This year’s Pitch Point includes new projects from Nir Bergman, Yona Rozenkier, Hadar Morag.
Jerusalem Film Festival has confirmed the Industry Days programme for its 40th-anniversary edition, including the 10 projects for its Pitch Point Competition for Israeli co-production features.
The Industry Days will run from July 13-15, and will also include the final pitching event of the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab on July 14.
Scroll down for the full list of Pitch Point projects.
Pitch Point pitches will run on July 13, to a jury presided over by Arte Cinema France’s Olivier Pere, and including Beta Cinema’s Thorsten Ritter,...
Jerusalem Film Festival has confirmed the Industry Days programme for its 40th-anniversary edition, including the 10 projects for its Pitch Point Competition for Israeli co-production features.
The Industry Days will run from July 13-15, and will also include the final pitching event of the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab on July 14.
Scroll down for the full list of Pitch Point projects.
Pitch Point pitches will run on July 13, to a jury presided over by Arte Cinema France’s Olivier Pere, and including Beta Cinema’s Thorsten Ritter,...
- 7/3/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Oscar Isaac, Evangeline Lilly, Elliott Gould and Billy Zane will voice the Gidi Dar-directed animated movie Legend of Destruction.
The Ushpizin‘s filmmaker’s latest project has been nine years in the making incorporating a unique visual style with 1,500 original still paintings by David Polonsky and Michael Faust, the artists behind Waltz with Bashir and The Congress. The paintings are edited together to produce an innovative cinematic language, in creating a full-fledged experience of an epic action war film.
The pic is set in 66 Ad, Judea, under Roman rule; a virtual powder keg waiting to explode. Its society is polarized, and there is rampant social injustice and corruption. When the Jews revolt against the Roman Empire, the situation quickly deteriorates into a brutal civil war and the Roman war beast is unleashed to crush the rebellion. The film ends in...
The Ushpizin‘s filmmaker’s latest project has been nine years in the making incorporating a unique visual style with 1,500 original still paintings by David Polonsky and Michael Faust, the artists behind Waltz with Bashir and The Congress. The paintings are edited together to produce an innovative cinematic language, in creating a full-fledged experience of an epic action war film.
The pic is set in 66 Ad, Judea, under Roman rule; a virtual powder keg waiting to explode. Its society is polarized, and there is rampant social injustice and corruption. When the Jews revolt against the Roman Empire, the situation quickly deteriorates into a brutal civil war and the Roman war beast is unleashed to crush the rebellion. The film ends in...
- 2/7/2023
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Five Israeli projects won Pitch Point awards at the ceremony.
Zetjune, the upcoming second feature from Luzzu director Alex Camilleri, has won the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab Grand Prize on Saturday (July 23), at a joint ceremony in which Jerusalem Industry Days announced its Pitch Point winners.
Featuring real artists from the Maltese folk scene, musical Zejtune follows a 30-year-old woman whose life is reinvigorated by an encounter with an elderly troubadour.
Scroll down for the full list of winners
The 50,000 award was given to Maltese-us filmmaker Camilleri and his producers Rebecca Anastasi from Malta and Ramin Bahrami from the US.
Zetjune, the upcoming second feature from Luzzu director Alex Camilleri, has won the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab Grand Prize on Saturday (July 23), at a joint ceremony in which Jerusalem Industry Days announced its Pitch Point winners.
Featuring real artists from the Maltese folk scene, musical Zejtune follows a 30-year-old woman whose life is reinvigorated by an encounter with an elderly troubadour.
Scroll down for the full list of winners
The 50,000 award was given to Maltese-us filmmaker Camilleri and his producers Rebecca Anastasi from Malta and Ramin Bahrami from the US.
- 7/25/2022
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
M-Appeal has acquired world sales rights to Michal Vinik’s “Valeria Is Getting Married,” which focuses on two Ukrainian sisters, one already living in Israel, having entered a marriage arranged online, and the another considering doing the same.
The film marks the second collaboration between the German sales outfit and the Tel Aviv-based director, following her debut feature film “Barash.” It is the third time M-Appeal has teamed with Israeli production company Lama Films, following their partnership on “Barash” and “Working Woman.”
Maren Kroymann, M-Appeal’s managing director, said: “We are very excited to continue our collaboration with Michal, whose films are entertaining, accessible, and feminist in how they address important subjects. In ‘Valeria,’ she deconstructs widely spread preconceptions and prejudices about Ukrainian women, which have become much more visible now as so many women are fleeing the war.”
Set over the course of one day, the film focuses on...
The film marks the second collaboration between the German sales outfit and the Tel Aviv-based director, following her debut feature film “Barash.” It is the third time M-Appeal has teamed with Israeli production company Lama Films, following their partnership on “Barash” and “Working Woman.”
Maren Kroymann, M-Appeal’s managing director, said: “We are very excited to continue our collaboration with Michal, whose films are entertaining, accessible, and feminist in how they address important subjects. In ‘Valeria,’ she deconstructs widely spread preconceptions and prejudices about Ukrainian women, which have become much more visible now as so many women are fleeing the war.”
Set over the course of one day, the film focuses on...
- 7/12/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
It is produced by Marta Romanova-Jekabsane of Riga-based Kultfilma.
Escape Net, the second feature project by Latvian director Dzintars Dreibergs won the top prize at the Sofia Meetings co-production market in Bulgaria on Sunday.
The project is based on a true story set in Soviet-era Riga about a young woman who joins a basketball team in the hope it will allow her to travel abroad and meet her brother.
According to producer Marta Romanova-Jekabsane of Riga-based Kultfilma,around 70 of the film’s € 1.5m budget is in place and she is looking to bring other co-producers onboard to close the financing.
