Itzhak 'Tzeppel' Yeshurun's No Longer 17 won the best Israeli film prize at the 19th Haifa Film Festival (Oct 11-18), with Yoav Kosh taking top honours for the cinematography of Life Is Life by Michal Bar Adam.

Hallelujah, a satire on the 1979 Eurovision song contest, was elected best TV drama.

The festival opened as scheduled on Oct.11 in an atmosphere of tight security following the terrorist attack which took place in Haifa a few days before the opening night.

An international jury, headed by Austrian star Klaus Maria Brandauer, awarded the Golden Anchor, the festival's special prize for the best Mediterranean films, to Moroccan entry, Aoud Rih's Le Cheval De Vent and Hani Abou Assad's Palestinian Rana's Wedding.

The list of festival guests included director Costa Gravas, in town to receive a Life Achievement Award and introduce Amen, Berlin-based Brazilian actor Aida Leiner (Carandiru), and British documentary director Adam Low (The Life And Times Of Luchino Visconti).