The Esther Fischer Emerging Filmmakers Program

The Murray Galinson San Diego-Israel Initiative (MGSDII) has been a beacon of academic exchange since its inception. The MGSDII Filmmakers Residency was founded in 2018 with the goal of fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation of Israeli culture specifically through the lens of cinema.

Since 2018, we have partnered with the Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival to award rising filmmakers the prestigious Esther Fischer Emerging Israeli Filmmaker Artist-in-Residence Prize. The residency offers talented rising filmmakers to visit San Diego for three weeks to work on their next projects, meet students and faculty in university classroom screenings, and cultivate relationships and share their art with the larger San Diego community.

The program owes much of its success to the generosity and vision of Esther Fischer. A long-time thought partner and friend of the MGSDII, Esther’s appreciation for film and the arts has been instrumental in providing young Israeli filmmakers with the opportunity to travel to San Diego.

The MGSDII Filmmakers Residency stands as a testament to the power of providing balanced discourse about Israel and the impact of dedicated individuals like Esther Fischer. As we look to the future, we remain committed to fostering informed discussion about modern Israel through all our programs.

Our 2025 Filmmakers in Residence

Meet our 2025 Filmmakers

This year, we were thrilled to honor three exceptional filmmakers:

  1. Efrat Rasner Shefa graduated with honors from the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School. Her graduation film “Out Of Reach” won the Outstanding Film Award of her class and has been screened at numerous festivals worldwide. Her recent work, “Foreign,” continues to garner international acclaim.
  2. Benny Shklovsky is from Jerusalem and immigrated from Russia in 1991. Growing up in a multicultural environment, he has a BFA from the Steve Tisch School of Film and Television at Tel Aviv University. Benny’s works include the sci-fi short film “Reeds” and the documentary short “Voiceless Witness,” created in collaboration with Nikolay.
  3. Nikolay Kouleshov is also a Jerusalem-based independent filmmaker who immigrated from Russia to Israel during his adolescence. Overcoming language barriers, he developed a unique cinematic language that is both silent and deeply sensitive. His notable works include the short film “Blowing In The Wind” and the documentary short “Voiceless Witness,” which premiered at the 2024 DocAviv festival.