Escape Net, the second feature project by Latvian director Dzintars Dreibergs won the top prize at the Sofia Meetings co-production market in Bulgaria on Sunday.
The project is based on a true story set in Soviet-era Riga about a young woman who joins a basketball team in the hope it will allow her to travel abroad and meet her brother.
According to producer Marta Romanova-Jekabsane of Riga-based Kultfilma,around 70 of the film’s € 1.5m budget is in place and she is looking to bring other co-producers onboard to close the financing.
- 6/13/2022
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
The prestigious Bulgarian event showcases work by filmmakers from south-eastern Europe.
Debut features by filmmakers from Ukraine, Israel, Bulgaria and Georgia are among more than 30 film and TV projects being pitched to potential backers at the Sofia Meetings in Bulgaria from June 9 – 12.
Producer Andriy Kornienko of Kyiv-based Good Morning Films and director Ivan Orlenko will be participating online from Ukraine to present the dystopian drama Madagaskarplan.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian-born editor-director Svitlana Topor and producer Vasyl Malko of Warsaw-based Emily Production will be onsite in Sofia to pitch the debut No Smoking At The Border which is described as “a drama with...
Debut features by filmmakers from Ukraine, Israel, Bulgaria and Georgia are among more than 30 film and TV projects being pitched to potential backers at the Sofia Meetings in Bulgaria from June 9 – 12.
Producer Andriy Kornienko of Kyiv-based Good Morning Films and director Ivan Orlenko will be participating online from Ukraine to present the dystopian drama Madagaskarplan.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian-born editor-director Svitlana Topor and producer Vasyl Malko of Warsaw-based Emily Production will be onsite in Sofia to pitch the debut No Smoking At The Border which is described as “a drama with...
- 6/6/2022
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
Breaking Through The Lens, an initiative launched three years ago to promote emerging female directors, has unveiled the shortlist of projects vying to participate in the 3rd edition of its pitching platform set to take place during the Cannes Film Festival.
The selected projects, which will be pitched to over 100 financiers and key industry people during Cannes, were announced during the European Film Market on Feb. 25.
Spanning 13 countries, this year’s shortlist of 20 titles includes Tamika Guishard’s African dance-driven feature “Rhythm in Blues;” Daresha Kyi’s U.S. documentary “Mama Bears” which follows conservative Christian mothers whose lives are transformed as they accept their Lgbtq children; Ahd Kamel’s Saudi Arabian feature “My Driver and I” set in 80s and 90s and centering on an unlikely friendship between a privileged Saudi girl and her Nubian driver; and Laura Moss’ feature debut “Birth/Rebirth,” a female-driven Frankenstein adaptation.
Set to be announced in early April,...
The selected projects, which will be pitched to over 100 financiers and key industry people during Cannes, were announced during the European Film Market on Feb. 25.
Spanning 13 countries, this year’s shortlist of 20 titles includes Tamika Guishard’s African dance-driven feature “Rhythm in Blues;” Daresha Kyi’s U.S. documentary “Mama Bears” which follows conservative Christian mothers whose lives are transformed as they accept their Lgbtq children; Ahd Kamel’s Saudi Arabian feature “My Driver and I” set in 80s and 90s and centering on an unlikely friendship between a privileged Saudi girl and her Nubian driver; and Laura Moss’ feature debut “Birth/Rebirth,” a female-driven Frankenstein adaptation.
Set to be announced in early April,...
- 2/25/2020
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
A Jerusalem woman’s business career is ruined by her boss’ aggressive sexual behavior in this powerful Israeli drama.
The person who believes there’s never any excuse for putting up with the boss’s sexual harassment has probably never experienced any, let alone risked losing a position or needed salary if they complain.
Most women — and people in general — don’t have any choice but to put up with “a certain amount” of crap to get ahead at all and often is a real career advancement choice.
That’s the fix the heroine of Working Woman finds herself in: She’s wedged between the need for a job that greatly improves her young family’s prospects and the increasingly discomfiting behavior of her superior.
This second narrative feature by Israeli documentarian Michal Aviad is a strong drama that eschews melodramatic contrivance, making its points via cool (yet sometimes squirm-inducing) observation.
The person who believes there’s never any excuse for putting up with the boss’s sexual harassment has probably never experienced any, let alone risked losing a position or needed salary if they complain.
Most women — and people in general — don’t have any choice but to put up with “a certain amount” of crap to get ahead at all and often is a real career advancement choice.
That’s the fix the heroine of Working Woman finds herself in: She’s wedged between the need for a job that greatly improves her young family’s prospects and the increasingly discomfiting behavior of her superior.
This second narrative feature by Israeli documentarian Michal Aviad is a strong drama that eschews melodramatic contrivance, making its points via cool (yet sometimes squirm-inducing) observation.
- 4/16/2019
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Michal Aviad on Glenn Close and Michael Douglas in Adrian Lyne's Fatal Attraction and Demi Moore and Douglas in Barry Levinson's Disclosure: "Before writing and while writing and researching I looked for films that deal with sexual harassment." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Michal Aviad's Working Woman, co-written with Sharon Azulay Eyal and Michal Vinik, shot by Daniel Miller, stars Liron Ben-Shlush (Asaf Korman's Next to Her), Menashe Noy (Ronit Elkabetz and Shlomi Elkabetz' Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem), and Oshri Cohen with Irit Sheleg (Rama Burshtein's Fill The Void), and is produced by Amir Harel (Eytan Fox's Walk On Water which starred Lior Ashkenazi) and Ayelet Kait.
Michal Aviad on Liron Ben-Shlush as Orna in Working Woman: "I want to know how does it feel to be inside the female protagonist and try to look at it from her point of view.
