Archive | Festival
Israel’s Hadas Yaron wins best actress at Venice Film Festival
From left, producer Assaf Amir, and actors Yiftach Klein, and Hadas Yaron arrive for the premiere of the movie ‘Fill The Void’ at the 69th edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, Sunday. Photo by AP
The festival’s main award – the Golden Lion went to South Korean director Kim Ki-duk’s shocking drama ‘Pieta.’
Hadas Yaron won the best actress award at the 69th Venice Film Festival on Saturday night. Yaron stared in Fill the Void, a film by director Rama Burshtein that received rave reviews in Variety magazine, Hollywood Reporter and Screen Daily.
Yaron is the first Israeli to win best actress at the Venice Film Festival.
The festival’s main award – the Golden Lion went to South Korean director Kim Ki-duk’s shocking drama “Pieta.”
The Silver Lion for best director went to Paul Thomas Anderson for ”The Master,” inspired by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. The film’s stars, Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman, shared the prize for best actor during the ceremony on Saturday.
Fill the Void, produced by Assaf Amir, tells the story of an 18-year-old Haredi girl who is happily looking forward to an arranged marriage, when her sister dies. She is then pressured to marry her bereaved brother-in-law instead, forcing her to make a choice.
“Pieta” follows a young loan shark as he goes about his business maiming debtors to collect insurance money. His ruthless course is interrupted by a stranger who claims to be his mother and his acceptance of her opens in him a sense of pity for his former victims.
Source: Haaretz.com
Israel @ TIFF: A schedule of Israeli movies playing at the Festival
Another year of a great Israeli movie selection at TIFF! Don’t miss it – September 6th to 16th
Eagles, directed by Dror Sabo
Sunday 9th 21:30 Scotiabank 3
Tuesday 11th 16:00 Jackman Hall (AGO)
Sunday 16th 21:30 Scotiabank 4
Fill The Void, directed by Rama Burshtein
Tuesday 11th 18:45 Scotiabank 3
Wednesday 12th 12:00 Bell Lightbox Cinema 2
Sunday 16th 12:30 Cineplex Yonge & Dundas 3
Igor & The Cranes’ Journey, directed by Evgeny Ruman
Saturday 8th 12:45 Bell Lightbox Cinema 3
Saturday 15th 12:00 Cineplex Yonge & Dundas 9
Out in the Dark, directed by Michael Mayer
Friday 7th 18:30 Cineplex Yonge & Dundas 10
Saturday 8th 9:00 Cineplex Yonge & Dundas 6
Friday 14th 16:30 Scotiabank 11
The Gatekeepers, directed by Dror Moreh
Friday 7th 15:00 The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema
Sunday 9th 13:00 Bell Lightbox Cinema 2
Zaytoun, directed by Eran Riklis
Sunday 9th 18:00 Bell Lightbox Cinema 1
Tuesday 11th 21:30 Scotiabank 2
Sunday 16th 15:45 Bell Lightbox Cinema 2
Hannah Arendt, directed by Margarethe von Trotta
Tuesday 11th 18:00 Visa Screening Room (Elgin)
Thursday 13th 11:00 Visa Screening Room (Elgin)
Saturday 15th 19:30 Cineplex Yonge & Dundas 6
Israeli Documentaries Reign Supreme at Traverse City Film Festival
by Dudi Caspi
Two Israeli films were announced winners at the 8th annual Traverse City Film Festival, held in the Michigan town during the past week. Documentary film “5 Broken Cameras”, Israeli-Palestinian co-production of directors Guy Davidi and Emad Burnat, won the coveted Best Picture award, while Arnon Goldfinger’s “The Flat” won the Special Jury Prize for a Foreign Film.
Winners were announced at the Filmmaker Party, ahead of Sunday night’s closing event, hosted by the festival’s co-founder, Academy Award winning director Michael Moore (“Fahrenheit 9/11″, “Bowling for Columbine”). The Festival showcases excellence in filmmaking, particularly rare independent films by both noted and new filmmakers, that do not receive mainstream distribution to start off.
