{"id":55514,"date":"2026-06-17T08:25:35","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T05:25:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=55514"},"modified":"2026-06-17T08:25:35","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T05:25:35","slug":"tisff-tel-aviv-international-student-film-festival-2026-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=55514","title":{"rendered":"TISFF – Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival 2026: Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is an amazing array of films to be shown at the Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival (TISFF), which will take place from June 23 – 30, 2026. The full program may be found on the festival website<\/a>. Here are a few that caught my eye:<\/p>\n

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Curfew\/Photo: Bohdan Haidash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Curfew<\/strong><\/p>\n

Curfew<\/em>, written and directed by Yelyzaveta Toptyhina, brings both humor and a deeper resonance to a familiar theme \u2013 two strangers, a woman and a man, brought together by circumstances. She (Olexandra Barstok) is a photographer, who, after a day of working on a project outside the city, misses her ride back and finds herself stuck in the middle of nowhere. He (Pavlo Lohvin) is dropped off by a taxi at the bus stop, earphones in his ears, dancing to a song only he can hear. \u00a0Set in the Ukraine, just outside Kyiv, the war is a pervasive presence in the lives of the characters, affecting them in different ways.<\/p>\n

Despite the late hour and an approaching curfew, he seems happy, friendly, and carefree, even somewhat teasing and provocative in his demeanor towards her. She is a paragon of tension and determination, focusing on a single goal \u2013 getting back to the city, and not interested in making friends. Thrown together by chance, they must \u2013 separately or together \u2013 figure out how to get through the night, and she, with one photo left to take in her camera, wants to find that \u201cimmortal\u201d photo that will complete her project. Barstok and Lohvin have great onscreen chemistry, imbuing their characters with vivid life. Toptyhina depicts the connection that develops between these two opposites with nuanced humor, compassion, and sensitivity to detail.<\/p>\n

Curfew<\/em> will be screened at the Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival in Program 9 of the International Competition. Tickets are available on the\u00a0TISFF website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Director, Screenwriter: Yelyzaveta Toptyhina; Cinematographer: Bohdan Haidash; Producer: Anastasiia Zakhilko; Editor: Yuliia Kolinko; Cast: Olexandra Barstok, Pavlo Lohvin; School: Kyiv National Karpenko-Kary University of Theater, Cinema and Television<\/p>\n

\"\"
Dad’s Not Home\/Photo: Patryk Roman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dad\u2019s Not Home<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s Kuba\u2019s birthday, but he is not planning any celebrations. At 16, Kuba (Konrad K\u0105kol) and his younger brother Bartok (Tomasz Pogo\u0144) must care for their father (Piotr \u0141ukawski) who has frontotemporal dementia. Jan Saczek\u2019s film follows the efforts of the two boys to hide their father\u2019s condition from the world. If their school or other authorities would become aware of the situation, the boys would be sent to an orphanage and their father to an institution.<\/p>\n

Caring for their father\u2019s daily needs places a heavy burden on the boys, but they perform the task with love. Excellent performances by all three protagonists convey the complex emotions of the situation, the love that is merged with grief and exhaustion, and on the father\u2019s part \u2013 the love that endures although memory has faded.<\/p>\n

The father is docile but cannot control his urges, and each day when they leave for school, they must lock all the kitchen cabinets so that he doesn\u2019t eat all the food at once. The brunt of the responsibility falls primarily on Kuba\u2019s shoulders, and he is also caring for his younger brother. He finds inventive ways to use technology to hide their father\u2019s condition, but he feels the strain from the enormous pressure and constant fear of being found out. The tension finds a different expression in Bartek, who gets into fights at school. Kuba\u2019s exhaustion and Bartek\u2019s scuffles draw the attention of the school principal, Malgorzata Kiedrowska (Barbara Lubos), who wants to meet their father. Suspenseful, inventive, and full of humor, Dad\u2019s Not Home tells a moving tale of love, loss, and compassion.<\/p>\n

