In commemoration of Israel’s 75th Independence Day celebrations, The Jerusalem Cinematheque’s Israeli Film Archive will make 75 classic Israeli films globally available for online streaming

The films will be available to watch on the Israeli Film Archive’s website for a whole month for the token price of 15ILS per film, with some even free of charge. Visit: https://jfc.org.il/en/

JERUSALEM, April 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — The Jerusalem Cinematheque’s Israeli Film Archive is celebrating 75 years of Israeli statehood and independence with a unique programme that releases 75 Israeli films for online streaming all over the world.

The programme is geared towards Jewish and Israeli communities, and the general public around the world, offering a total of 75 Israeli films which viewers, in various locations, can access and watch for a whole month for the price of 15ILS per film. This special offer is set to commence around the country’s 75^th Independence Day celebrations, beginning 17 April and all the way to 17 May 2023.

Traditionally, the vast majority of films on this list are geo-blocked and only available for streaming in Israel on the Israeli Film Archive’s website – this is due to the copyright holders’ various international distribution contracts and agreements in place. Ahead of this upcoming Independence Day, the Film Archive has secured all necessary permissions from both copyright and distribution rights’ holders, thereby clearing the way for celebrating 75 years of prolific filmmaking.

The programme provides access to dozens of Israeli films in a convenient, user-friendly manner from the comfort of one’s own home media system, with Hebrew/English subtitles included.

The list of 75 films being made available to international viewers spans a wide range of Israeli film genres through the years. Alongside prominent, award-winning staples such as Sallah (Ephraim Kishon, 1964), Sh’Chur (Shmuel Hasfari, 1994), and The Band (Avi Nesher, 1978), the archive will also foreground a host of local hidden gems – Israeli films that were either not given broad enough exposure in Israel, or ever shown internationally, including Raphael Nussbaum’s 1960 film, Burning Sands (aka Brennender Sand). These films are now all available to watch, thanks to the Israeli Film Archive’s ‘Operation: Rescue and Revival’, i.e., retrieving the negatives and film rolls of Israeli films that have been collecting dust in the basements and backrooms of overseas distribution firms, and bringing them back to Israel for the purpose of restoring and preserving the footage through a full digitisation process, undertaken by the Israeli Film Archive.

The programme will also feature a number of films professionally restored by the archive, and with the guidance of either the director or cinematographer, e.g., Avanti Popolo (Rafi Bukai, 1986), Atash (Thirst) (Tawfik Abu Wael, 2004), and Big Eyes (Uri Zohar, 1973) – all of which are now available to watch in their original quality. Thanks to the advent of restoration and digitisation technology, these films can once more be shown in cinemas where all the equipment has long since been modernised and no longer includes analogue or film projectors, and so forth.

Jerusalem Cinematheque CEO Roni Mahadev-Levin: “As part of our efforts to preserve and bring Israeli film to audiences everywhere, we will be marking this upcoming Independence Day by sharing Israeli film’s greatest treasures with the general public all over of the world. The films available for streaming on the archive’s website – both the classics and lesser-knowns – tell the story of Israeli film from its beginnings to the present day and are undoubtedly a brilliant way of celebrating Israel’s independence and bringing a scent of Israeli atmosphere into the viewer’s home, however many miles away they may be.”

The Israeli Film Archive at Jerusalem’s Cinematheque is home to thousands of copies of Israeli films of all times and genres, which it has pledged to safeguard and restore. This past decade, the archive’s team at the cinematheque have all been hard at work on a project of truly epic proportions: uploading the vast wealth of Israeli film content online – specifically, the Israeli Film Archive’s online platform – whilst undertaking meticulous restoration and digitisation works of the highest possible standards and quality, even compared to the majority of film archives worldwide.  

This novel platform aims to unlock and share the treasure troves of Israeli film and rare audiovisual historical footage with audiences in Israel, and around the world.

Access to films subject to online registration and fee. Around 20 percent of the films are available for direct streaming, free of charge.

https://jfc.org.il/en/

Contact:
Tamar Kital Maman
[email protected]

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2055512/Israel_Film_Archive_1.jpg

SOURCE Jerusalem Cinematheque’s Israel Film Archive