“5 Broken Cameras” has already won numerous awards in recent months, including the World Cinema Directing Award at last January’s Sundance Film Festival. “The Flat” premiered at the Jerusalem Film Festival last year and has been garnering consistent critical acclaim globally. Earlier this week it was announced that North American rights for ”The Flat” have been picked up by Sundance Selects film distribution company. The film is tentatively scheduled to be released in the US come October.
Source: Algemeiner
Lollapalooza festival to touch down in Israel
Tel Aviv becomes third international destination for legendary Chicago concert
One of the US’s biggest music festivals announced Saturday it would be adding Tel Aviv to its small repertoire of international stops.
The Lollapalooza festival, helmed by former Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell, who is Jewish, will be bringing together 50 bands for three days of shows to Tel Aviv next year, organizers said Saturday,
“Lollapalooza began as music’s premier traveling festival,” Farrell said in a statement. “As a musician, I really missed the days when we were on the move. In the last few years we’ve widened our scope, presenting Lolla to the ‘festival generation’ around the world. Next stop – Tel Aviv.”
Organizers say the festival will be the first major international festival to visit Israel. It will take place August 20-23, 2013.
“Consumers have a voracious appetite for entertainment, yet there has never been a major music festival. To me, this combination screams Lollapalooza,” said Marc Geiger of WME Entertainment, a partner of Lollapalooza, LLC, in a statement.
Started as a farewell tour for Jane’s Addiction, the festival became a permanent fixture on the Chicago music scene in 2005. In 2011 it expanded to Santiago, Chile, and earlier this year to Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The lineup for the show, which will take place at Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park, where most international acts play, hasn’t yet been announced. In bringing in artists, organizers will be up against a campaign for artists to boycott Israel that has seen a number of recent successes, including Elvis Costello and Cat Power.
Since leaving grunge band Jane’s Addiction, Farrell has embarked on a number of projects, many with Jewish themes. Hist first solo album “Songs Yet To Be Sung,” was based on kabbalist teachings, and he often plays as DJ Peretz.
In 2006, Farrell put on Purimpalooza for the Jewish holiday, bringing a number of Jewish acts, including Matisyahu, to San Francisco.
Source: Times od Israel
Six Israeli films to be screened at Venice International Film Festival
The six films are ‘The Cutoff Man,’ ‘Filling the Void,’ ‘Water,’ ‘Hayuta and Berl,’ ‘The Inheritance’ and ‘Lullaby for My Father.’
Six new Israeli films are to be screened at the 69th Venice International Film Festival, including a project of shorts by Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers.
The six films are “The Cutoff Man,” “Filling the Void,” “Water,” “Hayuta and Berl,” “The Inheritance” and “Lullaby for My Father.”
“Water,” a Tel Aviv University Film and Television School project of shorts by Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers, has been chosen to open Critics’ Week, the indie section of the festival starting on August 29.
“Water” was one of nine films selected for funding out of 120 film proposals on the subject of water and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The 120 proposals were submitted by teams of Jewish Israelis, Arab Israelis and West Bank Palestinians.
The project, headed by artistic director Yael Perlov, was funded by a consortium including the Rabinovich Foundation, the Gesher Multicultural Film Fund, the American Embassy in Tel Aviv, the French Institute in Tel Aviv and the French Embassy.
“Water” was chosen for the Venice festival by a committee appointed by the Union of Italian Film Critics.
Idan Hubel’s “The Cutoff Man” tells the story of a man portrayed by Moshe Ivgy, whose job is to shut off the water of people with unpaid water bills. This film will compete in the festival’s Horizons segment.
Amir Manor’s “Hayuta and Berl,” which will take part in the festival’s Venice Days segment, depicts an elderly couple and their problems adjusting to socioeconomic change. One painful night they decide to put an end to their suffering.
Also taking part in the Venice Days segment is “The Inheritance,” produced by Arik Bernstein and David Silber. It was directed by Hiam Abbass, a Palestinian living in France. It tells the story of a Muslim family from a village in northern Israel fighting over an inheritance.
