Israeli films, including about the war, featured at Venice Film Festival

While there has been much speculation about whether Israeli films would take part at all in the Venice International Film Festival – one of the world’s largest and most prestigious ones – due to criticism of Israeli over the war in Gaza, the festival announced its lineup on Tuesday and several Israeli films will be included, although none in the main competition.

The Horizons section will feature the international premiere of Dani Rosenberg’s latest film, Of Dogs and Men, which is about a girl (Ori Avinoam) who returns to Kibbutz Nir Oz to search for her lost dog following the October 7 massacre. It was filmed in and around Nir Oz in November 2023 and features many residents of the area. 

Rosenberg’s previous film, The Vanishing Soldier, won the top prize at the Haifa International Film Festival last year and tells the story of a soldier who deserts his unit during fighting in Gaza and is believed to have been taken hostage, although he is hiding out in Tel Aviv. It was made before the war and has not yet been released.

A movie by Scandar Copti called Happy Holidays will also be in the Horizons section. Born in Jaffa, Copti co-directed the Oscar-nominated Israeli feature film Ajami, but following its release, he has been highly critical of the Israeli government and his new movie is not an Israeli production.

Critical acclaim

Amos Gitai is one of Israel’s most acclaimed directors and his latest film, Why War, will premiere at Venice out of competition. The movie looks at a correspondence between Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud on the issue of why countries continue to fight wars. Its stars include Mathieu Amalric, Irene Jacob, Keren Mor, and Yael Abecassis. His movies include Kadosh and Kippur, as well as Shikun, which premiered earlier this year at the Berlin International Film Festival. His films have often been shown at Venice.

Erez Tadmor’s latest movie, Soda, will be shown in a screening sponsored by the city of Venice the night before the festival’s official opening. It stars Rotem Sela (A Body That Works) and Lior Raz (Fauda) in a story set in 1956 Israel, with Sela playing a seamstress suspected of having been a kapo during the Holocaust, and Raz as a former partisan who falls in love with her but is troubled by the rumors.

The Venice festival will open in early September.