This year, ZsiFi is becoming a young adult—the film festival has reached its age of a bat mitzvah! We’ll be bringing you the best Israeli and Jewish-themed films the past year with a focus on women and women-created films.  

For 12 years now, the Budapest Jewish and Israeli Film Festival has been a place for entertainment and reflection, providing material for late-night conversations about Jewish and non-Jewish identities, and the current world we live in. The goals for this film festival remains the same as when it first launched: to provide a diverse picture of the colourful Jewish world, often unfamiliar to the majority. 

ZSIFI showcases the latest films from contemporary Jewish creators and a wide range of some of the best Jewish-themed and Israeli films from the past year. The film selection team (comprised of film professionals, JCC Budapest staff, and partners) also pays attention to presenting films from various national backgrounds from Europe, the Americas, and beyond. ZSIFI also strives to showcase films made within the community, providing opportunities for local creators. As part of JCC Budapest’s social responsibility project focusing on women’s empowerment, we chose the festival’s coming of age as an opportunity to emphasize films and discussions cantered around women. 

This year, we are awarding the creations for the second time, announcing the Best Short Film Award, the Most Community-Oriented Film Award, and the Tikun Olam Award, which rewards works that make the world a better place. Of course, there is also an Audience award, so we ask all cinemagoers to make their voices heard!  

The film festival is accompanied by various Jewish cultural programs, some of which will be hosted at a new venue, the Golem Theatre. 

The main organiser of the event has been JCC Budapest for ten years. One of its main sponsors is the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) in Hungary, and other permanent partners and sponsors include the Embassy of the State of Israel, the Budapest Metropolitan Municipality, the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Embassy of the United States of America and MAZSIHISZ.

Collaborating partners: Gólem Theatre and Jewish Performing Arts Centre, Budapest Film, BZSH, Dutch Jewish Humanitarian Fund (JHF), Erzsébetváros, French Institute, Goethe Institute, Hebrew Language Centre, Israeli Cultural Institute, Austrian Cultural Forum.

Celebrate with us ZSIFI’s coming of age!

Tickets go on sale on 16 November at www.artmozi.hu and at the cinema box office.