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Exclusive: Succession actor Ashley Zukerman is among cast of new feature Song Of Songs, which will be exec-produced by Elizabeth director Shekhar Kapur.

The Anita Lester-directed identity drama, developed by Screen Australia and sold by LevelK, is one of three development projects being backed by a new fund for Jewish Australian features, launched by producer Jamie Bialkower of Jump Street Films.

A second project, called Shoshanna, will star Israeli actors Yael Abecassis and Shlomi Elkabetz, and is being sold by M-Appeal. Scroll down for details on funded projects.

The privately supported fund will go towards stories that advance the depiction of Jewish Australians on screen, by Jewish Australian creatives, with emphasis on authenticity and visibility, explains Bialkower. Financial terms of the backing was not revealed.

The producer says the fund is needed due to a “lack of Jewish narratives being financed in Australia, the lack of support that Jewish...

Text written on June 6, 2023 by Jean-Marc Thérouanne

Asia in the juries :

Franco-Afghan writer and director Atiq Rahimi was the only Asian member of the prestigious jury at the 76th Cannes Film Festival

Fench-Cambodian director Davy Chou was the only Asia-related member of the Un Certain Regard jury

Davy Chou

Shlomi Elkabetz was the only member of the short film jury and the Cinef with a connection to geographical Asia.

Asia in the selections:

Asia, from the Near to the Far East, was present with 31 features and 13 shorts in all the official and parallel sections of the 76th Cannes Film Festival.

In compétition :

– China: Youth (Spring) by Wang Bing

– Japan: Monster by Kore-eda Hirokazu,

Kim Dong-ho, Hirokazu Koreeda

– Turkey: About Dry Grasses by Nuri Bilge Ceylan,

and The Pot-au-feu by French-Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung and Wim Wenders' Perfect Days, set in Japan.

Out of compétition :

– Korea: Cobweb by Kim Jee-won,...

The 76th edition of the Cannes film festival concludes today with the Closing Ceremony and presentation of the coveted award, the Palme d’Or which was awarded to Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall.

The Jury, presided over by director Ruben Östlund and includes director Maryam Touzani, actor Denis Ménochet, writer/director Rungano Nyoni, actress/director Brie Larson, actor/director Paul Dano, writer Atiq Rahimi, director Damián Szifron and director Julia Ducournau, selected the winners from the 21 films in Competition this year.

The Closing Ceremony marks the end of the 76th Festival de Cannes, and was followed by the screening of Peter Sohn‘s film Elementary in the Grand Théâtre Lumière.

Related: Cannes Film Festival Winners Announced

The last 2 weeks the Croisette has been a buzz with extravagant parties and bold fashion statements captured at the 21 world premieres on the Palais des Festivals red carpet.

Johnny Depp’s period...

Denmark’s “Norwegian Offspring,” by Marlene Emilie Lyngstad, from Den Danske Filmskole, was chosen as the winner of the 26th edition of La Cinef.

In the story, a mother passes away and her estranged son – obsessed with theories about the repression of male sexuality in modern society – starts longing for offspring of his own.

“The jury was captivated by this bold filmmaker,” said Ildikó Enyedi, who presided over the jury.

“It made us laugh and cringe at the same time.”

Earlier, the Hungarian director – behind “On Body and Soul” and, most recently, “The Story of My Wife,” which was at Cannes – addressed the audience: “You made it. To be in this room, it’s a lot and we all know it. We really felt for you [during our discussions]. We tried to go for the raw talent, for the promise. I just hope we did a good job, because we wanted to.”

“It...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI, and sign up for our weekly email newsletter by clicking here.REMEMBRANCEIsland in the Sun.The singer, actor, and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte has died, aged 96. Christina Newland wrote a piece on Belafonte for Notebook in 2020, praising his politics, his style, his music, and his work ss stage and screen. "His impact on American mid-century life has been so significant that it’s difficult to define him as any single thing, or to see him occupying only one role."NEWSNo Bears.Jafar Panahi has left Iran for the first time in fourteen years, it is being reported. Posting from an airport, his wife Tahereh Saeedi tweeted that, “after 14 years, Jafar’s ban was cancelled" and, that finally, the pair are "going to travel together for a few days…”The Cannes Film Festival have...

Hungarian director and screenwriter Ildikó Enyedi has been announced as president of the Cannes Film Festival jury deciding the Short Film Palme d’Or and the 3 La Cinef prizes for student films in the Official Selection.

She will be joined by Iranian-American screenwriter and director Ana Lily Amirpour, Canadian actress and director Charlotte Le Bon, French actress Karidja Touré and Israeli filmmaker Shlomi Elkabetz.

Enyedi got her international break in Cannes in 1989 when her first film My 20th Century was selected for Un Certain Regard and won the Caméra d’Or

“When, in 1989, in that magical year of change in Europe I arrived in Cannes with my first feature film – with exhibitions banned, a student film banned and many difficulties – it was an unbelievable feeling,” said Enyedi.

