​Besides the usual politically oriented theme which many festival audience have grown accustomed to, the selection for this year’s Israeli Film Festival aims to take us one step further into the heart of this emerging film powerhouse with a diverse programme of drama, comedy, thriller, documentary and an action flick which by every mean comparable with its Hollywood counterpart.

Five Hours from Paris touches on that universal feeling of “wanting to be somewhere else”; the friendship depicted in Out of Sight surely strikes the chord of every heart; Eli and Ben shows us that a 12-year-old boy can tell what is right from wrong better than the adults; The Assassin Next Door, starring new Bond femme fatale Olga Kurylenko, shows female friendship of a different kind with flying bullets and explosive actions; the opening film The Debt is an espionage thriller that has recently received an acclaimed English language makeover by Shakespeare in Love (1998) director John Madden; and the documentaries Ladino - 500 Years Young and Ida's Dance Club reveal to us a side of Israel which we rarely see.

These films are a reflection of the multicultural and dynamic nation with its rich and diverse cultural heritage.

Jointly presented by the Consulate General of Israel and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of the Hong Kong SAR Government, the "Israeli Film Festival 2011" was successfully held from 11-23 January 2011 with an overall total ticket sale of 91.56%. Thanks to public support, 10 of all the 13 screenings were full houses.