Michal Aviad's Working Woman, co-written with Sharon Azulay Eyal and Michal Vinik, shot by Daniel Miller, stars Liron Ben-Shlush (Asaf Korman's Next to Her), Menashe Noy (Ronit Elkabetz and Shlomi Elkabetz' Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem), and Oshri Cohen with Irit Sheleg (Rama Burshtein's Fill The Void), and is produced by Amir Harel (Eytan Fox's Walk On Water which starred Lior Ashkenazi) and Ayelet Kait.
Michal Aviad on Liron Ben-Shlush as Orna in Working Woman: "I want to know how does it feel to be inside the female protagonist and try to look at it from her point of view.
- 4/2/2019
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Yona Rozenkier’s “The Dive” and Tsivia Barkai-Yacov’s “Red Cow” have scooped The Haggiag Award for Best Israeli Feature Film and the Anat Pirchi Award for Best Debut Film at the 35th edition of the Jerusalem Film Festival.
“The Dive” and “Red Cow” shared the award Thursday for best debut film. Produced by Efrat Cohen and Koby Mizrahi ,”The Dive” follows three brothers who reunite for one weekend to bury their father in their native kibbutz on the border with Lebanon before going to war. The movie, which also played at Locarno, is being sold by Stray Dogs.
“Red Cow” is set in an Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem and follows the sexual awakening of a teenage girl living with her widowed father, who is an Orthodox Jew. The movie world premiered at Berlin in the Generation section.
The Israeli competition jury, which comprised Romanian director Calin Peter Netzer,...
“The Dive” and “Red Cow” shared the award Thursday for best debut film. Produced by Efrat Cohen and Koby Mizrahi ,”The Dive” follows three brothers who reunite for one weekend to bury their father in their native kibbutz on the border with Lebanon before going to war. The movie, which also played at Locarno, is being sold by Stray Dogs.
“Red Cow” is set in an Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem and follows the sexual awakening of a teenage girl living with her widowed father, who is an Orthodox Jew. The movie world premiered at Berlin in the Generation section.
The Israeli competition jury, which comprised Romanian director Calin Peter Netzer,...
- 8/3/2018
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Festival’s new $20,000 international competition prize goes to Albert Serra for The Death Of Louis Xiv; One Week And A Day wins best Israeli feature.
The 33rd Jerusalem Film Festival, which wraps on Sunday, has awarded its top prizes to The Death Of Louis Xiv by Albert Serra (best international film), One Week And A Day by Asaph Polonsky (best Israeli feature), and Dimona Twist by Michal Aviad (best Israeli documentary).
The international jury was comprised of Cornerstone Films’ Alison Thompson, Icelandic director Grímur Hákonarson, and Israeli director Talya Lavie, who praised Serra “for creating a bold and distinctive chamber piece in a beautifully detailed world. For its stunning set design and cinematography that captures its period brilliantly. For creating an intimate and moving look at the sunset of a great figure in history.”
An honourable mention went to Tobias Lindholm’s A War.
The Death Of Louis Xiv wins the $20,000 cash prize for the festival’s new international...
The 33rd Jerusalem Film Festival, which wraps on Sunday, has awarded its top prizes to The Death Of Louis Xiv by Albert Serra (best international film), One Week And A Day by Asaph Polonsky (best Israeli feature), and Dimona Twist by Michal Aviad (best Israeli documentary).
The international jury was comprised of Cornerstone Films’ Alison Thompson, Icelandic director Grímur Hákonarson, and Israeli director Talya Lavie, who praised Serra “for creating a bold and distinctive chamber piece in a beautifully detailed world. For its stunning set design and cinematography that captures its period brilliantly. For creating an intimate and moving look at the sunset of a great figure in history.”
An honourable mention went to Tobias Lindholm’s A War.
The Death Of Louis Xiv wins the $20,000 cash prize for the festival’s new international...
- 7/15/2016
- by wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
Festival’s new $20,000 international competition prize goes to Albert Serra for The Death of Louis Xiv; One Week And a Day wins best Israeli feature.
The 33rd Jerusalem Film Festival, which wraps on Sunday, has awarded its top prizes to The Death of Louis Xiv by Albert Serra (best international film), One Week And A Day by Asaph Polonsky (best Israeli feature), and Dimona Twist by Michal Aviad (best Israeli documentary).
The jury was comprised of Cornerstone Films’ Alison Thompson, Icelandic director Grímur Hákonarson, and Israeli director Talya Lavie, who praised Serra “for creating a bold and distinctive chamber piece in a beautifully detailed world. For its stunning set design and cinematography that captures its period brilliantly. For creating an intimate and moving look at the sunset of a great figure in history.”
An honourable mention went to Tobias Lindholm’s A War.
Louis Xiv wins the $20,000 cash prize for the festival’s new international competition, supported...
The 33rd Jerusalem Film Festival, which wraps on Sunday, has awarded its top prizes to The Death of Louis Xiv by Albert Serra (best international film), One Week And A Day by Asaph Polonsky (best Israeli feature), and Dimona Twist by Michal Aviad (best Israeli documentary).
The jury was comprised of Cornerstone Films’ Alison Thompson, Icelandic director Grímur Hákonarson, and Israeli director Talya Lavie, who praised Serra “for creating a bold and distinctive chamber piece in a beautifully detailed world. For its stunning set design and cinematography that captures its period brilliantly. For creating an intimate and moving look at the sunset of a great figure in history.”
An honourable mention went to Tobias Lindholm’s A War.
Louis Xiv wins the $20,000 cash prize for the festival’s new international competition, supported...