“Being chosen meant to be understood, to be seen for real, as if this huge, colorful and flamboyant community of brilliant artists and...

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.

AMC Networks’ streaming service Sundance Now has acquired North American rights to “The Dreamers,” a series directed by Maysaloun Hamoud (“In Between”), a rising Hungarian-born Palestinian filmmaker.

The thought-provoking crime comedy series screened at Series Mania Forum 2019 and went on to play at several festivals, including Zurich.

“The Dreamers” was produced by Shlomi Elkabetz and Galit Cahlon (“In Between”) at the banner Deux Beaux Garcons, and was commissioned by the powerful Israeli cabler Hot, whose hit shows include “In Treatment,” “Euphoria” (2012) and “Losing Alice.”

Set against the backdrop of rising tensions in the Gaza Strip, “The Dreamers” tells the story of three young Palestinian students who travel to Tel Aviv in 2008 and try to establish a new and liberated Palestinian community for themselves. When the three friends, Warda (Maisa Abd Elhadi), Kayes (Riyad Sliman) and Salah (Aiman Daw), try to buy drugs and get high at the end of a long day,...

Influential filmmaker’s best-known film is 1973 Cannes grand jury winner ’The Mother And The Whore’.

French film company Les Films du Losange has acquired the entire catalogue of influential post-New Wave director Jean Eustache, comprising five feature-length works and six short films.

The deal with the late filmmaker’s son Boris Eustache is a coup for Les Films du Losange’s new co-heads Charles Gillibert and Alexis Dantec who recently took over the company, which was established in 1962 by New Wave directors Eric Rohmer and Barbet Schroeder.

It brings an end to a dispute blocking the exploitation of the filmography for several decades,...

Following the Sundance premiering “Odessa, Odessa” and Venice title “Land of Oblivion,” French-Israeli filmmaker Michale Boganim is back on the Lido with “The Forgotten Ones”.

The film, represented in international markers by Reservoir Docs, is a heartfelt documentary exploring the systemic discrimination against Oriental Jews in Israel through the story of Boganim’s late father, who emigrated from Morocco and was part of Israel’s lesser-known Black Panthers movement in the 1970s. “The Forgotten Ones,” which world premieres in the Venice Days section Sept. 6, was just acquired by Sophie Dulac Distribution and will be released in France in early 2022.

Boganim, who started developing the film years ago, embarked on a road trip across Israel’s impoverished suburbs along with her young daughter and met Sephardi Jews from different generations whose lives have been shaped in some ways by this discrimination. Many of them are children or grandchildren of people who...

All Eyes Off Me and Shake Your Cares Away shared the prize for best Israeli film.

Finnish director Juho Kousmanen’s Compartment No. 6 has won the best international prize at the Jerusalem Film Festival (Jff), with Hadas Ben-Aroya’s All Eyes Off Me and Tom Shoval’s Shake Your Cares Away sharing the award for best Israeli film.

The awards will be presented in-person before selected screenings tonight and tomorrow (September 2-3), with the total sum of the awards at this year’s festival approximately 1,000,000 Ils.

Compartment No. 6 premiered in competition at Cannes and is about a Finnish woman and...

The Jerusalem Film Festival has named the winners from its various competition strands this year, with Juho Kuosmanen’s Finnish drama Compartment No. 6 winning Best Film in the international competition.

“Compartment No. 6 is a cross-cultural road movie – entertaining, clever, and remarkably endearing. This is free cinema, released from confinements, where an entire world exists within a cramped train car and where impossible connections are forged between people from different borders and cultures,” said the jury, which was comprised of Ari Folman, Nili Feller and Shai Goldman. A special mention was also given to Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Flee.

Compartment No. 6 previously shared the Grand Prix in Cannes Competition with Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero.

Elsewhere, in Jerusalem’s First Feature Competition, Amalia Ulman’s El Planeta won the Gwff Award for Best First Feature.

In the the Spirit of Freedom Competition, the Cummings Award for best Feature Film went to...

Director Michale Boganim explores her father’s role in Israel’s own Black Panther movement in her new Venice documentary: “The Forgotten Ones”.

The 1950s movement sprang from the Mizrahim community – Jews who were ethnically cleansed from North Africa and the Middle East – who sought refuge in Israel. Battling discrimination, Mizrahi Jews looked to the U.S. Black Panther movement for inspiration, Boganim’s father and his friends fought back, politically and otherwise.

In the documentary, Boganim embarks on a road trip to search for some of her father’s colleagues, taking a tour of Israel’s history and meeting with three generations of Mizrahim in the process.

Boganim, who was born in Israel and later studied in France, won the Gras Savoye award for her student film “Dim Memories,” which was selected for Director’s Fortnight in Cannes. Her first fiction feature, “Land of Oblivion,” which starred “Bond” actor Olga Kurylenko,...

