43rd Jerusalem Film Festival 2026: Full Lineup, Participants, and the Year’s Biggest Films
From July 9 to 19, 2026, Israel will host the 43rd Jerusalem Film Festival (JFF) – one of the year’s most anticipated and significant cultural events. This year, audiences can look forward to screenings of over 200 films from 50 countries. The grand opening ceremony will take place under the stars at the historic Sultan’s Pool (Brekhat HaSultan) complex, gathering an estimated 6,000 guests. The festival will kick off with the Israeli premiere of director Moshe Rosenthal’s Tell Me Everything.
The 43rd festival’s program encompasses a wide array of works from both Israeli and international cinema. The national sections will feature narrative films, documentaries, shorts, and experimental projects, the majority of which will be world premieres. In addition to the main screenings, organizers have curated a special retrospective dedicated to the history of Israeli cinema. Audiences will have the opportunity to view digitally restored versions of classic films, including Uri Barbash’s renowned 1984 drama “Beyond the Walls”, as well as early works by directors Ayelet Menahemi and Nirit Yaron.
The centerpiece of the Jerusalem Film Festival is traditionally the prestigious Israeli Feature Film Competition (The Haggiag Competition). In 2026, six standout full-length projects will compete for the top honors. Among them is the world premiere of Hadas Ben Aroya’s “I Can’t Say No to Myself”, a poignant love story about an Israeli dancer and a German poet in Berlin whose relationship is navigating a severe crisis. Directors David Ofek and Nahd Bashir will present the social drama “Amal”, which follows a mother desperately trying to save her son from the vicious cycle of a blood feud.
Also standing out in the main narrative competition is Gidi Dar’s “The Wedding Entertainer”, focusing on a formerly successful Jerusalem performer struggling to return to a normal life. Assaf Machnes’s debut work, “Where To?”, details the unexpected nocturnal encounters between a Palestinian driver and a lost young Israeli in Berlin. Rounding out the competition are Efrat Corem’s *Heart of Gold*, which explores the theme of forgotten psychological trauma, and Ruthy Pribar’s “What Is To Come”, starring Ronit Yudkevitch in the leading role.
This season’s documentary competition promises to be equally strong. Drawing significant attention from industry experts is Yael Abecassis’s “I Am Neo”, constructed from hundreds of hours of intimate footage to detail a young boy’s long rehabilitation process following an accident. “Good Morning Gaza”, co-directed by Hanan Brandes and Matan Sakofski, will portray the lives and psychology of people during wartime through the lens of an improvised army podcast. A profound emotional response is anticipated for Yula Gidron’s “Find Me, Okay?”, which documents a family’s grueling fight to bring home hostage Eden Yerushalmi.
Out of competition, audiences will be treated to the world premiere of David Fisher’s documentary “The Survivor in the Tuxedo: Following Elie Wiesel”. The film offers a deep, multi-layered portrait of the famous Nobel Peace Prize laureate, exploring questions of ambition, memory, and the heavy burden of witnessing historical catastrophes.
The 2026 Jerusalem Film Festival will once again serve as a premier platform for cultural exchange, world-class premieres, and the discovery of new talent in the film industry.
