The best of Israeli film and TV comes to the UK next week with the annual Seret International film festival, the largest celebration of Israeli screen talent in the world.

Launching with a gala evening on 12 May, the festival will feature comedies, dramas, thrillers, documentaries and a hit TV series.

Patty Hochmann, the festival’s artistic director, praised the “amazing content” that Israel has to offer.

The whole programme is available for streaming for those who prefer to watch at home and there will also be screenings in Germany, the Netherlands, Chile and Argentina. In London there will be events at cinemas including the Picturehouse Hackney, Everyman Belsize Park, Everyman Maida Vale, Phoenix East Finchley, and the JW3 Finchley Road and screenings in Brighton, Oxford, Cambridge and Edinburgh.

Acclaimed director Avi Nesher is a focus of the festival, which starts with an opening gala showing of his latest film Image Of Victory, an anti-war drama about one of the battles in the 1948 War of Independence.

The film was a big hit in Israel despite Covid.

Mr Nesher tells the JC in an interview in this week’s paper: “Only two films worked in Israel then: Spider-Man and Image of Victory!”

Joy Rieger in Image of Victory

A number of documentaries address Israeli cultural icons including On This Happy Note, devoted to the spiritual legacy of playwright Anat Gov.

The Fourth Window looks at the double tragedy behind the international success story of writer Amos Oz.

In The Last Chapter of A.B. Yehoshua, viewers will see how one of Israel’s greatest writers retains his appetite for life after being widowed and suffering serious illness.

Black Notebooks is a two-part documentary dedicated to Ronit Elkabetz’s by her brother Shlomi after the sudden death of this admired filmmaker, actress and fashion icon.

Shtisel’s Doval’e Glickman stars in comedy Greener Pastures, playing a widower who tries to win back his house by selling medical cannabis.

A new Seret award logo will provide an internationally recognised stamp of approval for the very best in Israeli cinema. These will include an Honorary Award in recognition of an outstanding contribution to Israeli cinema.

Full details of the festival can be found at seret-international.org