- 7/15/2016
- by wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
Israeli film-maker Itamar Alcalay’s Darkroom, revolving around a young gay Armenian man forced into an arranged marriage, has won the top $50,000 prize at the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab’s pitching event.
The Death Of Black Horses by Kurdistan’s Ferit Karahan, a story of family intrigue in a Kurdish village during the First World War, clinched the second prize of $20,000.
The two prizes were donated by the Beracha Foundation.
Darkroom, produced by Amir Harel and Ayelet Kait of Tel Aviv-based Lama Films, is Alcalay’s debut feature, after a number of documentary shorts.
Set in a down-at-heel neighbourhood near the central bus station in Tel Aviv, it revolves around the relationship between hot-blooded Armenian Artium, his lover Amir and a free-spirited girl to whom Artium is married-off by his family.
The Death Of Black Horses is Karahan’s second film after The Fall From Heaven, which premiered at the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival and won...
The Death Of Black Horses by Kurdistan’s Ferit Karahan, a story of family intrigue in a Kurdish village during the First World War, clinched the second prize of $20,000.
The two prizes were donated by the Beracha Foundation.
Darkroom, produced by Amir Harel and Ayelet Kait of Tel Aviv-based Lama Films, is Alcalay’s debut feature, after a number of documentary shorts.
Set in a down-at-heel neighbourhood near the central bus station in Tel Aviv, it revolves around the relationship between hot-blooded Armenian Artium, his lover Amir and a free-spirited girl to whom Artium is married-off by his family.
The Death Of Black Horses is Karahan’s second film after The Fall From Heaven, which premiered at the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival and won...
- 7/13/2015
- ScreenDaily
A trip by Israeli reggae producers to Jamaica, Final Solution architect Heinrich Himmler, new immigrant angst and a pit ball rescue centre are among the many worlds explored in this year’s Israeli Documentary Competition.
“We were focused on both the film language and the subject matter. We wanted films that were both fresh in the way they were shot but also challenging socially or intellectually,” says filmmaker Anat Zuria, who was on the festivals four-person selection committee for documentaries.
The 15-title selection kicks off today with a sold-out premiere screening of filmmaker and journalist Uri Misgav’s Life of Poetry: The Story of Avraham Halfi [pictured].
Combining interviews with friends and archive footage, the picture explores the life of the publicity shy late poet, described by Misgav as an “anonymous hero”, whose work Adorned Is Your Forehead formed the basis for one of Israel’s most popular Hebrew songs.
Other contenders include Yossi Aviram’s The Polgar...
“We were focused on both the film language and the subject matter. We wanted films that were both fresh in the way they were shot but also challenging socially or intellectually,” says filmmaker Anat Zuria, who was on the festivals four-person selection committee for documentaries.
The 15-title selection kicks off today with a sold-out premiere screening of filmmaker and journalist Uri Misgav’s Life of Poetry: The Story of Avraham Halfi [pictured].
Combining interviews with friends and archive footage, the picture explores the life of the publicity shy late poet, described by Misgav as an “anonymous hero”, whose work Adorned Is Your Forehead formed the basis for one of Israel’s most popular Hebrew songs.
Other contenders include Yossi Aviram’s The Polgar...
- 7/11/2014
- ScreenDaily
A trip by Israeli reggae producers to Jamaica, Final Solution architect Heinrich Himmler, new immigrant angst and a pit ball rescue centre are among the many worlds explored in this year’s Israeli Documentary Competition.
“We were focused on both the film language and the subject matter. We wanted films that were both fresh in the way they were shot but also challenging socially or intellectually,” says filmmaker Anat Zuria, who was on the festivals four-person selection committee for documentaries.
The 15-title selection kicks off today with a sold-out premiere screening of filmmaker and journalist Uri Misgav’s Life of Poetry: The Story of Avraham Halfi [pictured].
Combining interviews with friends and archive footage, the picture explores the life of the publicity shy late poet, described by Misgav as an “anonymous hero”, whose work Adorned Is Your Forehead formed the basis for one of Israel’s most popular Hebrew songs.
Other contenders include Yossi Aviram’s The Polgar...
“We were focused on both the film language and the subject matter. We wanted films that were both fresh in the way they were shot but also challenging socially or intellectually,” says filmmaker Anat Zuria, who was on the festivals four-person selection committee for documentaries.
The 15-title selection kicks off today with a sold-out premiere screening of filmmaker and journalist Uri Misgav’s Life of Poetry: The Story of Avraham Halfi [pictured].
Combining interviews with friends and archive footage, the picture explores the life of the publicity shy late poet, described by Misgav as an “anonymous hero”, whose work Adorned Is Your Forehead formed the basis for one of Israel’s most popular Hebrew songs.
Other contenders include Yossi Aviram’s The Polgar...
- 7/11/2014
- ScreenDaily
As part of a multimedia event that aims to highlight Palestinian culture in a hopeful and positive manner, the Bright Stars of Bethlehem and the Levantine Cultural Center will screen a series of Palestinian-themed films, both documentary and narrative, for audiences in Los Angeles and Irvine. Most of the films, which are having their Southern California premieres, will be followed by engaging Q&As with the filmmakers to give the creators and the community the change to connects and exchange thoughts.
Some of the films screening at the festival are:
It’s Better to Jump
Dir: Patrick Alexander Stewart, Gina M. Angelone, Mouna B.Stewart
This new documentary centers on the city of Akka (Acre) in northern Israel, in which Muslims, Christians, Jews, and Baha’i have coexisted since ancient times. Today, as the city deals with economic difficulties and social change, many Arab families have decided to abandoned the land they have called home for dozens of generations, a land in which their unique culture developed over thousands of years. The film gets its title from the rite of passage that takes place on the centuries-old, forty-foot seawall at the edge of the city. Young people test their fate and bravery by jumping off the wall into the rolling waters, an event that today not only relates to tradition, but also acts as metaphor for the self-determination required to rise above the tumultuous issues that affect Akka’s people.
