Admit it, you've been waiting for this. There's something about French cinema that you simply can't find anywhere else in the world. It's not just the rolling language that melts our hearts, but the amazing ability to take life itself – with all its pain, laughter, loves and scratches – and turn it into art that touches the soft underbelly.
This year, friends, the French Film Festival in Israel celebrates its 23rd edition, and it is going to be unforgettable. Between May 6 and May 25, 2026, cinemas across the country (Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, Herzliya, Sderot, Holon, the Anis Center in Jaffa and more) will be filled with the scents of drama, comedy, suspense and lots of French chic. If you dream of Trip to Paris But in the meantime, stay in Israel, this is your opportunity to jump on a cinematic visit straight to the heart of the republic.
This year, the festival named The women at the heart of the storyThe program presents a diverse, complex and unconventional narrative of women: women in struggle, free women, loving women, wounded women and creative women. Women who refuse to accept the roles that society has assigned to them and are searching for their unique voice.
In addition, we are in for a particularly moving tribute to the cinema icon. Brigitte Bardot who passed away at the end of 2025, as well as a tribute to the great director Henry VernaySo get your glass of wine (or croissant) ready, because here's everything you need to see at the 2026 festival!
Secrets of Le Marais: A Journey into the Historic and Chic Heart of Paris
Join us on a virtual journey to the most fascinating district in Paris. Together we will discover hidden courtyards, French nobility, and the true stories behind the magnificent facades.
🌟 Opening film: The Richest Woman in the World / La Femme la plus riche du monde
Directed by: Thierry Kelp | Actors: Isabelle Hopper, Marina Poys, Laurent Lafitte | Length: 123 minutes | Dramatic comedy (2025)
What a perfect way to open a festival! A dramatic and witty comedy starring film legend Isabelle Huppert (who will always be the perfect excuse to go to the movies). The film tells the story of Marianne, the richest woman in the world, endowed with beauty, intelligence and unlimited power. Her complicated life takes a turn when she meets Pierre-Alain, an ambitious, cheeky and slightly crazy Parisian writer and photographer.
The love that ignites between them shakes up the billionaire's entire circle. Her family panics (especially her daughter, who is not at all interested in the young man whose greed is insatiable). Between family secrets, astronomical donations and ego wars in which all means are lawful, the film manages to be critical, laugh-out-loud funny and touching. No wonder it was nominated for six Cesar Awards! (Hint: Laurent Lafitte is brilliant here). If you want to feel a little like millionaires looking for Recommended luxury hotel in ParisThis movie will put you in the right mood.
👧 Unnamed Girl / Louise
Directed by: Nikola Keitel | Actors: Diane Roxel, Cecile de France, Salome Davala | Length: 108 minutes | Drama (2025)
A debut film with a rare sensitivity that will keep you glued to your seat. Following a shocking event that happens to her, young Marion decides to do what we have all wanted to do at least once in our lives: she runs away from home and disappears without a trace. She builds a new life for herself under a false identity and calls herself “Louise.”
The conflict comes fifteen years later, when fate brings her back together with her mother and sister. She begins to approach them cautiously, without revealing her true identity. As the relationship becomes more intimate, she is faced with a heartbreaking dilemma: should she continue living as Louise, or go back to being Marion? A mesmerizing performance by Diane Roxel, about whom it has already been said that every little facial expression contains a world full of emotion.
💔 Love Me Tender
(The trailer has not yet been released online, but is available in cinemas)
Directed by: Anna Kazanev Kamba | Actors: Vicky Krips, Antoine Reinerts, Monia Shoukry | Length: 133 minutes | Drama (2025)
Late one summer, Clemens drops a bombshell on her ex-husband: she's been having romantic relationships with women. What was supposed to be a personal and liberating confession turns into a legal nightmare when the husband demands—and gets—sole custody of their son, claiming she's "unstable."
From here begins Clemens' courageous struggle in a closed bureaucratic system. She goes through a painful journey with social workers and courts to prove that she is a worthy mother, without giving up who she is and her freedom. This is a political, poignant and intimate film that is loosely based on the book by Constance Debre. A true manifesto about the liberation of women, body and soul.
🌅 Mektoub My Love – Canto Due
Directed by: Abdellatif, old man | Actors: Shiham Boumedienne, Ophelia Bow, Jessica Pennington | Length: 134 minutes | Romantic drama (2025)
After studying in Paris, Amin returns to his hometown of Sète in the south of France, armed with a big dream: to make films. The quiet town becomes a scene of action when he meets a Hollywood producer on vacation, who expresses a surprising interest in Amin's dream project.
