The Sam Spiegel Film and Television School – Jerusalem, established in 1989 by The Israeli Ministry of Education and The Jerusalem Foundation, won the World's Best Film School award 16 times. The school was honoured in 51 countries with 175 retrospectives and tributes in prominent international film festivals, such as MOMA (1996) and Berlin Festival (2004). The student-films represent Israel at more than 150 international festivals each year and have won 391 international prizes. Many of the graduates become top directors, writers, and producers, and go on to assume leading roles in the Israeli media and over 70% find employment in the industry.

In 2011 it became the first school that created an international film lab. Each year the lab brings to Jerusalem 12 of the best graduates of film schools worldwide, who are working on a first or second full length feature film. At the end of a 7-month period of extensive work on their scripts, with top international script editors, they compete for prizes totalling $100,000 in productions grants, turning Jerusalem to an international center for content and production.