Amos Gitai’s new “Lullaby to My Father,” based on his father’s life, will be screened as a special event, alongside his 2009 film “Carmel” about his mother’s life.
Source: Haaretz.com
The Cutoff Man
SYNOPSIS:
Gabi cuts off the water supply to people who don’t pay their bills. There’s no choice, it’s either that or unemployment. The more he cuts, the more money he makes.Like a thief he sneaks into back yards, where the water meters are and like an executor he roams the neighborhood streets. When people see him they curse and humiliate him. they blame him for their situation. Gabi keeps cutting, he has a family to support. How long will it be before he breaks? Gabi’s son, who dreams of being a professional soccer player, is his only hope. But when one day Gabi comes to cut off the water of a sponsor on his son’s team, it looks like their dream will shatter.
Fill the Void
SYNOPSIS:
Fill the Void tells the story of an Orthodox Hassidic family from Tel Aviv. Eighteen-year-old Shira is the youngest daughter of the Mendelman family. She is about to be married off to a promising young man of the same age and background. It is a dream come true, and Shira feels prepared and excited. On Purim, her twenty-eight-year-old sister, Esther, dies while giving birth to her first child, Mordechay. The pain and grief that overwhelm the family postpone Shira’s promised match.
Everything changes when a match is proposed to Yochay-Esther’s late husband-to a widow from Belgium. Yochay feels it’s too early, although he realizes that sooner or later he must seriously consider getting married again. When the girls’ mother finds out that Yochay may marry the widow and move to Belgium with her only grandchild, she proposes a match between Shira and the widower. Shira will have to choose between her heart’s wish and her family duty. She will find out that the void which she must choose exists only within her heart.
Hayuta and Berl
SYNOPSIS:
Hayuta and Berl depicts an elderly couple and the troubles they have adjusting to the social and economic changes surrounding them. One painful night, they decide to put an end to their physical and spiritual suffering
The Inheritance
SYNOPSIS:
In a small Muslim village in Northern Israel, an inheritance battle between siblings goes on as their lies on his deathbed, reminiscing about his past and his bitter relationship with his late wife (their mother).
Lullaby to My Father
SYNOPSIS:
Amos Gitai tells the story of his father, Munio Weinraub, who was a student at the Bauhaus design and architecture school in the city of Dessau, before Hitler closed the school in 1933. In May 1933, Weinraub was accused of “treason against the German people” and sent to prison and later on expulsed away from Germany. The film follows Munio’s route from Poland to Germany, from Switzerland to Palestine.
Two Israeli films headed to the Locarno film festival
‘Not in Tel Aviv,’ a film by Israeli director Nony Geffen and ‘The Pit,’ a short film by Itamar Lapid, will compete at the Swiss event this August.
Two Israeli films are headed to this summer’s Locarno film festival: “Not in Tel Aviv,” a film by Israeli director Nony Geffen and “The Pit,” a short film by Itamar Lapid, will compete at the Swiss event this August.
Held annually, the Locarno festival is the longest-running film fest in Europe after those in Cannes and Venice.
Geffen, who has no formal film training, wrote, directed and stars in “Not in Tel Aviv” – a low-budget film that centers on a young teacher who is laid-off due to budget cuts and reacts by kidnapping one of his students.
An off-kilter love story develops, and after initially resisting her abduction, the student falls for Geffen’s character and ultimately helps him win over his childhood sweetheart.
“Not in Tel Aviv” was produced by Itai Tamir with funding from the Israel Film Fund. It premiered at the Cinema South festival in Sderot, where it clinched first place in the category devoted to low-budget independent feature films.
Itamar Lapid’s “The Pit” will compete in the shorts category at the Locarno festival. The film focuses on two radical youths who develop relationships with two migrant workers and confront their boss, who has confiscated some of his employees’ passports.
Lapid’s brother, Nadav, clinched the Special Jury Prize at last year’s Locarno film festival with his film “Policeman.”
Source: Haaretz.com