Of course, nothing comes easy. The producer demands that his wife, actress Jess, play the lead role, and fickle fate begins to dictate its own rules. Abdellatif Keshish concocts a complex work here about dreams, acceptance, and profound characters that will never cease to surprise you.
🐻 The man who saw the bear that watched the man / L'Homme qui a vu l'ours qui a vu l'homme
Click here to watch the official trailer
Directed by: Pierre Richard | Actors: Pierre Richard, Timmy-Joy Marveau, Gustave Carbern | Length: 88 minutes | Comedy (2025)
The giant Pierre Richard proves that even at the age of 92, it is possible to direct a human comedy that is captivating and, most importantly, laughs to tears. The film brings together two charming marginal characters: Gregoire, a young man on the autistic spectrum, and Michel, a grumpy and reclusive old man who has escaped the hustle and bustle of society to an isolated chalet in the south of France.
Their quiet routine is completely disrupted when they find themselves hosting… a bear! And not just any bear, but one that escaped from a traveling circus. This comedy, which was screened in a special screening at the Cannes Film Festival, manages to be human, unpretentious, and full of the familiar Richardian charm.
👩👧👦 Out of love / The Children are doing well
Directed by: Nathan Ambrosiouni | Actors: Kami Cotten, Juliet Armena, Monia Shoukry | Length: 111 minutes | Drama (2025)
Jeanne leads a quiet life in France, working hard and coping with the routine. One summer evening, her sister Suzanne arrives on her doorstep unannounced, accompanied by her two young children. Jeanne is surprised and hopes this is the beginning of a new rapprochement, but the next morning she wakes up to a chilling reality: Suzanne has disappeared, leaving behind only a note and the children.
Shock turns to anger when the police explain that there is no reason to search, as Susan chose to disappear of her own free will. A brilliant, realistic and effortless psychological drama, carried on the shoulders of Kami Koten in a tremendous performance.
❄️ Girl in the Snow / L'Engloutie
Directed by: Louise Homan | Actors: Galatea Blogi, Mathieu Lucci, Samuel Kircher | Length: 97 minutes | Drama (2025)
It's the freezing winter of 1899. On a brutal stormy night, Aimee, a young republican teacher, arrives in a small, isolated village on the edge of the French Alps. The locals look at her with suspicion, but Aimee is determined to change the dark superstitions that rule their lives.
As she tries to fit in, her stay in the wild place awakens repressed desires in her. The dense and mysterious atmosphere reaches a boiling point when a deadly avalanche buries one of the villagers. A fantastic, dark and visually mesmerizing film.
💌 Tell her I love her / Dites-lui que je l'aime
Directed by: Roman Borenga | Actors: Roman Borenger, Clementine Otan, Eva Yalmani | Length: 92 minutes | Dramatic comedy (2025)
Cesar-winning actress and director Romain Borenger decides to adapt Clementine Haut-Autain's book, dedicated to her deceased mother, into a film. As work on the film progresses, Borenger is forced to confront an open wound of her own: the abandonment of her own mother, who left her when she was just nine months old.
The thin line between truth and fiction blurs in an intelligent, universal, and revealing film that premiered at Cannes. A drama that reminds us once again how complex the bond between mothers and daughters is.
🖋️ At work / À pied d'œuvre
Directed by: Valerie Donsley | Actors: Bastian Bouyon, Andre Marcon, Virginie Ledoyon | Length: 92 minutes | Dramatic comedy (2025)
Paul is a successful photographer in his 40s who one day decides to “break the bank.” He leaves a prosperous career to fulfill his lifelong dream: to become a writer. The price is heavy. His wife leaves him, he is cut off from his children who live in a distant country, and finds himself doing odd jobs and living in abject poverty.
A poignant work about the sacrifice that art requires, which won Valerie Donzely the Silver Lion Award for Screenplay at the Venice Film Festival.
🎭 The show must go on / De la Comédie Française
Directed by: Bertrand Osla, Martin Darondo | Actors: Pauline Clemon, Lauren Stocker, Julian Frizon | Length: 76 minutes | Dramatic comedy (2026)
A fast-paced, crazy, adrenaline-filled comedy that takes us behind the scenes of France's most prestigious national theater - the Comédie Française. The theater's number one rule is: "Never cancel a show. Ever."
With just three hours to go before the premiere of her film, director Nina finds herself in utter chaos. A lead actor gets stuck on a train, technical glitches crop up everywhere, ego bombs explode in the dressing rooms, and the pressure is skyrocketing. It's a race against time that provides a satirical and witty glimpse into the lives of actors and filmmakers.