See the trailer Here
It’s Better to Jump screens October 1st at 7:00 Pm in the Harmony Gold Theater as part of the Celebration of Palestinian Culture, and will then go on to screen in several different cities thought the fall.
October:
10/1 Levantine Cultural Center (Harmony Gold Theater) L.A.
10/2 Levantine Cultural Center Orange County
10/18 Silent River Film Festival Orange County
10/19 Unspoken Film Festival Utica, NY
10/21 Boston Palestine Film Festival (Harvard Law School)
November:
11/19 Other Israel Film Festival (Jewish Cultural Center) Manhattan
11/20 Other Israel Film Festival (Cinema Village Theater) 13th St. Manhattan
11/22-11/28 Quad Theater 13th Street, New York, New York 10011(2 shows per day)
December:
12/6-12/12 Laemmle's Theater NoHo (2 shows per day)
Under the Same Sun
Dir: Sameh Zoabi
On the narrative front, prominent Palestinian filmmaker Sameh Zoabi’s latest work is a tale of camaraderie and understanding. Produced by the Academy Award-nominated producer Amir Harel, the film follows a Palestinian businessman (Ali Suliman) and an Israeli entrepreneur (Yossi Marshak) as they must join forces to develop a new solar energy firm that will serve the needs of the Palestinian population in the West Bank, all while dealing with the societal expectations of their respective backgrounds.
The film will screen on October 2nd at 7:00 Pm at the Harmony Gold Theater
Palestinian Women In Film
Within the selection of films to be presented there is a particular section that highlights the most recent cinematic contributions from Palestinian female directors.
The Stones Cry Out
Dir: Yasmine Perni
Perni’s eye opening documentary approaches the Israeli/Palestinian conflict from a different angle focusing on the Christian population of the Holy Land. Often ignored is the fact that Palestine was the birthplace of Christianity and that their cultural contributions are as equally important in the identity of the land as those from Muslims and Jews.
Restored Pictures
Dir: Mahasen Nasser-Eldin
Exploring the life of Karimeh Abbud, the first female photographer in Palestine, the film documents her oeuvre as visual testimony of life in Palestine during the early 1900s.
The films will screen together on October 3rd at 7:00 Pm in the Harmony Gold Theater followed by Q&As with both filmmakers.
Short Films
In addition to the features screening at this unique event, there will also be a small program of short films that deal with varied subjects within the Palestinian community.
Town Barber —a film about an old barber in the town of Beit Sahour who offers haircuts for men, which are not modern in style but rather old-fashioned.
Space of the Alley —a film about a group of teenagers who practice “Parkour” as a creative way to express themselves and overcome the difficult situation and frustration they face living in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Heavy Peel of Onion —a story about three people from different generations who emigrated to Norway. The film tries to work with the issue of identity, and looking into how and why they emigrated.
Panels will be held to further discussion about topics covered by the films and to bring light and conversation to the Palestinian culture and people.
Music
Besides the exclusive opportunity to see these incredible films, the festival will also bring Palestinian music to California.
The Dyar Dance Theater, an avant-garde group, and Palestinian Hip Hop sensation Dam will perform on October 5th starting at 8:00 Pm in the Harmony Gold Theater of Los Angeles. Both acts will also perform in Irvine on October 6th at 5:30 in the Irvine Barclay Theater.
Los Angeles
All screenings and events will take place at the Harmony Gold Theater, 7655 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90046, on October 1, 2, 3, and 5.
For more information and to purchase tickets click Here or email rsvp[at]levantinecenter.org
Irvine
This will be a one-day event on October 6 at the Irvine Theater, 4199 Campus Dr, Irvine, CA 92612.
For more information and to purchase tickets call (949) 854-4607...
Some of the films screening at the festival are:
It’s Better to Jump
Dir: Patrick Alexander Stewart, Gina M. Angelone, Mouna B.Stewart
This new documentary centers on the city of Akka (Acre) in northern Israel, in which Muslims, Christians, Jews, and Baha’i have coexisted since ancient times. Today, as the city deals with economic difficulties and social change, many Arab families have decided to abandoned the land they have called home for dozens of generations, a land in which their unique culture developed over thousands of years. The film gets its title from the rite of passage that takes place on the centuries-old, forty-foot seawall at the edge of the city. Young people test their fate and bravery by jumping off the wall into the rolling waters, an event that today not only relates to tradition, but also acts as metaphor for the self-determination required to rise above the tumultuous issues that affect Akka’s people.
See the trailer Here
It’s Better to Jump screens October 1st at 7:00 Pm in the Harmony Gold Theater as part of the Celebration of Palestinian Culture, and will then go on to screen in several different cities thought the fall.
October:
10/1 Levantine Cultural Center (Harmony Gold Theater) L.A.
10/2 Levantine Cultural Center Orange County
10/18 Silent River Film Festival Orange County
10/19 Unspoken Film Festival Utica, NY
10/21 Boston Palestine Film Festival (Harvard Law School)
November:
11/19 Other Israel Film Festival (Jewish Cultural Center) Manhattan
11/20 Other Israel Film Festival (Cinema Village Theater) 13th St. Manhattan
11/22-11/28 Quad Theater 13th Street, New York, New York 10011(2 shows per day)
December:
12/6-12/12 Laemmle's Theater NoHo (2 shows per day)
Under the Same Sun
Dir: Sameh Zoabi
On the narrative front, prominent Palestinian filmmaker Sameh Zoabi’s latest work is a tale of camaraderie and understanding. Produced by the Academy Award-nominated producer Amir Harel, the film follows a Palestinian businessman (Ali Suliman) and an Israeli entrepreneur (Yossi Marshak) as they must join forces to develop a new solar energy firm that will serve the needs of the Palestinian population in the West Bank, all while dealing with the societal expectations of their respective backgrounds.
