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Intersections at JFF 2025
For the second year in a row, the festival takes place during a time of war. Wars. Hostages remain in Gaza, destruction continues there and here, lives are being lost. The pain surrounding us cannot, and should not, be ignored. In such times, some confront reality at hand, while others turn to imagination, envisioning worlds far removed from the culture of violence and offering glimpses of a different future.
This year’s Intersections Program navigates both paths.
The Experimental Cinema and Video Art Competition
The Experimental Cinema and Video Art Awards features seven artists with new works that engage with the present moment through varied, poignant, and poetic forms.
Orientations – Daniel Kiczales | High Alert – Hadar Saifan | Carousel – Guy Hamiel | Escape Will Get You Tonight – Noa Simhayof Shahaf | A Word Required – Lyri Milo | Spirits of War – Moti Brecher | Child – Yaron Attar
Ruti Sela, HUGS 2025
In her new exhibition at the Mamuta Center, artist Ruti Sela presents four works exploring the body, interpersonal connection, and technology. The central piece, Hugs 2025, is a reimagining of her first video work, Hugs—a performance piece filmed on the streets of Jerusalem in 1999, in which Sela sought out hugs from strangers.
Shooting Booth
Three Films by Ruti Sela followed by Conversation between the Artist and Roee Rosen.
Presented alongside Sela’s solo exhibition at the Mamuta Art Research Center.
Nathaniel Dorsky
Nathaniel Dorsky, born in 1943, continues to make films to this day. He is an experimental filmmaker whose work focuses on light, movement, and color. His films are non-narrative, and this program offers Israeli audiences an encounter with a cinematic world entirely different from the familiar, even within the realm of experimental film.
Tribute to Experimental Filmmaker Benjamin Hayeem
Benjamin Hayeem (1933-2004) was an Israeli-American experimental filmmaker, director, writer, and editor who created experimental films, fiction features, including the controversial The Black Banana (1976), documentaries, and educational films. Born in Bombay, India, he was part of avant-garde filmmaker Maya Deren’s circle. Influenced by the montage principles of director Slavko Vorkapić, he applied them extensively in his work. He was a member of the Living Theatre and part of New York’s bohemian art scene.
NARCISA HIRSCH – A Famously Unknown Filmmaker
Experimental filmmaker Narcisa Hirsch (1928 – 2024) was born in Berlin and moved to Argentina before WW2. Hirsch organized art happenings during the late 1960s. She turned to experimental film and video, becoming one of the most celebrated yet not broadly known South American experimental filmmakers. Her work was shown worldwide in museums and festivals.