 Last night, the Jerusalem Film Festival got underway in the historic Sultan's Pool in the city. Actress Helen Mirren was on hand to attend the premiere of Golda, which tells the story of former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir's leadership of the country during the Yom Kippur War of October 1973. The movie focused intensely on Meir's personal life and the high-stakes decision-making process she found herself at the centre of, commanding troops on the frontlines from Jerusalem and trying to make sense of Egyptian and Syrian position movements. I thought that it was an absolutely incredible movie, a gripping biopic replete with some spectacular cinematography, and I recommend that those interested in Israeli history check it out. The 2023 installation of the Jerusalem Film Festival runs for 10 days this year, concluding on the 23rd of July 2023. The festival has been running every year since the inaugural festival, which was held in 1984, during which 100 films were screened over the course of three weeks. The Jerusalem Film Festival, or JFF, has since established a reputation as being Israel's foremost film festival, showcasing both the best of international cinema to local artists, and showing visitors the up-and-coming talent in the Israeli moviemaking scene. However, the JFF isn't the only film festival currently taking place in Jerusalem. Not to be outdone by the film festival happening across town, in 2020, the inaugural installation of the Jerusalem Arab Film Festival was announced. This year, the festival is in its third year and aims to showcase the best filmmaking from the Arab world to a local Palestinian audience. In a move that defies the possibility of coincidence, the two film festivals are running across town at exactly the same time. The Jerusalem Arab Festival kicked off on Wednesday night, July 12th, and the Jerusalem Film Festival opened on the following evening, Thursday, July 14th. The Jerusalem Arab Film Festival is showing movies at the Al Haqawati Theatre, which is also known as the Palestinian National Theatre, and which is located in the American colony neighborhood, as well as in the Yabuz Cultural Center. It runs until July 16th. As could be expected, the tone of many of the movies being shown at the latter film festival is decidedly anti-Israel. Palestine 78 depicts the plight of a Palestinian attempting to escape from what the festival's Facebook page calls the Occupation Army, referring to the IDF. After finding shelter with another fugitive in a random woman's bathroom, the movie's hero manages to evade arrest by the pursuing Israelis. The list of international organizations funding the Jerusalem Arab Film Festival include Irish Aid and the Consulate General of Spain in Jerusalem. To avoid infringing upon anybody's copyright, I've avoided including photos from either film festival's launch and from their movies, but you can check out the Jerusalem Arab Film Festival's programming through their website and Facebook page. I'll leave a link to that in the description. The existence of two rival film festivals on different sides of town in Jerusalem goes to underscore a point that I've made many times on this YouTube channel. That while Jerusalem remain a united city on paper, in reality the two halves of the city remain starkly divided along ethnic and religious lines, functioning as sort of parallel loosely connected ecosystems. And of course it goes to underscore that in Jerusalem, nothing is more than a half step away from being political. Thanks for watching today's video. If there's an Israel or Jerusalem related subject you'd like to see me cover, please consider dropping me a comment or an email and like and subscribe to continue getting these videos in your feeds.