13 feature-length films will participate in the two Israeli Film Competitions.

Ari Folman’s animated title Where Is Anne Frank will open the 38th Jerusalem Film Festival (August 24-September 4), which has also selected 13 feature films for its two Israeli Film Competitions.

Where Is Anne Frank premiered as an out of competition title at Cannes last month. It follows the imaginary friend to whom Second World War diarist Anne Frank dedicated her writing, as she embarks on a journey across Europe to find Anne, who she believes is still alive.

Wild Bunch holds worldwide sales rights on the title; it will play...

The Jerusalem Film Festival is gearing up for a late August start, with celebrated Cannes title “Where is Anne Frank?” set to open the 38th edition of the fest.

Directed by Ari Folman, the animated film centres on Kitty, Anne Frank’s imaginary friend whom her diary was addressed to, who magically comes to life at the family home in Amsterdam and sets out on a quest to find her.

“Where is Anne Frank?” will kick off the festival at the Sultans Pool Amphitheatre, to an audience of 5,000, on Aug. 24. The event runs through to Sept. 4.

Elsewhere, the festival has also revealed its line-up of Israeli films. Altogether, 13 feature films will play in the two main Israeli film competitions. The total sum of prizes that will be awarded in the various festival competitions is Nis 1 million.

The Haggiag Competition for Israeli feature films will include Hadas Ben-Aroya’s “All Eyes Off Me...

It’s been a while, but for the first time since 2019, the Cannes Film Festival is officially happening on the Croisette. After being canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 2021 Cannes Film Festival is happening right now on the French Riviera with a full slate of international features. Here’s everything to know about this year’s Cannes Film Festival, including the full lineup.

What movies are playing at this year’s Cannes Film Festival?

The 2021 lineup at the Cannes Film Festival features new films from Wes Anderson, Sean Baker, Sean Penn, Leo Carax, and Tom McCarthy. But despite the usual vast pedigree of talent at Cannes, awards attention for the films that launch there is uncertain. Only twice have Palme d’Or winners subsequently won Best Picture at the Oscars (1955’s “Marty” and 2019’s “Parasite”) — although that data point could be rendered moot by the coronavirus pandemic. The...

By HollywoodNews.com On Thursday 3 June at 11am, Pierre Lescure and Thierry Frémaux presented the Official Selection of the 74th Festival de Cannes at the Ugc Normandie in Paris. The Festival de Cannes will be held from July 06 to 17, 2021 . Discover the list of selected films in Competition, Un Certain Regard, Out of Competition, Midnight Screening, Cannes Premières and Special Screenings. Competition “Ahed’s Knee” Nadav Lapid “Annette” Leos Carax – opening film “Benedetta” Paul Verhoeven “Bergman Island” Mia Hansen-Løve “Casablanca Beats” Nabil Ayouch “Compartment No. 6” Juho Kuosmanen “Drive My Car” Ryûsuke Hamaguchi “Everything Went Fine” Francois Ozon “Flag Day” Sean Penn “The French Dispatch” Wes Anderson “A Hero” Asghar Farhadi “La fracture” Catherine Corsini “Lingui” Mahamat-Saleh Haroun “Memoria” Apichatpong Weerasethakul “Nitram” Justin Kurzel “Paris, 13th District” Jacques Audiard “France” Bruno Dumont “Petrov’s Flu” Kirill Serebrennikov “Red Rocket” Sean Baker “The Restless” Joachim Lafosse “The Story of My Wife” Ildikó Enyedi...

Cannes is back in full force with the announcement of the Official Selection for the film festival’s 74th edition. Taking place in July after having been originally scheduled for May, Cannes is returning with an in-person event after the pandemic forced the festival to cancel in 2020. Spike Lee, who was supposed to head the jury and premiere his “Da 5 Bloods” out of competition last year, is returning to Cannes 2021 as jury president. Films such as Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch,” Leos Carax’s “Annette,” and Paul Verhoeven’s “Benedetta” were all supposed to premiere at Cannes 2020 but are now confirmed for Cannes 2021 after waiting a year to be unveiled to the world.

Given this is the first Cannes in the Covid pandemic era, there are as many questions about the event’s safety protocols as there are about the lineup. Cannes general delegate Thierry Frémaux told IndieWire...

At long last, the Cannes Film Festival returns this July. While it remains to be seen just how many journalists outside France will actually be able to attend, their lineup, with a competition jury chaired by Spike Lee, has now being unveiled.

With a few selections already confirmed––such as the highly anticipated trio of Leos Carax’s opener Annette, Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch, Paul Verhoeven’s Benedetta––Pierre Lescure, President of the Cannes Film Festival, and Thierry Frémaux, General Delegate, presented the rest of the Official Selection of the 74th Cannes Film Festival.

See the line up below and check back for Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week announcements.

