Four years ago, Gideon Heine lost a close friend from school. Grief sent him to the page, and the page became Wish You Long Life, the first feature from the Melbourne-born filmmaker, who wrote, directed and edited it. It reaches audiences at the Jewish International Film Festival in Sydney on Sunday 22 November and in Melbourne four nights later.

On screen, the loss belongs to Adi and Maya. Once inseparable, the two have drifted apart when the sudden death of their best friend, Reuben, pulls them back together. Retracing the futures they once planned, they run into what drove them apart: bullying at school, exclusion, and a fear of being seen as Jewish that each of them has handled differently. The festival describes the film as “tender, funny and ultimately hopeful”.

Noah Missell and Tal Davida play the leads. Albert Goikhman plays Adi’s father, and Tomi Kalinski plays a grandmother, Hannah. The script moves between English, Yiddish and Hebrew, and the film does not translate every word.

The past three years found their way into the story, and October 7 and the Bondi Beach attack of December 2025 became part of the characters’ world. Yet Heine describes the film as a journey “into the intimate and joyful moments the Australian Jewish community hold dear”.

“This is a story we need right now, and a gifted and talented voice that we need to get behind.Dr Dvir Abramovich, Chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission

He wanted the whole of Jewish Australia on screen, European, Sephardi and Middle Eastern alike, and sought advice across the community, including from the Holocaust educator Sue Hampel. Behind the friends stand grandparents who lived through Auschwitz and the Farhud, the 1941 massacre of Jews in Baghdad. Maya is of Middle Eastern Jewish descent, a character that was influenced and inspired by Hila Tsor.

The film was made on community goodwill. It was shot in 19 days and paid for largely by family, friends, foundations and a crowdfunding campaign. On the film’s website, Heine says the money raised goes to “employing and supporting local Jewish artists and creatives who have lost tremendous amounts of work, opportunities, and careers due to antisemitism”.

Toledano produced it with Robert Fantozzi and Heidi Kaye, with Michael Facey as executive producer. Scott Pope shot it, and Josh Moshe wrote the score.

Heine wants the film seen well beyond the Jewish community. “Empathy happens quickly through storytelling and now is the time to promote Jewish voices,” he writes.

For Dr Dvir Abramovich, Chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission, the film speaks directly to this moment. “This is a film about the times we live in. About antisemitism in Australia, and the question every young Jew in this country now faces: do you hide who you are, or stand proud?” he said. “This is a story we need right now, and a gifted and talented voice that we need to get behind.”

Both screenings are events. In Sydney, the Ritz Cinemas in Randwick hosts an exclusive preview, co-presented by the Sydney Jewish Museum, with special guests and a panel after the film. In Melbourne, Classic Cinemas in Elsternwick screens it with a Q&A. The cinema lists sessions at 6.45pm, 7.20pm and 8pm, and the first two are marked as selling fast.