Two films that engage directly with the experiences of the October 7 attacks and their aftermath took top honors at the 2025 Jewish Film Festival Berlin Brandenburg (JFBB), Germany’s largest Jewish film festival.

Of Dogs and Men, a docudrama from Israeli director Dani Rosenberg, shot at the Nir Oz kibbutz just weeks after the attacks, won the Gershon Klein Feature Film Award, the JFFB’s top prize, with the jury praising the movie’s “courageous gesture” of choosing to film in a war zone and its artful blending of fiction and documentary storytelling. The jury also highlighted Ori Avinoam’s lead performance as a teenage girl who, after narrowly escaping the attack, returns to the kibbutz to search for her lost dog.

The Gershon Klein Documentary Film Award went to Holding Liat by U.S. filmmaker Brandon Kramer, which chronicles the experience of a family whose daughter and son-in-law were kidnapped to Gaza on October 7. The jury described the film as “a story of parenthood, perseverance, and politics,” underscoring its focus on private grief amid public crisis.

A Special Mention in the documentary category was given to The Belle from Gaza, directed by Yolande Zauberman.

Zvi Landsman received the Intercultural Dialogue Award for Jacob De Haan: A Voice Out of Time, a portrait of the late Dutch Jewish writer, journalist and noted anti-Zionist who was persecuted in his lifetime for his homosexuality and finally assassinated by a Zionist paramilitary organization. The jury lauded the film for its “quiet power and lyrical depth” in exploring identity, belief, and historical memory.

The Newcomer Award was presented earlier in the week to Israeli director Tom Nesher for her debut feature Come Closer, a portrait of two women navigating grief and hidden desire.

The 31st JFFB, held for the first time in May, was a resounding public success, with sold-out screenings and packed houses for the week-long festival.

“We’ve received a lot of positive feedback for our diverse program selection, the atmosphere in the cinemas was excellent, and the conversations between filmmakers presenting their work at the JFBB and the audience were extremely engaging,” said JFBB managing director Andreas Stein. “The festival is steadily evolving into a place of exchange for everyone interested in Jewish life in Germany and around the world.”