Competition

Annette (Leos Carax)

The French Dispatch (Wes Anderson)

Benedetta (Paul Verhoeven)

A Hero (Asghar Farhadi)

Tout S’est Bien Passe (Francois Ozon)

Tre Piani (Nanni Moretti)

Titane (Julia Ducournau)

Red Rocket (Sean Baker)

Petrov’s Flu (Kirill Serebrennikov)

France...

Update: The Cannes Film Festival has unveiled its Official Selection lineup for the 2021 event which will run from July 6-17 on the Riviera. Fest President Pierre Lescure and General Delegate Thierry Frémaux made the presentation of 61 titles this morning in Paris, 24 of which are in Competition (four of those are directed by women). Many of the names are familiar including Jacques Audiard, François Ozon, Asghar Farhadi and Nanni Moretti.

Among U.S. filmmakers, we’ll find Wes Anderson and The French Dispatch as expected, along with Sean Penn whose drama Flag Day stars Dylan Penn, Katheryn Winnick, Josh Brolin and Eddie Marsan. There’s also an as-yet unrevealed U.S. studio movie to be screened on the beach while a new section, Cannes Premières, has been created and will feature new works from Andrea Arnold, Hong Sang-soo and Arnaud Desplechin.

As is usual practice, further films will be added in the coming days and weeks.

Competition line-up includes films by Ozon, Farhadi, Ducournau, Weerasethakul, Kurzel, Moretti, Audiard and Hansen-Love.

The Official Selection of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival has been announced.

Scroll down for full line-up

Festival president Pierre Lescure and general delegate Thierry Frémaux revealed the line-up at a press conference at the Normandie Cinema in Paris.

The selection includes films by Nanni Moretti, Julia Ducournau, Asghar Farhadi, François Ozon, Justin Kurzel, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Mia Hansen-Love and Sean Penn. Four of the 24 Competition titles are directed by women.

Frémaux announced a new section for established filmmakers titled Cannes Premieres, which will see the titles get...

Michale Boganim is directing “Tel-Aviv/Beirut,” a historical drama set against the backdrop of the Israeli–Lebanese conflict in 1982 and 2006.

Set in Northern Israel, the film tells the journey of two families on each side of the border whose fate intertwined because of the war raging in Lebanon. “Tel-Aviv/Beirut” sheds light on the little-known story of Lebanese people who collaborated with the Israeli army to fight Hezbollah.

Spanning over 20 years, the film follows two women, a Lebanese and an Israeli, who bond amid the war and embark on a road trip together to rescue a loved one.

“Tel-Aviv/Beirut” is headlined by an international cast of Israelis, Palestinians, Lebanese actors including Zalfa Seurat, Sarah Adler (“Foxtrot”), Shlomi Elkabetz (“Our Boys”), Younès Bouab (“The Unknown Saint”), Sofia Essaïdi (“La promesse) and Maayane Boganim.

The movie completed shooting during the pandemic in Cyprus and was particularly eventful as it brought together...

Exclusive: The 34th Israel Film Festival Los Angeles has confirmed its line-up for this year’s edition, which will be held entirely online for the first time.

Running December 13 – 27, the fest will screen 23 features, including two U.S. premieres, Israel’s Oscar submission this year, Asia, as well as a number of past Ophir award winners. The event will also host Q&As after each film with talent.

Asia opens the festival having recently won Best Film at this year’s Ophir Awards, Israel’s top film awards, which automatically makes it the Oscar contender for 2021. The film also won Ophirs for Best Actress, Supporting Actress and Cinematography.

The festival will present its 2020 Iff Lifetime Achievement Award to Meir Feningstein, the event’s founder and executive director. It will also screen concert documentary Poogy / Kaveret 2013 Reunion Concert, centered on the band for which Feningstein is the drummer.

“As the world faces enormous disruption and loss,...

The erotic drama is the second feature of Piotr J Lewandowski (‘Jonathan’).

Berlin-based sales outfit M-Appeal has picked up Piotr J Lewandowski’s King Of Ravens and will unveil the erotic drama at the Marché du Film Online.

The film centres on the relationship between a young and handsome undocumented immigrant named Darko and a mysterious woman who leads a steady life in Germany. Despite social and cultural differences, they share an immediate connection. The cast includes Malik Blumenthal, Antje Traue and Danuta Stenka.

It marks the second feature from Polish-German writer-director Lewandowski following Jonathan, which received its world premiere...

Let’s get one thing clear: The imagery brought to mind throughout “Our Boys” is horrific; however, the imagery actually seen onscreen is anything but. It’s a crucial distinction to make, as HBO subscribers weigh whether or not to embark on a 10-hour journey into multiple child murders, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and, ultimately, the 2014 war in Gaza. Handling the dense storytelling is one thing; understanding the age-old conflicts between secular Israelis and ultra-Orthodox Jews is another.

