The Israeli Film Festival of Philadelphia is a local film festival

Film festival

A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. More and more often film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings...

 based in Philadelphia, PA. The festival's aim is to "enrich the American vision of Israeli culture and society through film." Each season, a slate of feature films and documentaries are selected to provide a "diverse and impartial" reflection of Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

.

History

The festival was founded in 1996 by Mindy Chriqui, Aryeh Rudnik and Ruti Kulka. The first season began at Phildelphia's Gershman Y on Saturday, November 9th, 1996 with Eytan Fox

Eytan Fox

-Biography:Fox was born in New York City and moved with his family to Israel when he was two. His father, Seymour Fox, was a Conservative rabbi and a leading professor of Jewish education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His mother, Sara Kaminker-Fox, was the head of the Jerusalem city...

's "Song of the Siren".

Program and Funding

The festival's program includes feature film

Feature film

In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...

s, drama

Drama

Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...

s, comedies

Comedy

Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 and documentaries

Documentary

A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...

 that are award-winning and have received wide recognition both in Israel and abroad. The Israeli Film Festival of Philadelphia is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization

Non-profit organization

Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

. It is funded through ticket sales, personal and corporate contributions, art grants, as well as in-kind contributions. Organizational support is provided by The Center for Israel and Overseas, the Consulate General of Israel in Philadelphia, and a wide array of community partners.

Key Personnel

The Israeli Film Festival of Philadelphia's current chairperson is Nurit Yaron. She assumed this position in 2009. The Festival's coordinator is Mindy Chriqui. The Festival is organized by a committee of 12 volunteers, who perform different functions from fundraising

Fundraising

Fundraising or fund raising is the process of soliciting and gathering voluntary contributions as money or other resources, by requesting donations from individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies...

 and marketing

Marketing

Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...

to venue coordination and distribution.

External Links

Jewish Exponent Online Edition - "Israeli Film Festival to Unspool Here", February 17, 2011 by Michael Elkin, Arts & Entertainment Editor

The Israeli Film Festival of Philadelphia - Official Website