Emerging Filmmakers
Esther Fischer Emerging Israeli Filmmaker Artists
Film has the ability to cross cultural divides, create dialogue, and inspire connections.
Since 2018, the MGSDII has partnered with the Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival to support their emerging filmmaker program and to award up to three filmmakers each year the Esther Fischer Emerging Israeli Filmmaker Prize. The prize includes a chance to visit San Diego to work on next projects, meet students and faculty in university classroom screenings, and cultivate relationships and share their art with the larger San Diego community.
Esther Fischer has been a long-time thought partner and friend of The MGSDII. Her appreciation of film and the arts has gifted many young Israeli filmmakers the opportunity to travel to San Diego and create long-lasting connections with other young filmmakers like themselves in San Diego.
“Meeting with Esther is always a highlight for the filmmakers. How can you not love her wonderful energy and enthusiasm”, said recent resident Gadi Rimer.
2026 Esther Fischer Emerging Israeli Filmmaker Awardees
Lev Brodinsky is a Fulbright Scholar pursuing an MFA in Dramatic Writing at NYU. His award-winning short films have been screened internationally and on television – including My Name Is Dania, which was shortlisted for the Israeli Academy Award. Feature films that received development funding include Milk & Honey, Nekoyme and Dania. Milk & Honey also won First Prize at the Haifa Film Festival Pitch. Lev’s documentary Caravan #44 was supported by the Van Leer Intellectual Incubator, and he created the Israeli television series Harusim.
A graduate of Tel Aviv University’s Steve Tisch School of Film & Television, the Nissan Nativ Acting Studio, Kibbutzim College, and the Mandel Leadership Foundation, Lev co-founded Simya Films with his wife Alma Ben Zeev.
Lev will be screening and discussing his newest short flim Roma in San Diego university classrooms and at the San Diego International Jewish Film Festival (SDIJFF) in January 2026.
Lior Wigderson (1999), animation director and creator, graduated from Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, specializing in 2D animation. His graduation film The Sixth Campfire, co-directed with Tomer Hadad, received Bezalel’s President’s excellence award, was screened at multiple festivals, and was selected as Animix’s best student film of 2025.
The Sixth Campfire will be screened at the San Diego International Jewish Film Festival (SDIJFF) in January 2026.
Tomer Hadad (1998), animation director and creator, graduated from Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, specializing in 2D animation. His graduation film The Sixth Campfire, co-directed with Lior Wigderson, received Bezalel’s President’s excellence award, was screened at multiple festivals, and was selected as Animix’s best student film of 2025.
The Sixth Campfire will be screened at the San Diego International Jewish Film Festival (SDIJFF) in January 2026.
2025 Emerging Filmmakers
Voiceless Witness
Voiceless Witness
Foreign
2024 Emerging Filmmakers
White Lie
Requiem for a Whale
Letter to a Pig
2023 Emerging Filmmakers
He Can Sleep on the Couch
All Those Beginnings
2022 Emerging Filmmakers
Shabbat
Empty Spaces
2021 Emerging Filmmakers
With Slight Steps
White Eye
2020 Emerging Filmmakers
The Home Front
Girl With a Fork in a World of Soup
2019 Emerging Filmmakers
Ten Bell Tolls
Our Way Back