The 42nd edition of the Haifa International Film Festival will take place from September 26 – October 3, 2026. The rich and diverse program features new films from leading directors, and award-winning films from major international festivals.
Some Festival Highlights
Minotaur, directed by exiled Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev, was awarded the Grand Prix at the 79th Cannes Film Festival. The screenplay, co-written with Simon Liashenko, is based on Claude Chabrol’s 1969 film La femme infidèle. Set in 2022 Russia, the film focuses on Gleb (Dmitriy Mazurov), a successful CEO of a transport company, who lives in a stylish home with his wife Galina (Iris Lebedeva) and their teenage son Seryozha (Boris Kudrin). Called to an urgent meeting with the mayor, he is informed that Russia needs more soldiers, and anyone not essential must enlist. With pressures at work and at home, Gleb is determined to keep his world intact. Zvyagintsev was a guest of the festival in 2014 with his film Leviathan.
All of a Sudden is directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, and stars Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto, who shared the prize for Best Actress at the 79th Cannes Film Festival. The screenplay, co-written by Hamaguchi and Léa Le Dimna, is inspired by the non-fiction book You and I – The Illness Suddenly Get Worse by Makiko Miyano and Maho Isono. Marie-Lou Fontaine (Efira) is the director of a nursing home in Paris who believes strongly that the elderly deserve care and respect. Like many in this demanding field, she is exhausted and drained, but her life changes when she meets terminally ill Japanese playwright Mari Morisaki (Okamoto).
Coward, the latest film by Director Lukas Dhont (Girl 2018, Close 2022), is set in the trenches of World War I. Pierre (Emmanuel Macchia) serves at the Belgian front alongside other comrades. One of them is Francis (Valentin Campagne), who decides to put on small performances to boost their fellow soldiers’ morale. Macchia and Campagne shared the Best Actor Award at Cannes.
Everytime, written and directed by Sandra Wollner, won the Un Certain Regard award at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival. A tragedy brings a mother, daughter, and teenage boy together. Struggling with blame and forgiveness, the unlikely trio take a trip to Tenerife for a family holiday that never happened. Under the glow of the sun, past and present quietly start to overlap.
Zou Jing’s feature debut, A Girl Unknown, won the FIPRESCI prize at the 2026 Cannes Festival Semaine de la Critique, as well as the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution. Set in the 1980s, during China’s one-child policy, the film follows Wang Juan who was given up for adoption after her father died and her mother remarried and became pregnant. From age 6 to 18 she moves through three families, each time given a new name and way of life.
Dua, directed by Blerta Basholli, with a screenplay co-written by Basholli and Nicole Borgeat, is based on the director’s personal experiences. The film premiered at the 2026 Cannes Festival Semaine de la Critique where it won the SACD Award. Set in late 1990s Pristina, Kosovo, the film stars Pinea Matoshi as 13-year-old Dua, the youngest of four siblings in an Albanian family living through the turmoil of an ethnically riven Kosovo. The tensions and excitement of her teenage years take place amid the daily discrimination, violence, and threat of imminent war.
Sarah Arnold’s debut feature Too Many Beasts won best European film at the 2026 Cannes Festival’s Director’s Fortnight. In the French countryside, wild boars ravaging crops spark an open war between farmers and members of a gentlemen’s hunting club, who feed the game between hunts. Brun, a bankrupt farmer, struggles to keep his farm afloat. When the club’s president pushes him to his limits, Brun shoots him and disappears. A year later, Fulda, a volatile police officer just transferred to the region, leads the investigation. Still struggling after a recent breakup, and as wild boars proliferate across the region, he is pushed to the brink of sanity.
Queen at Sea, written and directed by Lance Hammer, won the Silver Bear Jury Prize at the 76th Berlin International Film Festival. Amanda (Juliette Binoche) and her stepfather Martin (Tom Courtenay) disagree on how to care for Leslie (Anna Calder-Marshall), Amanda’s mother who has dementia. The two try to cope with the difficult decisions that must be made. Courtenay and Calder-Marshall both won the Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance.
