Short film awards winners

The Jewish International Film Festival (JIFF) and the Jewish Australian Screen Fund (JASF) have announced the winners of the JIFF Short Film Fund for 2025.

This year’s expanded program has offered the biggest grant pool in the history of the JIFF Short Film Fund, established in 2017. Partnering with the recently established JASF, $30,000 will go towards the production of new short narrative works that have taken the theme of “post-October 7 life in Australia” as their starting point. JASF director, Jamie Bialkower, notes that “we have been inspired by the diversity of applications, and the bold ways in which filmmakers have chosen to interpret the theme. Now is the time to amplify new Jewish Australian voices who are using the medium of cinema to capture both an individual and collective response to the events we are living through”.

This year’s funding recipients are:

THE PROMISED LAND – Adam Dostalek (director), Ron Elisha (writer), Dostalek, Elisha and Alexis Fishman (producers)

A 90-year-old Holocaust survivor is visited by a carer from Jewish welfare. Having fought for the State of Israel, he does everything in his power to convince her that it is her duty to make Aliyah. The arrangements are finally made, until her world is suddenly turned upside down.

MEZUZAH MAN – Jacob Melamed (writer/director)

After witnessing rising antisemitism, a passionate young Jewish man takes it upon himself to reclaim his community’s pride by forcing them not to hide. But his actions lead to catastrophic consequences for everything and everyone he loves.

SHPATZIR – Benjamin Levitt (writer/director/producer), David McKinnar (co-director)

A Jew on his evening walk toys with the idea of going to his local synagogue. Following October 7, his need only increases, but he can’t bring himself to do it. A year later, he is finally ready to enter – but is he too far gone?

The JIFF Short Film Fund also welcomes back inaugural winner, multidisciplinary artist Anita Lester, who received funding in 2017 for her acclaimed animation “Noch Am Leben”. Lester will make her narrative debut with CRUMBS, inspired by Sholem Aleichem’s “Railroad Stories” and the idea of Jewish lives in transit. Relocating the action to contemporary Melbourne, CRUMBS finds a diverse array of customers in line at a bakery on a Friday morning. Examining human nature in all its complexities, we follow each of them on their way to order, all under the watchful eye of Liev, the baker boy, and ultimately revealing a snapshot of the collective Jewish experience. Funny, painful and unexpected, CRUMBS is presented by The Jewish Independent.

All of the above films will screen as part of JIFF this October.

“We are thrilled that Jamie’s producing experience and passion for Jewish storytelling is now driving the Short Film Fund. JIFF is proud to be at the coalface of Jewish-themed filmmaking” – JIFF Artistic Director Eddie Tamir.

Building on a 30-year history of Jewish film festivals in Australia, JIFF has established itself as one of the world’s biggest and most successful Jewish film festivals. Cementing its reputation for delivering international cinema of supreme quality, the festival is proud to showcase a diverse and world-class slate of film and event programming, from award-winning documentaries and dramas to comedies and short films. JIFF is committed to supporting and championing local filmmakers, and stories reflecting the global Jewish experience.

JASF was established by Bialkower in 2024 as part of his Jump Street Films label. JASF was initiated due to the lack of Jewish narratives being financed in Australia, the lack of support that Jewish artists are receiving at structural and institutional levels, and to counter antisemitism through representation of Jewish stories on screen. Funding will exclusively go towards works that advance the depiction of Jewish Australians on screen, by Jewish Australian creatives, with emphasis on authenticity and visibility.