About JIFF

JIFF, the Jewish International Film Festival, is the home of the most comprehensive selection of Jewish-themed films in Australia. Each year, the world’s best new films come to cinemas across Australia for up to 10 weeks of inspiring and entertaining premiere screenings and special events. JIFF is building on a long and proud 30-year history of Jewish film festivals in Australia.

You can access the archived film programs here, and stream past festival favourites on Chaiflicks .

Moving Story Entertainment is dedicated to the distribution of a select number of high quality Jewish-themed stories across all media: theatrical, educational, TV, DVD and VOD.

Artistic Director's Welcome

"Feeling different, feeling alienated, feeling persecuted, feeling that the only way to deal with the world is to laugh. The people who had the greatest reason to weep, learned more than anyone else how to laugh.”  – Mel Brooks 

Mel is 100 this year. He wears his Jewishness as a badge of honour and celebrates it as the lens through which he views the world. We present seven of his best films at JIFF 2026. Mel personifies the Jewish comedic voice that remains fresh and antiestablishment, satirising everything that should be challenged in society.   

This is relevant at a time when Jewish representation in the arts faces difficulties including  unofficial boycotts. The film Cancelled, featured at JIFF 2026, speaks directly to the crushing experiences of Australian Jewish artists. In this changed landscape, Jewish film festivals provide a vital role in showcasing the Jewish voice. 

Aussie fare is strong this year: Freedom Rides showcases the strong connection between Jewish and indigenous communities, and Who Are We tells the inspiring story of the Ajax Football Club.  

Our Israeli film line-up features the best films nominated at the Ophir Awards (Israeli Oscars): Tell Me Everything, about a child who discovers his father is gay at the height of the AIDS epidemic; The Wedding Entertainer, a crowd-pleaser starring Shuli Rand (the creator of Ushpizin); and Where To?, about a bond that develops between a Palestinian Uber driver and a young Israeli in Berlin. 

We present major films from the international festival circuit: Women on Trial (Cannes) featuring  Charlotte Gainsbourg as groundbreaking French lawyer Gisèle Halimi; Visitation (Cannes), from master filmmaker of The Tin Drum, Volker Schlöndorff; Think Good (Cannes), a powerful marital drama about the abuse of religion as a means of control; A Man of His Time (Cannes), a Best Screenplay-winning critique of the Vichy government; Paper Tiger (Cannes), starring Adam Driver, Miles Teller and Scarlett Johanssen as an American-Jewish family who become entangled with the New York underworld; and Noga (Tribeca), an inside look at powerhouse singer Noga Erez in the changed environment for Israeli artists. 

JIFF is here to uplift, with funny and inspiring films like Just an illusion, from the directing duo behind The Intouchables and one of the year’s biggest blockbusters in France, plus We Met at Grossinger’s, The Heroes of The Louvre, and Ethan Bloom. 

Strong documentaries tell the stories of cutting-edge Jews: Hannah Arendt, Henrietta Szold, Tovah Feldshuh, Aaron Sapiro (Sapiro v Ford), Edith Eger and Iris Haim (The Choice), Herman J. Mankiewiecz (The Mad Dog of Europe), Aliza Greenblatt and Woody Guthrie (Dust Bowls and Jewish Souls), Herschel Grynszpan (Proud Jewish Boy), Hela Hocherman (My Underground Mother) and Michel Cojot (To Kill A Nazi). 

Come join us. All welcome.  

“May the Schwartz be with you.” 

Lindy and Eddie Tamir
Festival Directors 

2026 Festival

JIFF will return to cinemas across Australia from October 2026. Find participating venues and city specifc festival dates below.

MELBOURNE
Classic Cinemas, Elsternwick
Sun 18 Oct – Wed 25 Nov

Lido Cinemas, Hawthorn
Mon 19 Oct – Wed 25 Nov

SYDNEY
Ritz Cinemas, Randwick
Mon 19 Oct – Thu 26 Nov

Roseville Cinemas
Thu 29 Oct – Wed 11 Nov

PERTH
Palace Cinemas Raine Square
Thu 22 Oct – Wed 4 Nov

Group Booking Enquiries
We welcome group bookings at JIFF and have discounted tickets are available for groups of 20+. Get in touch here to discuss options that best suit your needs.