🗡️ The Count of Monte Cristo / Le Comte de Monte-Cristo
Directed by: Mathieu Delport, Alexandre de la Petellier | Actors: Pierre Nini, Bastien Boulon, Anais Demostier | Length: 178 minutes | Historical adventure drama (2025)
Alexandre Dumas' epic masterpiece receives a spectacular, grandiose, and breathtaking adaptation that brought over 9 million French people to movie theaters!
Young Edmond Dantes is the victim of a cruel plot: on his wedding day, he is arrested and imprisoned for a crime he did not commit. After 14 years of nightmare in a dungeon, he escapes, finds treasure, returns under the false identity of the Count of Monte Cristo, and begins to weave webs of revenge around the three people who ruined his life. Pierre Ninéis is electrifying in the title role.
🏕️ Summer Camp / Ma Frère
Directed by: Liz Acqua, Roman Gera | Actors: Penta Kaba, Shiral Nataf, Amal Bennett | Length: 112 minutes | Comedy (2025)
Shay and Geneva, 20-year-old childhood friends who grew up together in the Paris suburbs, decide to go out this summer to work as counselors at a holiday camp for children from disadvantaged populations. Far from the big city, in the south (the green south, not the The beaches of the French Riviera), they discover that being responsible for a group of mischievous children is a piece of cake.
Between head counts on the bus, moments of freedom, and questions about the future, their friendship undergoes a true coming-of-age test. A warm and emotionally powerful film.
🐆 Marsupilami / Marsupilami
Directed by: Philip Lashaw | Actors: Philippe Lachaux, Jamal Debuz, Elodie Fontaine | Length: 99 minutes | Family adventure comedy (2026)
France's current box office hit brings the world's most yellow and disturbed animal back to the screen! To save his job at the zoo, David agrees to a shady deal: to smuggle a mysterious package from South America to France aboard a luxury cruise ship.
When his Shlomiel colleague accidentally opens the package, a Marsupial puppy leaps out, and the entire ship becomes a total chaos of chases and rolling laughter. The comedy will also be screened in a dubbed version in Hebrew!
🎨 Closing film: The Colors of Time / La Venue de l'avenir
Directed by: Cedric Klafisch | Actors: Susan Lyndon, Abraham Woffler, Vincent McCann | Length: 126 minutes | Dramatic comedy (2025)
In 2025, distant relatives discover they have inherited an abandoned estate in Normandy. Inside the dusty house, they find chests of treasure that take them on a journey back in time. They retrace the life of their great-aunt, who left for Paris in 1895.
The film gracefully jumps between present-day Paris and the Paris of the Belle Époque – a period of industrial revolution and the birth of impressionism. A wonderful work about roots and the way the past paints our future.
👑 Tribute to Brigitte Bardot: The Woman Who Created Freedom (Ciné-Classic)
In December 2025, the world of cinema said goodbye to Brigitte Bardot, the ultimate symbol of the sexual liberation revolution and French beauty in the 60s. The festival dedicates two of her greatest films to her (and a great opportunity to remember the familiar style fromGuided tours in Paris):
And God created woman / Et Dieu créa la femme
(1956) Directed by: Roja Vadim | 95 minutes
Juliette is a young woman from Saint-Tropez with breathtaking beauty who attracts male attention wherever she goes. A daring cult film that created a public uproar upon its release.
The Contempt / Le Mépris
(1963) Directed by: Jean-Luc Godard | 105 minutes
A poetic drama that combines the collapse of a marriage with the collapse of the art of cinema in the face of the Hollywood money machine. Bardot gives a mesmerizing performance.
🎬 Tribute to Henri Vernay: Maestro of Action and Suspense
Henri Vernay was one of the greatest directors of popular French cinema. He cleverly combined Hollywood action rhythm with the giants of the European screen. The festival presents two of his films:
A Monkey in Winter / Un Singe en hiver
(1962) Directed by: Henry Vernay | 105 minutes
A hotel owner is recovering from alcoholism, until a mysterious young man (Jean-Paul Belmondo) arrives. Temptation returns, and the two embark on a journey of intoxication and surprising friendship.
Melody in the Basement / Mélodie en sous-sol
(1963) Directed by: Henry Vernay | 117 minutes
An aging criminal (Jean Gabin) recruits his handsome young partner (Alain Delon) to rob a huge casino safe in Cannes. An elegant and suspenseful heist classic.
The 23rd French Festival proves once again why cinema in France is never just “another movie,” but an open window to the spirit, culture, and human heart.
Festival dates: May 6 to 25, 2026 at all cinemas across the country.
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Enjoy watching (Bon film!), and don't forget to tell me in the comments which movie you're most looking forward to! 🇫🇷🥂