10th Moscow Jewish Film Festival
The 10th anniversary festival programme includes the best and most relevant feature films on Jewish themes released over the past year and not previously shown in Russia.
“This year's programme is largely built around the theme of the fragility of relationships, dialogue and contact: within families, between friends and between strangers. The focus of the programme is to look at what leads us to disunity and loss of self. Everything else — the catastrophes of world history, events in world culture and everyday life — are the consequences of choices made by specific individuals and society as a whole,” says Sergei Sdobnov, the festival's programme director.
This year’s programme includes 9 films:
1. Real Estate (2023, directed by Anat Malz)
A family comedy-drama about a day spent searching for a flat in Haifa. Each flat viewing turns into a little adventure, gradually revealing the couple's relationship.
Tamara, a graphic designer, and Adam, who is temporarily working as a delivery man, live in an old Tel Aviv house that is soon to be demolished. With rent prices rising, they realise they can no longer afford to stay in the city. Together, they decide to move to Haifa, Adam's hometown.
The search for an apartment turns out to be not only a logistical challenge, but also an emotional one. Tamara, practical and thoughtful, is ready for anything: she already has a list of flats and a clear plan. Adam takes a more relaxed approach, is in no hurry to make decisions and does not want to say goodbye to the people and familiar rhythm of life in Tel Aviv. Their views on life diverge, and with the imminent birth of their child, this becomes particularly noticeable.
Language: Hebrew
2. Neuilly-Poissy (2024, directed by Grégory Boutboul)
A schemer and smooth talker, juggling his thriving business and fulfilling family life, Daniel is a happy man. But after a financial scandal, he suddenly has to swap his luxurious flat in Neuilly for a 9m² cell in Poissy prison. From suit and tie to tracksuit and flip-flops, the fall is brutal. Daniel finds himself lost in an environment whose codes he does not know. But that's without counting on his gift of the gab, his sense of humour and his innate ability to get by.
Language: French
3. La Vie Devant Moi (2025, directed by Nils Tavernier)
The film tells the story of the Vel d'Hiv roundup, the largest mass arrest of Jews in France during World War II. Young Tauba Zilberstein and her parents, Moshe and Rivka, Polish Jews, found refuge in the servants' quarters. There, the Dinassos helped them hide and wait until things calmed down. But the wait dragged on for two long years. How do you live locked up, three people in six square metres, in fear of being discovered at any moment?
Language: French
4. The Vanishing Soldier (2023, directed by Dani Rosenberg)
18-year-old Israeli soldier Shlomi leaves his unit in Gaza behind to see his girlfriend Shiri in Tel Aviv. She is about to leave to study in Canada. He soon learns that the Israeli army is looking for him and has reported him missing in the Gaza Strip — which could have serious consequences. The film paints a vivid portrait of a young man who is depressed by his military service. During his 24-hour escape through the streets of Tel Aviv, the film shifts genres from romance to thriller, from drama to situation comedy.
Language: Hebrew, English, French
5. Fantasy Life (2025, directed by Matthew Shear)
After losing his job as a paralegal, Sam Stein suffers from panic attacks. To earn a living, he takes a job as a nanny for his psychiatrist's three granddaughters. The girls' mother, Diane, is an actress whose once promising career has stalled. Her marriage to David, a rock bassist, is also at an impasse. When David goes abroad on tour, Diane and Sam realise they are attracted to each other. Later, Sam goes on holiday with Diane's family, also as a nanny, and ends up spending the whole summer in a house with the woman he is attracted to, her husband, their children, and all the grandparents, including his psychiatrist.
Language: English
6. The Property (2024, directed by Dana Modan)
Regina and her granddaughter Mika travel to Poland to reclaim family property confiscated during World War II. Regina mourns the recent death of her son, Mika's father, and the trip serves as a change of scenery for her — she returns to her native Warsaw for the first time. But the search for the property is quickly abandoned on the grandmother's initiative. While her granddaughter and a family relative who travelled with them try to find the address of the house, Regina searches for her long-lost love, whom she left behind in Poland 70 years ago, and her granddaughter falls in love with a comic book artist who is their guide. Based on the graphic novel by Rutu Modan, the director's sister, the film skilfully balances comedy and drama.
Language: Hebrew, Polish, English
7. Brother Verses Brother (2025, directed by Ari Gold)
A deeply personal musical odyssey about searching for one's roots, performed by director Ari Gold and his brother, songwriter Ethan, filmed in several long takes in the style of Francis Ford Coppola's "living cinema." The two brothers are constantly arguing over their different outlooks on life: one brother seeks love and romance, while the other wants to find a stable job. But they unite to search for their father, a beat poet, in San Francisco. This film is a real safari through the secret places of Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, featuring the band Weezer, poet Tongo Eisen-Martin, and the last beat poet, 99-year-old Herbert Gold.
Language: English
8. The City (2023, directed by Amit Ulman)
This Israeli noir rap opera tells a story of a mysterious disappearance, love and betrayal. Nightclub singer Sarah Bennett asks private detective Joe to find her missing sister. As the investigation progresses, Joe becomes increasingly fascinated by Sarah, but soon she finds herself among the prime suspects — along with crime boss Menashe, who has long held the entire city in fear. And when Joe's partner disappears, the police's suspicions fall on the detective himself.
Language: Hebrew
9. Polacas (2023, directed by João Jardim)
1917. Rebecca and her son Joseph flee war-torn Poland, escaping hunger and Jewish genocide. In Brazil, in Rio de Janeiro, they are to be met by Rebecca's husband, who left earlier in search of work. But her dreams of a fresh start are not destined to come true: upon arrival Rebecca learns that her husband has died. Left alone in a foreign country, without work or support, she falls victim to a human trafficking organisation and forced prostitution ring led by a Jewish man named Zvi. He kidnaps her son, and now, in order to save him, Rebecca is ready to go against her convictions to fight for freedom — her own and that of other Jewish women who have fallen captive.
Language: Portuguese
Do not miss the opportunity to watch these hidden gems!
Shared by