The film will screen on October 2nd at 7:00 Pm at the Harmony Gold Theater
Palestinian Women In Film
Within the selection of films to be presented there is a particular section that highlights the most recent cinematic contributions from Palestinian female directors.
The Stones Cry Out
Dir: Yasmine Perni
Perni’s eye opening documentary approaches the Israeli/Palestinian conflict from a different angle focusing on the Christian population of the Holy Land. Often ignored is the fact that Palestine was the birthplace of Christianity and that their cultural contributions are as equally important in the identity of the land as those from Muslims and Jews.
Restored Pictures
Dir: Mahasen Nasser-Eldin
Exploring the life of Karimeh Abbud, the first female photographer in Palestine, the film documents her oeuvre as visual testimony of life in Palestine during the early 1900s.
The films will screen together on October 3rd at 7:00 Pm in the Harmony Gold Theater followed by Q&As with both filmmakers.
Short Films
In addition to the features screening at this unique event, there will also be a small program of short films that deal with varied subjects within the Palestinian community.
Town Barber —a film about an old barber in the town of Beit Sahour who offers haircuts for men, which are not modern in style but rather old-fashioned.
Space of the Alley —a film about a group of teenagers who practice “Parkour” as a creative way to express themselves and overcome the difficult situation and frustration they face living in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Heavy Peel of Onion —a story about three people from different generations who emigrated to Norway. The film tries to work with the issue of identity, and looking into how and why they emigrated.
Panels will be held to further discussion about topics covered by the films and to bring light and conversation to the Palestinian culture and people.
Music
Besides the exclusive opportunity to see these incredible films, the festival will also bring Palestinian music to California.
The Dyar Dance Theater, an avant-garde group, and Palestinian Hip Hop sensation Dam will perform on October 5th starting at 8:00 Pm in the Harmony Gold Theater of Los Angeles. Both acts will also perform in Irvine on October 6th at 5:30 in the Irvine Barclay Theater.
Los Angeles
All screenings and events will take place at the Harmony Gold Theater, 7655 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90046, on October 1, 2, 3, and 5.
For more information and to purchase tickets click Here or email rsvp[at]levantinecenter.org
Irvine
This will be a one-day event on October 6 at the Irvine Theater, 4199 Campus Dr, Irvine, CA 92612.
For more information and to purchase tickets call (949) 854-4607...
- 9/29/2013
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
Strand Releasing has acquired all North American rights to Eytan Fox’s “Yossi,” which had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in April. The specialty distributor, which released Fox’s “Yossi & Jagger” and “The Bubble,” plans a fall festival run followed by a theatrical release early in 2013. Written by Itay Segal, Fox’s follow-up to “Yossi & Jagger” picks up with Yossi as a workaholic Tel Aviv doctor who meets a soldier on the road after he’s forced to take a vacation. Lama Films’ Amir Harel produced along with United King Films’ Moshe Edry and Leon Edry, Fox and Ayelet Kait. Read Iw critic Eric Kohn’s review, and our critics poll of the best of Tribeca, where "Yossi" led all narrative films. “There was big interest for ‘Yossi’ after its Tribeca film fest premiere from many U.S. distributors, and even new players came in to bid for.
- 6/12/2012
- by Jay A. Fernandez
- Indiewire
Tawfik Abu-Wael is a 35 year-old Arab-Israeli filmmaker who appears to be set for a second splash in Cannes. Born and raised in the northern town of Um El Fahm, at an early age, he went against his family wishes, and moved to Tel Aviv, where he studied the art of filmmaking. In 2004 his feature debut Atash-Thirst received heavy critical praise and it won the Fipresci award in Cannes that year. Domestically, it won an Ophir Award (Israeli Oscar) for Best Cinematography and another award for Best Israeli Feature at the Jerusalem Film Festival. Atash-Thirst was a highly stylized story of an Arab family living in a secluded location, struggling with a lack of running water. The film opened a window to the lives of Arabs in Israel, not often depicted on the screen by their own sons. In the seven years since his debut, Abu-Wael has been painstakingly raising funds for his second feature.
- 3/21/2011
- IONCINEMA.com
It seemed like director Eytan Fox disappeared from the public eye, but this year he's planning a comeback. 20 years ago his short film After made a name for him as someone who put homosexuality at the center of his works. He moved on to direct a few other features and TV series, his breakthrough came a decade later, with Yossi and Jagger, a 65 min TV film that broke out from the little screen to be shown at movie theaters locally and internationally. His follow-up was the hugely successful Walk on Water, and after that came 2007's The Bubble, which was a local commercial success, but became a punching bag for most of the critics. Almost four years later, Fox is back: earlier this year it was announced that a Mamma-Mia type TV series he directed was re-cut into a feature length film, and sold to distribution in the U.S.
- 3/2/2011
- IONCINEMA.com
International Critics Week
CANNES -- Etgar Keret is well-known internationally as a writer of offbeat, fragmentary short stories -- his latest collection, The Nimrod Flipout, has been highly praised in the U.S. and British media -- and his debut directorial feature effort, scripted and co-directed by his partner Shira Geffen, is a similarly mosaic composition. Several stories, or scraps of stories, are woven together in the making of Jellyfish (Meduzot), linked by common themes and a shared sense of humor, poetry and loss.
