The awards of the 40th Haifa International Film Festival were announced on Thursday night and the winner of the Israeli Best Film Award was Real Estate – Love Story directed by Anat Malz, a feature film about a young couple apartment-hunting in Haifa after being priced out of Tel Aviv, who find that their search for the perfect place puts a strain on their relationship. The film also won the Anat Pirhi Best Screenplay Award for Narrative Feature.
This was the first year that the Israeli Film Award included both feature films and documentaries in a single category, a decision that the festival’s artistic director, Yaron Shamir, said would ensure all types of movies would get the attention they deserved.
The Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature went to Halisa by Sophie Artus, which stars Noa Koler as a pediatric nurse struggling with fertility issues who considers adopting one of the babies she cares for.
The winners
The Jury Award for Best Documentary Film went to Eliran Peled’s Kafka’s Last Trial, which traces the strange journey of Kafka’s manuscripts after his friend, Max Brod, took possession of them after the great writer’s death.
The Amit Peled Award for Best Debut Film went to Nitsan Tal’s My Missing Screw, a look at a troubled man who travels the world, trying to heal his soul. This award was given by Peled’s family, in memory of Amit Peled, an aspiring filmmaker and soldier who was killed battling Hamas terrorists at the Kissufim outpost on October 7.
The Helene Schoumann Documentary Research Award went to Hagit Ben Yaakov and Shani Bar David for their work on Efrat Shalom Danon’s Abortion in the Holy Land.
The Haifa Culture Foundation Award for Best Actress went to Hili Yosef Zada for Lee Gilat’s Girls Like Us.
The Haifa Culture Foundation Award for Artistic Achievement was given to photographer Saar Mizrahi and artistic designer Barak Vazan for art design in the film, Cabaret Total, by Roy Assaf.
In the Israeli Short Film Competition, the award for Best Independent Short Film went to two movies: Aba by Claudio Steinberg and The Event Horizon by Shira Geffen. Bar Talmon’s Offside won the prize for Best Student Short Film of the Jerusalem Sam Spiegel School of Film and Television. The award for Best Animated Film went to All of Us Have to Wake Up by Mitya Kokorin.
The Best Film Award in the Carmel International Cinema Competition went to The Brutalist by Brady Corbet. An Honorable Mention was given to Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig, which was the festival’s opening film.
The Golden Anchor Competition – the Debut Film Competition or First or Second Feature went to The Antique by Rusudan Glurjidze and an Honorable Mention went to Three Days of Fish by Peter Hoogendoorn.
Some of these prize winners will be opening in theaters throughout the coming year.