talent scheduled to attend are:
A Burning Man: Actor Shai Avivi
A Letter to David: Producer Gal Greenspan
Bella: Producer Thomas Alfandari
Cabaret Total: Director and Actor Roy Assaf
Cuz You’re Ugly: Director Sharon Engelhart
Dead Language: Director Mihal Brezis, Producer Gal Greenspan
Eid: Director Yousef Abo Madegem
From October 6 to October 7: Former Major General Doron Almog
Heaven and Earth: Actress Hila Saada
Malachi: Director Ido Bahat
Nandauri: Director Eti Tsicko
My One and Only One: Director David Tauber and Producer Eliya Tauber
Of Dogs and Men: Director Dani Rosenberg
Reading Lolita in Tehran: Director Eran Riklis
Remnants: Creator Eden Gurion
We Will Dance Again: Nova Survivor Eitan Halley