Founded in 1997, the UK Jewish Film Festival is an annual event which takes place for two weeks each November. This year, the festival has gone online, meaning that it provides an ideal opportunity to immerse yourself in Jewish film from the comfort of your own home. The festival began on 5 November and runs until 19 November, with a number of fantastic films and events yet to be broadcast.

UK Jewish Film will showcase 73 films in total. The films reflect a diversity of Jewish life, culture and experience and are currently exclusively available to festival viewers. From powerful international dramas to outrageous Jewish comedy to real life stories, this is one of the best line-ups the dedicated team at UK Jewish Film has ever compiled. It includes films in 10 different languages and from 16 countries with the three ‘Gala’ films each having been directed by women. The virtual format (accessible via Amazon Fire stick, Chromecast, Roku and other platforms) has allowed the festival to broaden its scope, with television series also available for viewing throughout the course of the festival.

All films including synopsis and trailers can be found here,  but our notable highlights include:

COMEDY: Honeymood

available from 19 November @7.30pm until 21 November @7.30pm

Arriving at a deluxe hotel suite after their grand wedding, Noam and Elinor expect nothing less than an unforgettable night. What comes next is indeed memorable, but for all the wrong reasons. A lovers’ fight leads to a late night wanderings through the streets of Jerusalem and a series of bizarre encounters with ex partners, the groom’s parents, a few random passersby and a robot vacuum cleaner. Charmingly romantic and hilariously funny, Honeymood is director Talya Lavie’s eagerly-awaited follow up to her smash hit Zero Motivation, and like its predecessor, a pure joy.

DRAMA: Peaches and Cream

available from16 November @7.30pm until 18 November @7.30pm

Attending a poorly-attended screening of his brand-new film leaves anxious director Zuri Shustak with an overwhelming feeling of distress and what might be a heart attack. Joined by a sympathetic taxi driver, an eccentric blogger and a pleasure-seeking best friend, Zuri embarks on a nocturnal – and spiritual – journey that takes take him from the nearest A&E to a nightclub and back, and from rock bottom to happiness and acceptance (sort of). Israeli cult filmmaker Gur Bentwich (Planet Blue, The Bentwich Syndrome) is back with a wonderfully entertaining film about life, death and cinema (in no particular order).

DOCUMENTARY: Breaking Bread

available from 15 November @4.30pm until 17 November @4.30pm

This delicious documentary follows a group of Palestinian and Jewish chefs who take part in a unique food festival in the mixed city of Haifa. The feel-good – and extremely appetising – message of the film is clear: Arabs and Jews should unite over their love of food rather than fighting over politics and territory. And while the issue of cultural appropriation is explored, it is the power of a freshly chopped Israeli/Arab salad, exquisite mussakhan or kreplach and qatayef made to perfection that makes a decades-long conflict seem truly solvable. Warning: this film is likely to make you hungry.

DOCUMENTARY: They Call Me Dr Miami

available from 15 November @7.30pm until 17 November @7.30pm

Known to his millions of Snapchat followers as Dr. Miami, plastic surgeon Michael Salzhauer is the perfect embodiment of a culture that, with the help of social media, has become obsessed with body perfection and cosmetic improvements. At home, however, Salzhauer is a happily married, father-of-five Orthodox Jew, who is in constant dialogue – with his family members as well as himself – about the conflicts that arise from his line of work, which, at its core, seeks to correct what was given to us by God. They Call Me Dr. Miami offers a fascinating, if often quite shocking, look at modern-day values and aspirations.

TV SERIES: Muna

8 episodes available until 30 November

Muna is a liberal Arab-Israeli photographer living in Tel Aviv, where she shares a studio with a fellow Palestinian artist and dates a Jewish TV producer. Chosen to represent Israel in a prestigious exhibition in Paris, her career reaches new heights, but as a result of her new-found success she also becomes the target of vicious criticism. Refusing to choose a side, Muna soon learns co-existence is not as simple as she may have initially thought. Mouna Hawa (In Between, Fauda) is wonderful as the titular character in this acutely timely new Israeli TV show.

SHORTS SPECIAL EVENT: The Young Jury Award

available 18 November @7.30pm until 19 November @7.30pm

A highlight in and of itself, the Young Jury Award features short films which have been watched and judged by a panel of film enthusiasts aged 18-30. The top 3 shorts will be presented by the young jury and between them, cover a range of styles, genres and subject matter. Tickets are just 99p and available here.

A full-access pass for the UK Jewish Film Festival can be bought for £35 whilst single films and short programmes can be bought separately for between 99p and £15 – all information and ticket bookings are available on the UK Jewish Film website.  

Words by Lucy Firestone