27-31.10.2025
Young Directors Competition
Competition featuring films by students from high school film programs across Israel.
29.10.25 | Jerusalem Cinematheque
For the first time, the festival will host a competition for final projects by female students from high school film and media programs across Israel, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education.
The competition will feature two curated screenings of selected films, followed by the announcement of the award winners, sponsored by the Kadar Foundation.
Participating schools include:
Program 1
63 Min | Wednesday | 10:00-11:00
Program 2
53 Min | Wednesday | 11:45-12:40
Judges
Smadar Zamir
Smadar Zamir is a director, entrepreneur, and activist promoting women in film and television in Israel. Her films explore women’s experiences in male-dominated spaces, bringing silenced voices of pioneering women into public discourse.
Zamir teaches courses on women directors and cinema and feminism in various programs. She developed a unique high school curriculum for the Ministry of Education, Making Films – Women in Front of and Behind the Camera, and is one of the founders of the Forum of Women Filmmakers and Television Creators in Israel, which works to advance women in the local film industry.
Yael Rubinstein - Nitzan
A creator, screenwriter, and director, and a graduate of the Ma’aleh School of Film and Television. She wrote for Srugim (YES, Israeli Academy Award winner 2009–2010) and the second season of Iron Dome (Kipat Barzel, Keshet).
She is the creator and head writer of East Side (Kan 11, Netflix Israel). Her comparative essays on film, television, and literature have been published in Makor Rishon and Shiloh, and she has taught screenwriting in various programs.
%20-%20Rana%20Abu-Fraiha.jpg)
Rana Abu Fraiha - Assiag
The first Bedouin woman director in Israel, Rana Abu Fraiha-Assiag is also a film editor and screenwriter. She was named to Forbes Israel’s “30 Under 30” list in 2019.
Rana directed and shot her first feature-length documentary, In Her Footsteps, which won multiple awards in Israel and internationally. She is currently editing her first short narrative film and developing her debut feature.
Rana teaches documentary and narrative filmmaking at Sapir Academic College and is deeply committed to advancing Arab and Bedouin cinema in Israel.