Everybody Digs Bill Evans, directed by Grant Gee, with a screenplay by Mark O’Halloran, based on the novel Intermission by Owen Martell. The film won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 76th Berlin International Film Festival. New York, June 1961. Legendary jazz pianist Bill Evans has found his musical voice and created the perfect trio, including bass player Scott LaFaro, his musical soulmate. A residency at New York’s Village Vanguard culminates in the live taping of two of the greatest jazz records of all time in one day. Only a few days later, LaFaro dies tragically in a car crash. Numb with grief, Evans stops playing for the first time since his childhood. This is the story of what happened next for one of the most influential and gifted figures in 20th century music.
Written and directed by François Ozon, The Stranger is based on Albert Camus’ 1942 novel. The film held its world premiere at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival. Set in French-occupied Algeria of the 1930s, Benjamin Voisin stars as Meursault, who is accused of murdering an Arab man. The Stranger won Best Film at the Lumière Awards, as well as Best Actor for Voisin, and Best Cinematography for Manuel Dacosse.
Mads Mengel was awarded Best Director at the 2026 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival for The Guest. New parents Karl and Emilie are looking forward to a weekend at a seaside hotel, where they plan to announce their child’s name and thus officially welcome him to the world. A day before the celebration, however, Karl’s mother Vibeke (Trine Dyrholm) shows up, with whom he hasn’t spoken in several years.
Bedford Park, directed by Stephanie Ahn, won the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Debut Feature at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. Audrey (Moon Choi), is torn between loyalty to her Korean immigrant family and her identity as a woman in her 30s, living in Bedford Park, who has grown up in America. When her mother is involved in a car accident, Audrey returns to her parent’s home, where she meets Eli (Son Suk-ku) a former wrestler.
Hold onto Me, written and directed by Myrsini Aristidou, won the Audience Award at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. 11-year-old Iris lives in a sleepy seaside town in Cyprus. One day she learns her estranged father, Aris, is back in town for his own father’s funeral. Determined to know him, Iris tracks him down to a dilapidated shipyard, where he’s been keeping to himself. Debut feature.
Sundays, written and directed by Alauda Ruiz de Azúa, won the Golden Shell at the 73rd San Sebastián International Film Festival. Blanca Soroa stars as 17-year-old Ainara, whose family gathers for lunch every Sunday at the home of her grandmother in Bilbao. On the brink of graduating from high school, one Sunday Ainara shocks her family when she announces that instead of attending university, she plans to become a nun.
The Violinist, a hand-drawn animated feature co-directed by Singaporean filmmaker Ervin Han and Spanish director Raul Garcia, won the Cristal Award for best film at the 2026 Annecy International Animation Film Festival. As a Spanish reporter uncovers the mystery behind an aging violin legend and her treasured instrument, a forgotten story of love, war and music emerges. In 1930s Singapore, childhood friends Fei and Kai are bound by music until war and the Japanese occupation tear them apart.
In the Haifa Classics Program there will be a tribute to living legend Barbra Streisand – singer, songwriter, actress, author, filmmaker, and EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony winner), featuring four of her beloved films: A Star is Born (1976), Funny Girl (1968), Hello, Dolly! (1969), and Yentl (1983).
Closing the Haifa International Film Festival will be Nanni Moretti’s latest film It Will Happen Tonight, following its world premiere at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival. The screenplay, co-written with co-written with Federica Pontremoli and Valia Santella, is inspired by the short story collection Hungry Heart by Eshkol Nevo. For the first time, Moretti who usually portrays a main role in his films, appears only in a cameo. The film stars Louis Garrel and Jasmine Trinca.
The Haifa International Film Festival takes place with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Sports – Israeli Film Council, the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Regional Cooperation, and the Haifa Municipality. The festival’s Artistic Director is Yaron Shamir, and it is produced by Ethos – The Haifa Municipality Art, Culture and Sports Association Company. The full program and ticket information will be available on the Haifa Film Festival website: https://www.haifaff.co.il/eng.
