Australia’s Jump Street Films has announced plans for 2026 for its Jewish Australian Screen Foundation, which includes Shekhar Kapur, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Yael Abekasis and Shlomi Elkabets, while also launching the first Jewish Australian Screen Fellowship.
The five-project calendar announced in Melbourne by Jump Street director Jamie Bialkower includes an untitled historical thriller limited series produced by seven-time Emmy Award winner Northern Pictures, three debut feature films and the first Jewish-themed feature film supported in development by Screenwest.
Bialkower launched the fund in 2024 with a dual focus on authentic Jewish Australian storytelling and using screen representation as a tool to counter anti-Semitism, as well as creating avenues for up-and-coming creators. Since then, the foundation has supported 10 projects and produced four short films documenting the period since October. It documents seven lives in Australia for the Jewish International Film Festival, including Mezuza Man, written and directed by Jacob Melamed and filmed in Bondi just six months before the terrorist attacks.
Bialkower is currently in post-production on Elijah Cohen’s documentary Stand Up, which commemorates the 60th anniversary of the 1965 civil rights movement Freedom Rides, which united Jewish and indigenous youth. He is also working on a second documentary with director Danny Ben Moshe, which examines anti-Semitism in Australia’s cultural sector. Jump Street’s latest release as a distributor was “Freud’s Last Sessions” starring Anthony Hopkins in partnership with Sharmil Films.
The first Jewish Australian Film Fellowship will provide one Jewish Australian filmmaker with A$20,000 ($14,085) and a year of tutoring from Jump Street Films. Candidates can apply for film, television or digital at any stage of their career (new or mid-career) and must demonstrate on screen how their work deepens Jewish-Australian identity. Applications close on April 17th and recipients will be named on May 11th.
The Northern Pictures limited series created by Darren Ashton and Larry Katz is an untitled historical thriller based on true events. Northern Pictures has won seven Emmy Awards.
Everyone’s Have a Good Time But You is the debut feature from writer/director Richard Wilensky and was developed in collaboration with Sandbox Productions with support from Screenwest and Lottorywest. The film follows the owner of a struggling furniture chain whose insurance fraud is devastatingly discovered on the eve of his daughter’s wedding, and he scrambles to escape prison and organize the celebration without his family finding out.
Matchbox, a limited series created by Josh Billig and Chris Martin, follows three sisters who have lost sight of the meaning of family and are reunited by an encounter with a priceless Chagall painting, a sheltered Nazi scientist, an elderly Holocaust survivor, and an daring art heist.
Song of Songs is the debut film by multidisciplinary artist Anita Lester, executive produced by Shekhar Kapur, and starring Oliver Jackson-Cohen. Set during the week of shiva after her grandmother’s death, the film depicts the illicit bond between a young woman and a rabbi, as the family gradually begins to reconsider who they are.
Produced by Plot Twist and developed with support from Screen Australia, Zahava is the debut feature from writer and director Justin Olstein. Starring Yael Abekasis and Shlomi Elkabetz, the film follows a Hasidic woman whose feelings for her sick husband’s hired caregiver force her to confront desires she never allowed herself. The screenplay won the Writers Guild of Australia Monte Miller Award for Best Feature Screenplay.