But the core story itself, told primarily through the investigation into Mohammed Abu Khdeir’s death, is a far cry from the bloody, gut-wrenching imagery used in other true crime tales. “Our Boys” is carefully constructed to be accessible. Creators Hagai Levi, Joseph Cedar, and Tawfik Abu-Wael want this story to be heard worldwide, and the early episodes depict the death and ensuing violence in a visually palatable (yet emotionally shattering) fashion, hooking...

HBO recently landed a surprise smash in “Chernobyl,” which that used recent history to deliver a potent, tart message. The Israeli project “Our Boys,” another limited series from the cabler which premiered Monday night, is less immediately accessible, but has similar goals: To dig into a story in recent memory and to find within it both drama and a thesis statement.

This story centers on the 2014 disappearance of Mohammed, a young Palestinian (Ram Masarweh), who goes missing shortly after three Israeli Jewish boys are kidnapped and killed. The case smacks of vengeance and comes to be revealed as a story not just of kidnapping or murder but of horrific abuse. It brings the prejudices of all parties it touches into the light, too, as when an Israeli cop declares, “I know Israeli racism, but Jews don’t do something like this.” It seems impossible to the nation’s ruling class...

Haut et Court TV, the Paris-based production company behind “The Young Pope” and the original series “The Returned,” is tapping into Israel’s vibrant talent pool to partner on ambitious series, including “Possessions” and “Fertile Crescent,” which are both currently shooting.

“Fertile Crescent,” which just started lensing in Belgium with Melanie Thierry (“Memoir of War”), Félix Moati (“Sink or Swim”) and James Purefoy (“Rome”), was recently acquired by Hulu for the U.S. and Arte in France.

The show was created by Maria Feldman (“False Flag”), Eitan Mansuri (“When Heroes Fly”), Amit Cohen (“False Flag”) and Ron Leshem (“Euphoria”). Directed by Oded Ruskin (“False Flag”), the series centers on a seemingly picture-perfect French family shattered by the death of their estranged daughter in a suicide bombing in Jerusalem. Years after her tragic death, Antoine, her younger brother, is convinced he saw her in a TV program showing footage of female...

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.

“The Dreamers,” one of the series to be presented at Series Mania’s Co-Pro Pitching Sessions, is a 10-part crime comedy produced by prominent Israeli filmmaker Shlomi Elkabetz (“Gett”) and Galit Cachlon at Deux Beaux Garcons Films.

Produced for Israeli cable TV operator Hot, the series will be directed by Maysaloun Hamoud, a young Hungarian-born Palestinian filmmaker who made her feature debut with “In Between” (“Bar Bahar) which had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.

Expanding on the plot of “In Between.” ”The Dreamers” follows Warda, Kais and Salah, three Palestinian roommates who came to Tel Aviv to fulfill their parent’s dreams, only to quickly discover their own. Warda came to Tel Aviv to work at her father’s accounting firm but quickly abandoned and signed up for acting school. Kais came to study accounting and business management but got sidetracked after discovering Tel Aviv’s nightlife.

A five-member jury will award a grand prize of €50,000 to help develop the winning show.

French TV festival and professional meeting Series Mania, running March 22-30 in the northern French city of Lille, has announced the 16 projects due to be pitched in co-production sessions taking place during its industry-focused Series Mania Forum (Mar 25-27).

The selection includes a number of projects from production houses, working both in film and TV.

Rome-based Indigo Film, best-known for its long-time collaboration with Paolo Sorrentino on films such as Academy Award-winning The Great Beauty and Loro, will present Gymnasts. The company’s past TV...

Shlomi Elkabetz has boarded ground-breaking project.

The first ever feature directed by Bedouin filmmakers - and giving a rare insight into Israel’s Bedouin community - was among the 10 projects unveiled at Jerusalem Film Festival’s Pitch Point industry event over the weekend.

Entitled Eed, the drama will be set and shot in the Bedouin city of Rahat in southern Israel, a city never before shown on the big screen in feature film format.

It revolves around the titular character of Eed, a 21-year-old aspiring theatre director whose artistic ambitions and desires for personal freedom are compromised when his family...

Lab ran outside of the Jerusalem Film Festival this year.

The 2018 Sam Spiegel International Film Lab, which this year ran outside of the Jerusalem Film Festival due to the latter’s shift in dates, presented its top prize to Turkish director Emre Kayis and producer Olena Yershova for their project Anatolian Leopard.

The feature is set in the oldest zoo in Turkey, which in the film is undergoing privatisation with one obstacle remaining– an endangered Anatolian leopard. When the zookeeper finds the animal dead, he is determined to keep the news secret and tells the police it has escaped from its cage.

Tikkun director among Israeli filmmakers presenting at 13th edition of showcase.

Ahead of the 2018 Jerusalem Film Festival (July 26 – Aug 5), the projects for the annual Pitch Point competition have been unveiled.

