American actor and comedian Michael Rapaport will attend the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival in December for the closing screening of "Am I Cancelled Yet?", a documentary about his renewed connection to his Jewish identity and the personal and professional price of his outspoken support for Israel, Ynet Global reports. Rapaport, who also produced the film, will join director Ruth Berdah-Canet for a discussion with the audience after the screening on Thursday, December 10, at the Jerusalem Cinematheque. The closing event begins at 8:30 p.m.
Rapaport is known for roles in "True Romance," "Beautiful Girls," "Prison Break" and "Only Murders in the Building." Ynet Global reports he has become an outspoken supporter of Israel since the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023. The 88-minute documentary follows him as he visits the sites of the massacres, meets survivors and hostage families and grapples with the backlash to his public stance. It mixes comedy with scenes of grief and reflection. According to organizers, the film received a special screening supported by the 2026 Tribeca Film Festival, i24NEWS reports.
The festival's 28th edition runs December 5 to 10 during Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights, and will present more than 40 films from 15 countries. German director Volker Schlöndorff will open it on Saturday, December 5, at 7 p.m. with his latest film, "Visitation," and will receive an achievement award for his contribution to cinema, Ynet Global reports. Schlöndorff's 1979 film "The Tin Drum" won both the Academy Award for best foreign-language film and the Palme d'Or at Cannes. He will attend as the festival's guest of honor.
"Visitation" premiered at this year's Cannes Film Festival. Set around a lakeside house near Berlin, it traces decades of German history through the home's residents, from the architect who builds it for his family to Jewish neighbors forced to flee and those who arrive later, Ynet Global reports. A second screening is set for 5 p.m. on Sunday, December 6, followed by a conversation with the director moderated by Benjamin Tovias, film critic for Yedioth Ahronoth and ynet.
In a joint statement, Jerusalem Cinematheque CEO Roni Mahdav-Levin and festival artistic director Daniella Tourgeman-Glass said the opening and closing films share common ground. "Though vastly different in style and cinematic language, both films explore, in their own ways, questions of identity, memory, belonging, and the challenges of navigating a changing reality," they said.
The wider program includes documentaries, features, shorts, restored classics and archival films on Jewish life, culture, faith, antisemitism, Holocaust memory and relations between Judaism and other religions, with filmmaker talks, lectures, workshops and panels alongside the screenings. The full program will be announced later, Ynet Global reports. Tickets for the opening went on sale November 8, and sales for other screenings and the closing event begin November 22 through the Jerusalem Cinematheque website. Film tickets cost 43 shekels, or 38 shekels for students.