Though the main characters -- Keren and Michael, a newly married couple; Batya, who works for a caterer specializing in weddings; and Joy, an Indonesian domestic -- do not meet, or do so only fleetingly, the movie builds to a wholly convincing finale that lingers in the mind long after the final credits. The film should enjoy a long life on the festival circuit and ample theatrical opportunities in many territories.
When Keren (Noa Knoller) breaks a leg at the wedding reception, their Caribbean honeymoon is called off and they book into a hotel by the beach. The enforced idleness is already creating strains between them when Michael (Gera Sandler) meets an attractive female poet who offers to exchange rooms with them because theirs is facing away from the sea.
Batya (Sarah Adler), who lives in a crumbling apartment and has trouble paying the bills, finds her life turned upside down by a 5-year-old girl (Nicole Leidman), who appears mysteriously out of the sea and passes into her care. Joy (Ma-nenita De Latorre), a sweet-natured maid who lives only to send money and make long-distance telephone calls to her daughter overseas, finds herself the unwitting instrument of a reconciliation between a sick old woman, Malka (Zharira Charifai), and her daughter Galia, an actress (Ilanit Ben-Yaakov).
The action takes place entirely in Tel Aviv, the city where Keret and Geffen have spent most of their lives, and usually a short distance from the sea that, as Keret notes, has become for many Israelis a refuge, a place of shelter and comfort in that troubled country where people can find themselves.
There are frequent visual and verbal references to the sea and ships, and the movie's view of its characters is made plain in the title: Like jellyfish, they are free-floating, driven here and there by forces beyond their control, bereft of moorings.
This is to make Jellyfish sound more arty or intellectual than it is. There is an abundance of finely observed detail and plenty of humor, mostly of the wry, ironic kind, often with a keen sense of the absurd. When a policeman wants to explain to Batya, who has just presented him with the lost child, that there is an astonishingly large number of missing people out there, he produces a file of individual cases and proceeds to fold them into origami paper boats.
Though the overall effect of the movie is downbeat but haunting, Keret and Geffen end on a note of optimism. The child returns to the sea as mysteriously as she had emerged from it. Batya plunges in after her and appears set to drown but is pulled from the waves by the photographer friend she has met earlier. The clear implication, as the movie concludes with a Hebrew rendition of Edith Piaf's La Vie en Rose, is that her life is beginning anew.
JELLYFISH
Lama Films, Les Films du Poisson
Credits:
Directors: Etgar Keret, Shira Geffen
Writer: Shira Geffen
Producers: Amir Harel, Ayelet Kit, Yael Fogiel
Director of photography: Antoine Heberle
Production design: Avi Fahima
Music: Christopher Bowen
Editing: Sacha Franklin, Francois Gedigier
Cast:
Batya: Sarah Adler
Little girl: Nicole Leidman
Michael: Gera Sandler
Keren: Noa Knoller
Joy: Ma-nenita De Latorre
Malka: Zharira Charifai
Galia: Ilanit Ben-Yaakov
running time 78 minutes
No MPAA rating...
CANNES -- Etgar Keret is well-known internationally as a writer of offbeat, fragmentary short stories -- his latest collection, The Nimrod Flipout, has been highly praised in the U.S. and British media -- and his debut directorial feature effort, scripted and co-directed by his partner Shira Geffen, is a similarly mosaic composition. Several stories, or scraps of stories, are woven together in the making of Jellyfish (Meduzot), linked by common themes and a shared sense of humor, poetry and loss.
Though the main characters -- Keren and Michael, a newly married couple; Batya, who works for a caterer specializing in weddings; and Joy, an Indonesian domestic -- do not meet, or do so only fleetingly, the movie builds to a wholly convincing finale that lingers in the mind long after the final credits. The film should enjoy a long life on the festival circuit and ample theatrical opportunities in many territories.
When Keren (Noa Knoller) breaks a leg at the wedding reception, their Caribbean honeymoon is called off and they book into a hotel by the beach. The enforced idleness is already creating strains between them when Michael (Gera Sandler) meets an attractive female poet who offers to exchange rooms with them because theirs is facing away from the sea.
Batya (Sarah Adler), who lives in a crumbling apartment and has trouble paying the bills, finds her life turned upside down by a 5-year-old girl (Nicole Leidman), who appears mysteriously out of the sea and passes into her care. Joy (Ma-nenita De Latorre), a sweet-natured maid who lives only to send money and make long-distance telephone calls to her daughter overseas, finds herself the unwitting instrument of a reconciliation between a sick old woman, Malka (Zharira Charifai), and her daughter Galia, an actress (Ilanit Ben-Yaakov).
The action takes place entirely in Tel Aviv, the city where Keret and Geffen have spent most of their lives, and usually a short distance from the sea that, as Keret notes, has become for many Israelis a refuge, a place of shelter and comfort in that troubled country where people can find themselves.
There are frequent visual and verbal references to the sea and ships, and the movie's view of its characters is made plain in the title: Like jellyfish, they are free-floating, driven here and there by forces beyond their control, bereft of moorings.
This is to make Jellyfish sound more arty or intellectual than it is. There is an abundance of finely observed detail and plenty of humor, mostly of the wry, ironic kind, often with a keen sense of the absurd. When a policeman wants to explain to Batya, who has just presented him with the lost child, that there is an astonishingly large number of missing people out there, he produces a file of individual cases and proceeds to fold them into origami paper boats.
Though the overall effect of the movie is downbeat but haunting, Keret and Geffen end on a note of optimism. The child returns to the sea as mysteriously as she had emerged from it. Batya plunges in after her and appears set to drown but is pulled from the waves by the photographer friend she has met earlier. The clear implication, as the movie concludes with a Hebrew rendition of Edith Piaf's La Vie en Rose, is that her life is beginning anew.