Held on July 27 and 28, the initiative, now in its 13th year, is an opportunity for Israeli filmmakers to showcase in-progress projects to attending international film industry, with a view to forging co-production ties.

The 2018 showcase includes new works from Avishai Sivan, Shira Geffen, Keren Yedaya, That Lovely Girl), and Tawfik Abu Wael (Cannes 2004 Fipresci prize winner Atash).

The Pitch Point jury this year is comprised of Kirsten Niehuus (Medienboard Berlin...

Exclusive: Cross cultural tale of young Palestinians living in Tel Aviv sells to Us, Canada and France.

Paris-based Alma Cinema has unveiled a slew of sales on Palestinian director Maysaloun Hamoud’s debut feature In Between (Bar Bahar) including to Film Movement in the Us.

The tale of a trio of young Palestinian women juggling split cultural identities as residents of the Israeli city of Tel Aviv has also sold to Canada (Unobstructed View) as well as to Australia and New Zealand (Vendetta Films).

European deals include to Spain (Golem Distribucion), Italy (Tucker Film), Austria (Identities), Norway ((Storytelling) and Lithuania (Kino Pavasaris). Laurence Gachet and Jean Hernandez’s Paris-based Paname Distribution will release the film in France on March 29.

Alma Cinema will screen the film – which world premiered in Toronto’s Contemporary World Cinema section last September – at the Unifrance Rendez-vous with French Cinema this week.

A co-production between Israeli producer and director Shlomi Elkabetz’s Tel...

Exclusive: Film captures lives of young Palestinians living in Tel Aviv.

Paris-based Alma Cinema has picked up sales on Palestinian director Maysaloun Hamoud’s debut feature In Between (Bar Bahar) ahead of its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival (Sept 8-18) on Sept 11.

The film follows a group of young Palestinians, hailing from Arab towns and villages lying within Israeli borders, living in Tel Aviv.

At the heart of the story are party animals Leila and Salma whose hedonistic lifestyles are disrupted by the arrival of family friend Noor, a devout Muslim girl from the Arab town of Umm al-Fahm.

Alma head of sales and acquisitions Sara May described the work as an unprecedented portrait of the challenges and contradictions facing young Palestinian women born and living in Israel.

“Maysaloun deals with the subject in a very subtle, entertaining way. It’s fun. I think it could be a real crowd-pleaser,” said May.[p...

Exclusive: Film captures lives of young Palestinians living in Tel Aviv.

Paris-based Alma Cinema has picked up sales on Palestinian director Maysaloun Hamoud’s debut feature Bar Bahar (In Between) ahead of its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival (Sept 8-18) on Sept 11.

The film follows a group of young Palestinians, hailing from Arab towns and villages lying within Israeli borders, living in Tel Aviv.

At the heart of the story are party animals Leila and Salma whose hedonistic lifestyles are disrupted by the arrival of family friend Noor, a devout Muslim girl from the Arab town of Umm al-Fahm.

Alma head of sales and acquisitions Sara May described the work as an unprecedented portrait of the challenges and contradictions facing young Palestinian women born and living in Israel.

“Maysaloun deals with the subject in a very subtle, entertaining way. It’s fun. I think it could be a real crowd-pleaser,” said May.[p...

Jff to pay tribute to Israeli actress and film-maker who died in April.

Jerusalem Film Festival (Jff, July 7-17) is to host a tribute to Israeli actress and film-maker Ronit Elkabetz.

Elkabetz was nominated seven times at Israel’s Oscars (Ophir Awards) for both acting and directing. She died in April this year following a battle with cancer.

The festival will screen her 2004 film To Take A Wife, in which she also starred. The film marked the first instalment in a trilogy written and directed by Elkabetz with her brother Shlomi Elkabetz. The final entry, 2014’s Gett: The Trial Of Viviane Amsalem, was nominated for a Golden Globe.

Opening film

Pedro Almodovar’s Cannes Competition title Julieta will open this year’s festival, with an open air screening at the outdoor Sultan’s Pool venue.

The film, which stars Emma Suarez and Adriana Ugarte as older and younger versions of the titular protagonist, has been selected...

This is definitely the time of year when film critic types (I’m sure you know who I mean) spend an inordinate amount of time leading up to awards season—and it all leads up to awards season, don’t it?—compiling lists and trying to convince anyone who will listen that it was a shitty year at the movies for anyone who liked something other than what they saw and liked. And ‘tis the season, or at least ‘thas (?) been in the recent past, for that most beloved of academic parlor games, bemoaning the death of cinema, which, if the sackcloth-and-ashes-clad among us are to be believed, is an increasingly detached and irrelevant art form in the process of being smothered under the wet, steaming blanket of American blockbuster-it is. And it’s going all malnourished from the siphoning off of all the talent back to TV, which, as everyone knows,...