Dad\u2019s Not Home<\/em> will be screened at the Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival in Program 2 of the International Competition. Tickets are available on the\u00a0TISFF website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Director, Screenwriter: Jan Saczek; Cinematographer: Patryk Roman; Producer: Krystyna Doktorowicz; Editor: Monika Stachowicz; Cast: Piotr \u0141ukawski, Konrad K\u0105kol, Tomasz Pogo\u0144, Barbara Lubos, Wies\u0142aw Kupczak; School: Krzysztof Kie\u015blowski Film School, University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland<\/p>\n

\"\"
Yerus\/Photo: Ilya Marcus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yerus<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the serendipitous way that connections emerge between films at festivals, Yerus<\/em>, by Timna Perets, shares a similar theme of siblings left to care for themselves. 11-year-old Yerus (Yerus Tiam) is from a family of asylum seekers living in South Tel Aviv. With no father around and a mother who cannot function, she is responsible for her younger brother Dillet (Yoel Toleda). But she is still only a child herself. She is also a young girl with a talent and a dream to study dance. Tiam imbues the character of Yerus with emotional depth, reflecting the young girl\u2019s inner conflicts. Despite their mutual affection, neither Yerus nor Dillet is getting what any and every child needs, and the film depicts their relationship and struggles with compassion.<\/p>\n

Yerus<\/em> will be screened at the Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival in Program 1 of the Short Independent Competition. Tickets are available on the\u00a0TISFF website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Director, Screenwriter: Timna Perets; Cinematographer: Ilya Marcus; Producer: Harel Ben Melech; Editor: Guy Nemesh, Daniel Bloom; Cast: Yerus Tiam, Yoel Toleda<\/p>\n

\"\"
Crumb\/Photo: Alexander Sisnev<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Crumb<\/strong><\/p>\n

Elena Kulesh\u2019s Crumb<\/em> focuses on youth as well: Alyoshin lives in a correctional orphanage for teenagers. He works in a bakery, presumably to provide him with some basic training in a trade so he can support himself once he is of age. The previous films discussed here were centered on young people making a huge effort to avoid entering the system and being sent to an orphanage, this film shows us why. Beyond the rudimentary training he receives at the bakery, Alyoshin, as well as his friends at the orphanage, receives no education, guidance, attention or affection from the adults responsible for his well being. With no adult mentors, the teenagers turn to one another for advice, making decisions based on rumors and fantasies.<\/p>\n

Quiet and withdrawn, Alyoshin rarely speaks when in a group, alone, he often mutters to himself, revealing his turbulent emotions. He has a crush on someone at the bakery but does not dare speak to her. When his friend asks if he has a girlfriend, Alyoshin says he does, but the distance between fantasy and reality is vast, and it\u2019s easy to fall into the abyss. It\u2019s a bleak view of a harsh existence, yet in a moment of sheer magic, one of Alyoshin\u2019s rough pals sings in a beautiful, almost delicate voice, intimating the inner life, the hidden qualities and the potential of these youths that are being crushed by the system.<\/p>\n

Crumb<\/em> will be screened at the Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival in Program 8 of the International Competition. Tickets are available on the\u00a0TISFF website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Director, Screenwriter: Elena Kulesh; Cinematographer: Alexander Sisnev; Producer: Ekaterina Sitner; Editor: Andrey Soustin; School: Saint Petersburg School Of New Cinema<\/p>\n

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

There is an amazing array of films to be shown at the Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival (TISFF), which will take place from June 23 – 30, 2026. The full program may be found on the festival website. Here are a few that caught my eye: Curfew Curfew, written and directed by Yelyzaveta Toptyhina, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":55516,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[96,512,144,525,338,340],"class_list":["post-55514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","tag-film","tag-film-festival","tag-student-film","tag-student-film-festival","tag-tel-aviv-international-student-film-festival","tag-tisff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55514","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=55514"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55533,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55514\/revisions\/55533"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/55516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}