Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival to Host Volker Schlöndorff and Michael Rapaport
The festival’s 28th edition will feature Schlöndorff’s “Visitation” as its opening film and close with a documentary about Rapaport’s connection to Israel and Jewish identity.
By Hiroshi Ferrari ·
Oscar-winning filmmaker Volker Schlöndorff and comedian Michael Rapaport will attend the Jerusalem Cinematheque’s Jewish Film Festival during Hanukkah. Running from December 5 to 10, the festival will mark its 28th edition at the arthouse venue, which also organizes and hosts the Jerusalem Film Festival each summer.
Schlöndorff’s latest feature, “Visitation,” will open the event on December 5, when the director will receive an Achievement Award. Recently screened at the Cannes Film Festival, the 2026 production follows successive generations living in a lakeside house near Berlin, using their experiences to tell the story of Germany. A second screening on December 6 will include a conversation with Schlöndorff.
The German-born director, 87, has worked in film for six decades, frequently examining European history, politics and war through the lives of people caught up in them. His adaptation of Günter Grass’s novel “The Tin Drum” shared the 1979 Palme d’Or with Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now.” It subsequently won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, becoming the first German film to receive that honor since the end of the Second World War.
While working in Hollywood, Schlöndorff developed a close friendship with Billy Wilder, the Austrian-born Jewish director and Academy Award winner. Wilder left Germany in 1934, and his mother, stepfather and grandmother died in the Holocaust. Schlöndorff later made the 1988 documentary “Billy, How Did You Do It?” with Wilder, examining his achievements.
The closing film, “Am I Cancelled Yet?”, turns to Rapaport’s experiences following the Hamas terrorist attack of October 7, 2023. The New York City-based comedian, who produced the documentary, will join director Ruth Berdah-Canet for an audience question-and-answer session after the screening.
The documentary traces Rapaport’s renewed connection with his Jewish identity and the backlash he encountered as an outspoken supporter of Israel. Combining his frequently raunchy comedy with visits to locations where the October 7 massacres took place, it follows his meetings with survivors and hostage families while examining the personal and professional consequences of his public stance.
Jerusalem Cinematheque CEO Roni Mahdav-Levin and festival director Daniella Tourgeman-Glass said the two films address identity, memory and belonging, along with the difficulties of responding to a changing reality. They described the selections as reflecting the festival’s aim of presenting artistically ambitious cinema and encouraging conversations between audiences and filmmakers about different aspects of Jewish experience.
The complete program is expected to appear soon on the Jerusalem Cinematheque website. Ticket sales for the December 5 opening event were scheduled to begin on November 8. Tickets for the remaining screenings and events will go on sale through the website on November 22.
