The 30^th Haifa International Film Festival will take place between 9 and 18 October 2014 in Haifa, Israel. The festival, managed by Pnina Blayer, was established in 1983 as a small, local event and gradually became the leading international film festival in Israel. 300,000 visitors are expected to attend the event this year to watch 280 screenings of new films from all over the world, including 70 Israeli titles.

Among the Israeli movies competing in Haifa will be The Farewell Party [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Tal Granit & Sharon Maymon
scheda film] by Tal Granit and Sharon Maymon, Yona by Nir Bergman and Next to Her by Asaf Korman. Other Israeli features will be screened out of competition, such as Dani Menkin's English-language romantic comedy Is That You and Suha Arraf's Villa Touma (read the review), which has created quite a buzz in Israel recently because of the presentation of the film as "Palestinian", despite the fact that it was supported mainly by Israeli film funds.

The festival will open with the screening of The Judge, an upcoming American comedy-drama directed by David Dobkin, and will be closed on 18 October by the screening of David Fincher's Gone Girl.

The festival's international competitions include: the Golden Anchor Competition, which features films made in the Mediterranean; the Tomorrow's Filmmakers Competition, for films by first-time feature directors; and Between Jewishness and Israeliness, a new competition that revolves around the Jewish and the Israeli being. The Israeli Cinema Competition will showcase feature-length films, documentaries and short films.

During the festival, a number of special events will take place alongside the screenings: the International Marketing Forum for Israeli Cinema, including a pitching convention for the development of dramas and films; the Israeli film market Cinemarket Haifa; and the Haifa-USA Israeli cinema marketing enterprise.