{"id":55223,"date":"2025-08-26T20:02:03","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T17:02:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=55223"},"modified":"2025-08-26T20:02:03","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T17:02:03","slug":"tisff-tel-aviv-international-student-film-festival-awards-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=55223","title":{"rendered":"TISFF \u2013 Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival Awards 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
After Counting All Votes\/Photo: Amnon Halbersberg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 27th<\/sup>\u00a0Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival (TISFF) announced the award winners tonight in a festive ceremony that took place this evening at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque. Due to the protest scheduled for tonight at 20:00 at Hostage Square, the festival management decided to hold the ceremony earlier than planned, at 18:30, as a symbol of their identification with the families of the hostages, and to enable the filmmakers, students, and guests of the festival to take part in the struggle for the immediate release of the hostages.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are excited to announce the festival winners this year. Amidst such a difficult and painful reality, we are proud and happy that we succeeded in holding a festival that nurtures young filmmakers, providing them with a warm home for creating, and enables audiences to encounter new and inspiring voices. This year more than ever, the cinema was filled with viewers who came to celebrate young cinema, and who emerged with a bit more hope in their hearts. Many thanks to those who came, embraced and supported us, and who were part of this celebration,\u201d stated Festival Directors Oshrit Bitton and Daniel Gal.<\/p>\n

Israeli Competition<\/h4>\n

Judges: Limor Shmila, Eran Riklis, Martin Scheuring<\/p>\n

After Counting All Votes<\/em>, written and directed by Amnon Halbersberg (Sam Spiegel Film and Television School, Jerusalem) was awarded Best Film in the Israeli competition. The judges statement: \u201cA very personal, moving, and painful, exploration of the national existence from 2022 onwards, which had a painful turn in 2023. The personal merges with the complex state of Israeli society in all its different hues and generations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Riki Rotter won the Most Promising Director Award for her film Kosher Test. Best Screenplay was awarded to Yehuda Bogomolny for his film The Witness. Ben Maor was awarded Best Cinematography for the film Exposure. Mika Friehmann was awarded Best Editing for the film Kamad. An Honorable Mention for Best Acting was awarded to Mariam Mora for the film Sila. Audience Favorite was awarded to Tomer Shaham for the film Savta and I. An Honorable Mention was awarded to Gal Salomon for the film Bottle. Sea. Love.<\/p>\n

International Competition<\/h4>\n

Judges: Tamira Yardeni, Karin Anna Rywkind Segal, Valentina Zalevska, Or Lee-Tal, Eliran Peled<\/p>\n

\"\"
Skin on Skin\/Photo: Nico Schrenk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Skin on Skin<\/em>, directed by Simon Schneckenburger (Filmakademie Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg, Animationsinstitut) with a screenplay by Schneckenburger and Marie Wagner was awarded Best Film in the International Competition. The judges statement: \u201cThe director Simon Schneckenburger presents a bold and mature vision, that merges physical intimacy with pointed social critique. Through impressive visuals and mesmerizing acting, he builds a powerful story in which a fragile delicacy manages to survive within institutional cruelty. This entirety makes Skin on Skin an unforgettable work and worthy of a prize.\u201d<\/p>\n

Agustina Sanchez Gavier was awarded Most Promising Director for the film Our Own Shadow. Boris Gavrilovi\u0107, Laura Lybaschenko, and Ecem Calisir were awarded Best Screenplay for the film Balkan, Baby. Best Cinematography was awarded to Elisa Fioritto for Phantom. Best Editing was awarded to Lucas L\u00f6rch for the film The Last Bet. Honorable Mentions were awarded to the films The Risk of Childhood, directed by Luis Fernando Portales Ruiz, and The Truck, directed by Elizabeth Rao.<\/p>\n

This year, for the first time, the \u201cGolden Bone\u201d will be awarded to Roger the dog, for the Best Performance by an animal, in the film And a Whisper Will Be Heard (Last Scenes at my Father\u2019s House), directed by Yuval Parnass-Madar.<\/p>\n

Short Independent Competition<\/h4>\n

Judges: No\u00e9 Debr\u00e9, Alma Dishy Plaut, Estee Yacov-Mecklberg<\/p>\n

\"\"
Nothing Special\/Photo: Tal Ninio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nothing Special<\/em>, written and directed by Efrat Berger, was awarded Best Film in the Short Independent Competition. The judges statement: \u201cIt is rare to find a short film that succeeds in including so many diverse layers: funny and sad, poetic yet grounded in reality, socially relevant, and daring in its own way. Each shot reveals a clear idea and yet the whole comes together for a cinematic experience that is light, flowing, and natural. This is a unique creation on the cinematic landscape that merges impressive technical achievements with a personal, deep, and moving voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lev Brodinsky was awarded Best Director for the film Roma. An Honorable Mention was awarded to the film The Holiness, written and directed by Daniel Moreshet. Audience Favorite was awarded to the film Where Language Falls Short, written and directed by Tamar Peled.<\/p>\n

The Israeli Film Critics Association<\/strong> (Alina Rebel, Yael Shuv, Hagit Bat-Eliezer) selected How to Love Your Mom in 150 (or less) Words, written and directed by Roni Yaniv (Sam Spiegel School for Film and Television) as Best Film. Honorable Mentions were awarded to About to Have Sex, Today is the Day, and Sila.<\/p>\n

The International Experimental Film & Video Art Competition<\/h4>\n

Judges: Sally Haftel Naveh, Haviv Kaptzon, Maya Lahat-Kerman<\/p>\n

\"\"
A TechnoBotanical Tale\/Photo: Lior Yeger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A TechnoBotanical Tale<\/em>, written and directed by Lior Yeger, won the award for Best Project. An Honorable Mention was awarded to Try It, written and directed by Gadi Yampel and Xin Zhe Jiang. Merlijn Willemsen received an Honorable Mention for Cinematography in the film You River.<\/p>\n

The International Digital Media and AI Competition<\/h4>\n

Judges: Maya Shekel, Nir Miretzky, Omer Shiby<\/p>\n

\"\"
Breaking News\/Photo: Tamir Hertzberg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Breaking News<\/em>, written and directed by Tamir Hertzberg (Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Israel) was awarded Best Project. Some.Body, written and directed by Netanel Kafka (The School of Visual Theater), was awarded Best Film in the AI Competition.<\/p>\n

Short on the Way<\/strong> has awarded a production development grant to Nitzan Giladi for \u201cNechama\u201d. Production awards for two animated film projects have been awarded to Roee Nitzan, Shani Melamed Nitzan and Michael Faust for \u201cHaSachyan\u201d; and Itai Ivankovsky and Uri Gold for \u201cOhad Yaron Rotzeh Lidfok Makot Retzach LaBen Zonah SheYitasek Im HaHavera Shelo.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 27th\u00a0Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival (TISFF) announced the award winners tonight in a festive ceremony that took place this evening at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque. Due to the protest scheduled for tonight at 20:00 at Hostage Square, the festival management decided to hold the ceremony earlier than planned, at 18:30, as a symbol […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":55224,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[100,96,144,338,340],"class_list":["post-55223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","tag-festival","tag-film","tag-student-film","tag-tel-aviv-international-student-film-festival","tag-tisff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/55224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}