JELLYFISH
Lama Films, Les Films du Poisson
Credits:
Directors: Etgar Keret, Shira Geffen
Writer: Shira Geffen
Producers: Amir Harel, Ayelet Kit, Yael Fogiel
Director of photography: Antoine Heberle
Production design: Avi Fahima
Music: Christopher Bowen
Editing: Sacha Franklin, Francois Gedigier
Cast:
Batya: Sarah Adler
Little girl: Nicole Leidman
Michael: Gera Sandler
Keren: Noa Knoller
Joy: Ma-nenita De Latorre
Malka: Zharira Charifai
Galia: Ilanit Ben-Yaakov
running time 78 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 8/16/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
SYDNEY -- An animated feature that's Australia's first co-production with Israel and a feature-length documentary have received the green light for funding from Australia's Film Finance Corp., the agency said Wednesday. The Australia-Israel co-production, $9.99, is written by Etgar Karet and directed by Tatia Rosenthal. Set around a Sydney apartment block, the docu is being produced by Candy producer Emile Sherman and Golden Globe winner Amir Harel, with international sales handled by Fortissimo Films and Australian distribution through Dendy Films. "I'm delighted the FFC is supporting what I hope will be a ground-breaking, stop-motion animation film for adults. I hope it marks the beginning of a fruitful filmmaking relationship between Australia and Israel," said Sherman. The documentary feature, "Forbidden Lie$," written and directed by Anna Broinowski, is based on Norma Khouri book, Forbidden Love. The supposed true story of a young Jordanian woman who was the victim of an honor killing by male members of her family, the book was discredited as a fake, while allegations of criminal activity have been raised against her. Both films had received letters of intent from the funding agency in January.
- 3/22/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Part history of the Yiddish theater, part sitcom and part family drama, Arnon Goldfinger's documentary chronicling the saga of the Burstein Family, a popular Yiddish vaudeville act, is a bittersweet remembrance of a long gone era in showbiz. Most suitable for appropriately themed festivals and public television exposure, "The Komediant" (the word is Yiddish for actor) is currently receiving a theatrical release at New York's Lincoln Plaza and Quad Cinemas.
The family was headed by the late Pesach'ke Burstein, born at the end of the last century to an Orthodox Jewish family in Poland. Like the protagonist of "The Jazz Singer", Pesach'ke was shunned by his family for his theatrical ambitions, and he immigrated to America in 1924. Achieving success on the Yiddish theater circuit -- he became famous for his "bird whistling"-- he met and married Lillian Lux, two decades his junior, and the couple had a pair of twins, Mike and Susan, who were incorporated into the act while they were still children. Traveling the world and performing as the Burstein Family, they were highly successful. Eventually, Mike, who really longed for crossover success, overshadowed his parents and became the star of the act.
What might have been a predictably heartwarming tale is suffused with complexity, as the film chronicles the family strife that inevitably occurred with the pressures of their rarefied profession. Susan, who became a notable ventriloquist, rebelled at the lifestyle and opted out at age 18, marrying a man many years her senior. And Mike, chafing at the act's limitations, changed his name to Burstyn and became a Broadway star with the musical "Barnum". Interviewed separately, the surviving family members provide vividly contrasting and poignant remembrances of their careers and strained emotional dynamics.
Archival clips and home movies are used to terrific effect, and interviews with such other figures of the Yiddish theater as Fyvush Finkel (his account of the authoritarian Hebrew Actors Union, which once rejected Stella Adler for membership, is priceless) add the necessary context.
THE KOMEDIANT
New Yorker Films
Credits:
Director: Arnon Goldfinger
Producers: Amir Harel with Arnon Goldfinger, Oshra Schwartz and Zebra Productions Ltd.
Screenwriter: Oshra Schwartz
Director of photography: Yoram Millo
Editor: Einat Glaser-Zarbin
No MPAA rating
Running time 82 minutes...
The family was headed by the late Pesach'ke Burstein, born at the end of the last century to an Orthodox Jewish family in Poland. Like the protagonist of "The Jazz Singer", Pesach'ke was shunned by his family for his theatrical ambitions, and he immigrated to America in 1924. Achieving success on the Yiddish theater circuit -- he became famous for his "bird whistling"-- he met and married Lillian Lux, two decades his junior, and the couple had a pair of twins, Mike and Susan, who were incorporated into the act while they were still children. Traveling the world and performing as the Burstein Family, they were highly successful. Eventually, Mike, who really longed for crossover success, overshadowed his parents and became the star of the act.
What might have been a predictably heartwarming tale is suffused with complexity, as the film chronicles the family strife that inevitably occurred with the pressures of their rarefied profession. Susan, who became a notable ventriloquist, rebelled at the lifestyle and opted out at age 18, marrying a man many years her senior. And Mike, chafing at the act's limitations, changed his name to Burstyn and became a Broadway star with the musical "Barnum". Interviewed separately, the surviving family members provide vividly contrasting and poignant remembrances of their careers and strained emotional dynamics.
Archival clips and home movies are used to terrific effect, and interviews with such other figures of the Yiddish theater as Fyvush Finkel (his account of the authoritarian Hebrew Actors Union, which once rejected Stella Adler for membership, is priceless) add the necessary context.
THE KOMEDIANT
New Yorker Films
Credits:
Director: Arnon Goldfinger
Producers: Amir Harel with Arnon Goldfinger, Oshra Schwartz and Zebra Productions Ltd.
Screenwriter: Oshra Schwartz
Director of photography: Yoram Millo
Editor: Einat Glaser-Zarbin
No MPAA rating
Running time 82 minutes...
- 4/10/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.