History

Founded by Meir Fenigstein in 1982, the Israel Film Festival started out with six films and a dream. It has grown to become one of the most important Israeli cultural events in America and the largest showcase for Israeli films in the United States.

The Festival is presented annually by IsraFest Foundation, Inc. - a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Los Angeles.

For 26 years, the Israel Film Festival has played a vital educational role in spotlighting Israel’s thriving film and television industry. The annual event provides an intercultural exchange to advance tolerance and understanding amongst diverse audiences, and to enrich the American vision of Israel’s social and cultural diversity.

To date, the Festival has showcased nearly 900 feature films, documentaries, television dramas and student shorts to hundreds of thousands of filmgoers, and brought more than 400 Israeli filmmakers to the U.S. to connect with the Hollywood Community, opening doors for distribution and co-production.

What makes this Festival so unique is that it plays in three cities: Los Angeles, New York and Miami – a rarity on the film festival circuit.