Arava
International
Film
Festival

In 2020, the Arava Film Fund was established in partnership with the Gesher Multicultural Film Fund and the Arava Community Center, with the support of the Ministry of Culture and the Central Arava Regional Council. Its aim was to provide a stable, ongoing framework for the growing film activity in the region.

Five years later, in 2025, the three film funds operating across the Negev and Arava regions merged: the South Film Fund in Mitzpe Ramon, the Negev Film Fund at Sapir College, and the Arava Film Fund. The newly unified Negev Film Fund shares a common mission: to support local filmmakers and promote film production in the Negev. The merger enables the new organization to operate with greater independence and artistic freedom, support a wider range of projects, and continue strengthening the region’s film industry. Today, the fund serves as an active incubator for the development and production of fiction films, documentaries, and animation, as well as international collaborations. Among these is Short in the Desert, a project that continues to take place every year.

Short in the Desert is a short-film production initiative inspired by, and filmed in, the landscapes of the Negev and Arava regions. Its goal is to foster the development of these regions and encourage local filmmaking. Today, more than a decade after its launch, the initiative’s impact can be seen in the emergence of a growing local film industry across the Arava and Negev.

Each year, a group of emerging directors is invited on an inspirational tour of the Negev and Arava, offering them an opportunity to explore the region’s unique human and geographical landscapes and draw inspiration from them to write a short-film screenplay.

The screenplays developed following the tour are then submitted to an artistic committee, which selects the most promising projects to advance to production. Films supported by the fund are produced and shot in the region, with their premieres taking place at the Arava International Film Festival.

As part of the 15th edition of the Arava International Film Festival, we are proud to present four short films produced over the past year with the fund’s support, alongside two feature films: What is to come, directed by Ruthy Pribar, and Spikes, directed by Shiran Sharabany.