Haifa International Film Festival opens with emotional tribute to Avi Nesher

The 42nd Haifa International Film Festival opened with an emotional tribute to director Avi Nesher, who received a lifetime achievement award. The festival screened the Israeli premiere of his latest film, Our Loves, which received a standing ovation. Nesher was joined by the cast and reflected on personal and professional connections to the festival.

The 42nd Haifa International Film Festival opened with an emotional tribute to director Avi Nesher, who was awarded the festival's lifetime achievement award. The event featured the official Israeli premiere of his latest film, Our Loves, which received a standing ovation. Nesher was joined on stage by much of the cast, including Shalom Michaelshwilli, Magi Azarzar, Noa Cohen, Daniel Gimpel, Yaniv Biton, Chancela "Sean" Mongoza, Hadas Yaron, and Amir Banai. The film is a multi-character drama about a group of people in southern Israel who think they are having the worst day of their lives on October 6, 2023, and struggle to survive when Hamas attacks the next day. Nesher noted that the last day of the 2023 Haifa festival was October 7, which had to be canceled, and described a sense of closure in dramatizing those stories. He also spoke about the film's successful run at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier in September, where he described heavy security and an armored vehicle, but also standing ovations at three sold-out screenings. The tribute included a musical performance of "New Day Will Rise" by Nova survivor Yuval Raphael, who sang it at the 2025 Eurovision, joined by Iranian singer Gola. The most emotional moment came when Nesher recalled that the date of the tribute, September 26, was the birthday of his late son Ari, who died in 2018 after a hit-and-run accident. Nesher teared up as he said, "I know he would have been proud of this award, and proud of this film."