The Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot, a celebration of autumn bounty, cooling temperatures and a rare weeklong vacation for many Israeli families, is also one of the most packed periods of Israel’s cultural calendar. But even on a crowded playing field, the annual Haifa Film Festival — a small but scrappy global cinematic showcase that concluded on Oct. 14, after 10 fevered days of film — is the season’s undisputed gem.
This was the 33rd festival and it kicked off with a sudsy global treat: the Israeli premiere of Denis Villeneuve’s “Blade Runner 2049,” starring Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford in a long-awaited follow-up to the 1982 Ridley Scott classic “Blade Runner.”
