The Israel Film Festival has established an annual scholarship fund to donate money from its yearly gala awards dinner for scholarships for Israeli film students at six major film schools in Israel.

Students who benefit from this year's $15,000 allocation can either use the scholarship in their third year to pay for their fourth year tuition or put the money towards the production of their final film with the commitment that it will be shown at next year's 24th Israel Film Festival.

'We are thrilled at the opportunity to provide much needed funding to educate tomorrow's most talented Israeli film-makers and bring Israeli culture to a mass audience,' festival founder and IsraFest Foundation executive director Meir Fenigstein said. 'As this year's Festival record setting attendance shows, there is a great audience looking for rich and exciting Israeli cinema.'

This year's festival, which ran from June 11-26 and featured a 60-year retrospective of Israeli cinema, drew more than 16,000 attendees and was hailed by organisers as the most successful in its 23-year history. The event will move to New York from October 30-November 13 and from there onto Miami from December 10-18.

For further information visit www.israelfilmfestival.com.