According to local filmmakers, the recent suppression of documentary Beyond The Fear is just one episode in a quickening erosion of artistic freedom in Israel.

As Nanni Moretti’s Mia Madre began to roll on the opening night of the Jerusalem Film Festival in the picturesque Sultan’s Pool amphitheatre in early July, another screening was kicking off just metres above the spectators’ heads.

On a terrace overlooking the event, some 50 film-makers and producers had gathered for a protest screening of Maria Kravchenko and the late Herz Frank’s Beyond The Fear.

They included The Kindergarten Teacher director Nadav Lapid; Keren Yedaya, who won Cannes’ Camera d’Or for her debut work Or; Ra’anan Alexandrowicz, whose credits include the award-winning The Law In These Parts; and Shlomi Elkabetz, co-director of the Golden Globe-nominated Gett: The Trial Of Viviane Amsalem which premiered in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in May 2014 and went on to win best film at...

The premiere post-tiff destination (September 20-25th) in the film community and a major leg up for narrative and non-fiction films in development, the Independent Filmmaker Project (Ifp) announced a whopping 140 projects selected for the Project Forum at the upcoming Ifp Independent Film Week. Made up of several sections (Rbc’s Emerging Storytellers program, No Borders International Co-Production Market and Spotlight on Documentaries), we find latest updates from the likes of docu-helmers Doug Block (112 Weddings) and Lana Wilson (After Tiller), and among the narrative items we find headliners in Andrew Haigh (coming off the well received 45 Years), Sophie Barthes (Cold Souls and Madame Bovary), Terence Nance (An Oversimplification of Her Beauty), Lawrence Michael Levine (Wild Canaries), Jorge Michel Grau (We Are What We Are), Eleanor Burke and Ron Eyal (Stranger Things) and new faces in Sundance’s large family in Charles Poekel (Christmas, Again) and Olivia Newman (First Match). Here...

Debut feature directors Yossi Atia, Maysaloun Hamoud and Roman Shumunov pick up prizes.

Debut feature directors Yossi Atia, Maysaloun Hamoud and Roman Shumunov have picked up prizes at the 10th edition of Pitch Point, aimed at connecting Israeli productions with international partners.

Performance artist and filmmaker Atia’s Born In Jerusalem And Still Alive won the $4,400 Wouter Barendrecht — Lia Van Leer award.

A dark comedy based on Atia’s per- sonal experiences, the film revolves around a man who organises terror tours along Jaffa Road in west Jeru- salem, the site of a number of deadly suicide attacks during the second Intifada.

The jury — which included Us distribution guru Ira Deutchman, Fortissimo Films’ MD Nelleke Driessen and German producer Thanassis Karathanos — praised the project for its “unique and original take on a tough and emotional subject matter.”

Shumunov clinched the $5,300 Van Leer Foundation award for No Future, about Israeli rappers and graffiti artists of Russian origin struggling...

Producer Shlomi Elkabetz is onboard for director Maysaloun Hamoud’s debut feature.

Israeli film-maker and producer Shlomi Elkabetz is set to produce Maysaloun Hamoud’s feature In Between, an unprecedented portrait of young Palestinian women living life to the full in Tel Aviv.

The film will revolve around two party animal Palestinian girls hailing from villages in Northern Israel – Leila and Salma — whose liberal lifestyles in Tel Aviv are disrupted by the arrival of Noor, a devout religious Muslim girl from the of Umm al-Fahm, an Arab town situated within Israeli borders.

In the backdrop, the film will explore the reality of being a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship.

“The way Leila and Salma are living is breaking all the taboos of traditional conservative Arab society,” explained Hamoud at a presentation of the project at the Pitch Point event at the Jerusalem Film Festival on Monday.

“They choose to leave traditional village life because they want to be free...

Ronit Elkabetz, with her brother Shlomi Elkabetz, recently co-directed the 2015 Golden Globe nominee "Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem," Israeli's official foreign Oscar submission which is still in theaters. She will award three prizes: the Nespresso Grand Prize and the France 4 Visionary Award for feature films, and the Sony CineAlta Discovery Prize for short films. Elkabetz broke out as an actress in "Or" by Keren Yedaya, which was selected at La Semaine de la Critique in 2004 and won the Caméra d’Or. In 2008 she came back to open La Semaine as the director of "7 Days," the second film in a trilogy rounded out by 2014 Directors' Fortnight entry "Gett." Read More: Cannes 2015 Poster Sends a Love Letter to Ingrid Bergman Cannes Critics' Week offers a lavish week of exposure for first and second-time filmmakers. Last year's entry "It Follows" is doing quite nicely at the box office right now. This year,...

