A Proud Legacy Being Neighbourly x Eli Bitan, The Hong Kong Jewish Film Festival

In the 25 years of the HKJFF’s existence, there have been a lot of stories and to celebrate its 25th anniversary, 25 more films will be shown this year and added to the catalogue with the festival extended by three days. Films are being shown at two venues this year— the Cineart (JP) in Causeway Bay and the “neighbourhood” Golden Scene Cinema in Kennedy Town.

Unknown to some, who conjecture that the HKJFF is a business, says Bitan, the HKJFF is actually a registered charity, says Bitan, that runs on donations from tiered sponsors. “Many are legacy sponsors who have been donating for many years,” he adds.

Despite the impressive list of films and sponsors on this year’s program, Bitan is circumspect, “Although we are 25 years old, I think of the Jewish Film Festival as the child to the French Film Festival’s parent,” he says, with a smile.

To outsiders, however, his is a smooth and well-synthesised operation. The charity has a 10-person board, a viewing committee and a well-established process and timeline they revert to each year. Why, after all, reinvent the wheel?

“Every year in Spring, the viewing committee starts viewing some 200 films in batches. We have contact with distributors who are printing certain films and reference the big festivals such as those in Berlin, Cannes and Jerusalem to establish our lineup, and by August we’ve made our selection in time for viewing in November. We have some ground rules: the films we show must be new and not yet widely seen. We don’t do retrospectives,” says Bitan.

“There have been challenges,” he admits. “In 2020, the festival was completely online due to Covid, and this year has been a harrowing year for Jews as well. Because of this, we felt it necessary to choose a light film to open the festival. We needed it,” he says. Running On Sand is an Israeli comedy-drama that revolves around a case of mistaken identity when Aumari, a young Eritrean refugee living in Israel, is about to be deported. While escaping at the airport, he is mistaken for a professional Nigerian football striker who is arriving in Israel to save a struggling team. Despite the absence of any soccer talent, Aumari is able to play along and heal divisions between his teammates.

“While light-hearted, the film brings the topic of refugees to the fore and the importance of treating people with respect”, says Bitan. The film has won a slew of accolades including: Winner, of the Audience Choice Award (Best Feature), at the Stony Brook Film Festival.

While the 25 films of this year’s festival all proved their mettle against stiff competition, Bitan selects a few that might particularly interest such as: Single Light by Shaylee Atary, widow of the late filmmaker Yahav Winner who was murdered in October 2023 by Hamas, and to whom the HKJFF dedicated their festival last year. The film depicts the story of a woman whose ‘light has gone out’ following a sexual assault by a fellow student from her music school.