JJFF 2019 Awards

International Competition Schoumann Award for Jewish Cinema

Award: The Diary of Diana B.

The selection offered us a great quality of visions of the world and of history, which made our choice difficult and our debates intense. We have selected a film that tackles an unknown chapter in the history of the Second World War; the persecution of Orthodox Serbs in fascist Croatia, allied with the Nazis. Based on the diaries of Diana Budisavljevic, a woman who recorded the daily rescue actions of thousands of children, the film combines with great finesse fiction, archives and testimonies with as much sensitivity as rigor.

Honorary Mention: Those Who Remained

We wish to give an honorary mention to a film that sheds light on the slow reconstruction of lives after the holocaust in a very delicate, sensuous and artistic manner. The strength and the complexity of feelings is served by exceptional actors and a powerful director.

Interfaith Competition

Award: The Specials

The Interfaith Jury of the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival 2019 awards its prize to “The Specials” from filmmakers Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano. Its high artistic values and deeply moving narrative show a way forward for people of faith working together in society for the benefit of the most vulnerable and therefore we feel it very deserving of this award.

Honorary Mention: Bukra Fil Mish Mish

We wish to offer a Special Mention to “Bukra Fil Mish Mish” from director Tal Michael for shedding light on unsung early Jewish pioneers of animated film in Egypt before War World II.

Israeli Short Competition

Award: Pop 30

The viewer of Pop 30 is swept into the filmmaker’s world, through a series of clues and extraordinary art work creating the backbone for the film’s plot. The film, along with Dafi Alpern’s excellent performance, presents a modern orthodox feminist hero who chooses to navigate her life in an independent manner, while corresponding with elements from a fantasy world. The film makes thoughtful use of outdoor location footage, placing the city of Jerusalem as an inherent protagonist in the plot.  

Honorary Mention: Simple Things

The jury members have decided to grant an Honorary Mention to Liel Sharon’s film, Simple Things, for a gentle and mindful gaze at the subject of arranged marriages in the ultra-orthodox community through Maya Levy, a newly-orthodox Jew, who left the kibbutz life and has sentenced herself to the Sisyphean task of establishing a Jewish family unit. The film succeeds in establishing the tension between Maya’s desires and the difficulties that come her way.