Even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu makes news with his sectarian speech to Congress, the better drama about Israeli society and military history can be found in two recently released films. Both movies are ideal candidates for being adapted into dramatic films in the States. Ronit Elkabetz and Shlomi Elkabetz’s “Gett, The Trial of Vivian Amsalem,” offers a riveting portrayal of an Orthodox Jewish woman’s struggle to obtain a gett, a religious divorce required by Orthodox Jewry, from her clearly estranged husband. The drama features the disengaged couple returning time and time again over the years to appear in.

Chicago – The title event of “Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem” is a prison sentence with no predictable day of release. The prisoner is Viviane (a fascinating Ronit Elkabetz), a soft-spoken middle-aged woman well beyond the point of a content unhappiness. She is trapped to a farce, as the divorce laws of Israel demand that a husband agree to the divorce before it can be finalized, with three rabbis and a lawyer each to discuss the event.

Viviane’s desire to start a new life away from her current husband Elisha (Simon Abkarian) becomes a hell on earth as he proves an unmovable object, a warden with no empathy who refuses to show up for many of the hearings (he doesn’t really have to unless it gets really bad, according to law). It takes him about a year and a half to finally appear first time, and even...

Pre-sales down 40% following shootings in the Danish capital less than two weeks ago.

Pre-sales for the 9th Copenhagen Jewish Film Festival are down 40% on last year in the wake of the shooting in the Danish capital on Feb 14, which left two people dead - including Danish director-producer Finn Nørgaard - and five police officers wounded.

“People are scared,” festival director Anne Boukris told Danish television TV2 News. “All the time people are asking me about security – after what happened in Copenhagen, they are anxious about what is going to happen next.”

The festival launches tonight and runs till March 21 with a programme comprising 24 international films with Jewish themes, held atthe Cinemateket at Copenhagen’s Film House.

“I am sure people are scared to come,” added Boukris.

The festival will open with Golden Globe-nominated Gett, The Trial of Viviane Amsalem from Israeli directors Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz, introduced by Danish member of Parliament Özlem Cekic.

Cjff will also...

Pre-sales down 40% following shootings in the Danish capital less than two weeks ago.

Pre-sales for the 9th Copenhagen Jewish Film Festival are down 40% on last year in the wake of the shooting in the Danish capital on Feb 14, which left two people dead - including Danish director-producer Finn Nørgaard - and five police officers wounded.

“People are scared,” festival director Anne Boukris told Danish television TV2 News. “All the time people are asking me about security – after what happened in Copenhagen, they are anxious about what is going to happen next.”

The festival launches tonight and runs till March 21 with a programme comprising 24 international films with Jewish themes, held atthe Cinemateket at Copenhagen’s Film House.

“I am sure people are scared to come,” added Boukris.

The festival will open with Golden Globe-nominated Gett, The Trial of Viviane Amsalem from Israeli directors Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz, introduced by Danish member of Parliament Özlem Cekic.

Cjff will also...

Sister-brother directing team Ronit Elkabetz and Shlomi Elkabetz did not get a foreign Oscar nom for their Israeli divorce drama "Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem." But it was nominated for 12 Ophirs and won seven including best film, supporting actor, actor, actress, screenplay, editing and a shared best directing prize. The film played Cannes, Toronto, San Sebastian, London, AFI Fest and more. Ronit Elkabetz also stars as the title character, a woman fighting to get a divorce in Israel, where the husband must give consent. This is the directing pair's third feature after 2004's "To Take a Wife" and 2008's "7 Days." All are connected, much like Richard Linklater's "Before" trilogy, and star a slowly aging Shlomi as a powerful woman inspired by the siblings' mother. Now living in Paris, Shlomi Elkabetz and I sat down to talk about the film, which just opened in select theaters via Music Box Films,...

Directed by brother and sister team, Ronit & Shlomi Elkabetz, "Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem" is Israel's official submission to the Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category and has been nominated for a Golden Globe. 

What's more important than any prestigious award is that this groundbreaking film is currently causing Israel to question its current archaic law that only allows a woman to divorce if her husband approves. In an unprecedented move, a board of Israel's top Rabbis will convene over the coming month to screen "Gett" and give consideration to changing this law. An inspiring example of film changing society as we know it. 

SydneysBuzz was able to interview the directors about the film's astounding political impact in Israel:

Read SydneysBuzz recent interview with Ronit & Shlomi Elkabetz here.

Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem Music Box Films Reviewed for Shockya by Harvey Karten. Data-based on Rotten Tomatoes. Grade: A- Director: Ronit Elkabetz, Shlomi Elkabetz Screenwriter: Sivan Lavy Cast: Ronit Elkabetz, Simon Abkarian, Menashe Noy, Sasson Gaba, Eli Gornstein Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 1/6/15 Opens: February 13, 2015 In the Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick, and Joseph Stein’s musical “Fiddler on the Roof,” Tevye, the principal character, notes that “without tradition, we’re as shaky as a fiddler on the roof.” Point well taken. Certain rituals and traditions cement families and bind citizens more closely to their countries. Think of the traditional fireworks on the Fourth of July, the birds [ Read More ]

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