The Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival was founded in 1986 as an initiative of students of the Steve Tisch School of Film and Television at Tel Aviv University. Since then, the festival has been held annually every June at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque and throughout the city and presents more than 150 short films from Israel and around the world.
The Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival is the largest of its kind in the world and is considered one of the three most important in its field. Its activity is made possible by dozens of student volunteers who curate the content and produce the various events and are driven by the desire to promote creative student work in the field as well as the short film format.
The festival holds five major competitions: The International Competition; The Israeli Competition; The Short Independent Film Competition; Video Art and Experimental Cinema; and Digital Media Competition.
With the aim of promoting freshmen and alumni, the festival annually hosts guests of honor from the film industry in Israel and around the world and holds masterclasses, workshops, meetings with industry professionals, “speed-dating” between producers and students, a development “lab” for short films by women and pitching events for fresh graduates to receive a short film production grant.
This year, following the Coronavirus crisis, the festival will celebrate its 22nd year in a special hybrid edition. Along with events and screenings in Tel Aviv, the festival launches TISFF on Air, a digital edition that will screen the competition films via streaming, to those who are not able to physically attend the festival.
The Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival invites you to participate and enjoy this festive week, to hear the voices of rising talents representing the future generation of filmmakers in Israel and around the world.