The 17th annual–and hybrid Chicago Festival of Israeli Cinema

As Israel celebrate its 74th birthday, make your way to the 17th annual Chicago Festival of Israeli Cinema.

As always, the screenings–this year running from May 11-22–feature the best in cinema from Israel, whose creativity and diverse culture knows no bounds. After two years of virtual programming, the Festival will offer hybrid options of in-person and online opportunities.

The opening night of the Festival–on May 11 at the Landmark Renaissance in Highland Park– presents the Midwest premiere of Avi Nesher’s ( Turn Left at the End of the World, The Matchmaker) latest epic, Image of Victory .

The visually stunning film–based on true life events — tells the story of Miri Ben-Ari and her youthful, resilient compatriots on a remote coastal kibbutz called Nitzanim, which was destroyed by the Egyptian army during Israel’s 1948 War of Independence. The film, which recounts the tragedy from both Arab and Israeli perspectives, stars Joy Rieger, Elisha Banai, Meshi Kleinstein, and many Fauda alums–Amir Khoury, Ala Dakka, and Hisham Suliman among them.

The Festival will give Chicagoans a sneak preview of the TV series The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem starring Shtisel ‘s heartthrob Akiva, Michael Aloni, among others.

Three documentary films that provide historic perspectives includeQueen Shoshana –about the first Israeli diva, Yemen-born Shoshana Damari, who introduced many Israelis and Europeans to Sephardic music, dance, and culture; What If: Ehud Barak on War and Peace , a candid interview with the former IDF Chief of Staff and Prime Minister; and Muranow , an exploration of the modern-day Polish neighborhood built on the ruins of–and actual remains of Jews that lived and died in–the Warsaw Ghetto.

Screenings at the Festival will also explore present-day Israel. Get a two-episode taste of the TV series Fire Dance , the first foray into television for Orthodox director Rama Burshtein ( Fill the Void, The Wedding Plan ). The title of the series offers a poetic interpretation of unrequited love that a troubled 18-year old observant woman has for a 35-year-old father-to-be… whose own father is the leader of their Haredi community.

Finding Abraham is a documentary that follows a cultural and economic exchange between smart young Israelis and their counterparts in the UAE and Bahrain, thanks to the 2020 signing of the Abraham Accords.

In More Than I Deserve , starring Fauda’s Yaacov Zada Daniel, Shimon, a bachelor who still lives with his parents, helps Pinchas, a young Russian immigrant and son of a single mother, prepare for his bar mitzvah.

Ideal for a family movie night with teenaged kids, The Raft centers around a group of friends–diehard soccer fans, unable to afford plane tickets to Cypress to see their team play in a championship–who build a raft to sail across the Mediterranean instead.

Finally, the Festival closes May 22 with a live screening–also at the Renaissance in Highland Park–of Eran Kolirin’s ( The Band’s Visit ) Let It Be Morning , winner of the top 2021 Ophir Awards and Israel’s submission to the 2022 Academy Awards.

For tickets, location, streaming, Q&As, and more, go to israelifilmchi.org .

Cindy Stern is the Executive Director of the Chicago Festival of Israeli Cinema.