Gala Screenings and Receptions; Celebrity Guest: Ronit Elkabetz; talks; discussions; short film programme and after film parties.

"Sipur Gadol"

Director: Sharon Maymon and Erez Tadmor

Israel 2009 90 mins

Language: Hebrew with English subtitles

Winner of the Audience Award at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival

In this highly original Israeli comedy there is plenty to discover about turning life around and making something out of being socially unacceptable when the unwritten rule is that 'thin is beautiful'.

Film 7pm Reception 9.15pm: A buffet reception will take place in the Vue Bar after the screening.

Tickets: 60 pounds in advance from UKJFF. Call 020 3176 0048

Sponsored by the Rudnick Family

USA 2009 105 mins

Language: English

A Jewish masterpiece. The Coen Brothers bring their infinite and original sense of humour to focus on an every day sort of man who witnesses the world turning against him.

The Opening Night Gala is sponsored by Bank Leumi (UK) plc

Director: Keren Yedaya

Israel/Germany/France 2009 106 mins

Language: Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles

Cast: Starring Ronit Elkabetz, Dana Ivgy and Moni Moshonov

What if Romeo and Juliet were alive today and living in Jaffa? Mali, a young Jewish woman, has a secret relationship with Toufik, the Arab mechanic who works in her father's garage.When they discover that she is expecting a child, they decide to run away together. However, tensions mount between Toufik and Mali's racist brother and the ensuing confrontation changes the young lovers' destinies forever.

Ronit Elkabetz will attend the screening, which will be followed by a Q&A. There will be a pre-screening reception.

Sponsored by Stella and Samir Joory

France, Israel, Italy 2008 95 mins

Language: French with English subtitles

Starring Gérard Depardieu, Fanny Ardant and Lior Ashkenazi

Enjoyably eccentric black comedy, starring Fanny Ardant and Gerard Depardieu as a wealthy Parisian couple who relocate to Israel in the grip of a mid-life crisis.

Hello Goodbye is sponsored by Veronique and Jonathan Lewis

Screening with:

Gefilte Fish

There will be a post-screening reception during which the winner of the UKJFF Audience Award will be announced

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Robi Damelin and Ali Abu Awwad, members of the Parents Circle- Families Forum.

All ticket holders are invited to our Good Intentions After Screening Party- a special event celebrating the tastes and sounds of the Middle East, and exploring possibilities of promoting co-existence and positive dialogue through food and music. This will include a Middle East food demonstration by Israeli and Arab chefs from Minkies Deli.

Sponsored by Lowy Mitchell Foundation, The Pears Foundation

In partnership with the Jewish Community Centre for London

Abraham Fund

Forgiveness Project

Elkabetz has won Israeli Oscars for Best Actress in "Sh'chur", and in "Late Marriage".

Born in Beersheva, Elkabetz began her acting career at the age of 24. She has distinguished herself as a powerful actor who takes on roles which are highly demanding and which demonstrate an extreme intensity of emotion and sexuality. She is highly regarded as a script writer, actor and director as revealed in her first feature, "To Take a Wife". Elkabetz radiates a combination of undisguised sexuality and tense fragility which mark her out as an actor with incredible charm and a talent that is being recognised increasingly both in Israel and in France.

Elkabetz features in four films in the UKJFF 2009 programme.

The UKJFF is delighted to be able to bring Ronit Elkabetz to our audiences in London and we eagerly await the screening of her films in the festival.

Following the screening of City of Borders, Sa'ar Nathaniel, the first openly gay city council member in Jerusalem and Ellen Goldberg, Executive Director of New Israel Fund UK, which works to promote freedom, justice and equality for all Israel's citizens, will discuss issues of gay and minority rights and the challenges and prospects for co-existence between opposing communities and religions in Jerusalem and in Israel as a whole.

You are invited to join us after the discussion in the ICA bar where DJ Kobayashi will be on the decks.

Sponsored by New Israel Fund for equality and social justice

To celebrate the launch of Oy Britannia at the BFI Mediatheque, UKJFF and BFI bring you a very rare screening of the 1933 film "Loyalties", Basil Dean's groundbreaking tale of anti-Semitism in British high society. Available to view free from November 2009 at the BFI Mediatheque, Oy Britannia is a new collection of films and television programmes from the BFI National Archive exploring a century of Jewish representation on British screens, from extremely rare silent footage and artists' work to TV favourites and contemporary short films. There are Mediatheques at BFI Southbank, London, QUAD, Derby and Central Library, Cambridge. For more information see www.bfi.org.uk/mediatheque "Loyalties" will be screened with "Citizen 63: Barry Langford" (1963), John Boorman's lively documentary portrait of a Jewish entrepreneur in Brighton, along with a selection of newly discovered footage from the Oy Britannia collection. This event will be introduced by Sylvia Paskin, editor of "When Joseph Met Molly: A Reader on Yiddish Film." In partnership with the British Film Institute