Israel Film Festival Spotlights Israeli Culture

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Wednesday, 05 November 2014 21:05

Written by Jessica Beard

The 28th Israeli Film Festival brings its international industry and cultural showcase to the world's entertainment capital this year -- as befits the U.S.'s biggest offering of Israeli film. The yearly celebration takes place from October 23 - November 6 in Los Angeles, aiming to connect American audiences with the fullness and vibrancy of Israel life and society.

With such an abundance of features, documentaries, television shows and student shorts to choose from, the IFF has cherry-picked a "Best of the Fest" slate of multiple screenings to offer filmgoers expanded chances to see 2014's most buzzed-about pieces. The festival opened October 25 with U.S. premiere Is That You?, a romantic drama about a 60-year-old film projectionist (Alon Abouboul) who gets fired from his job and sets out in search of his long-ago teenage love. The 2014 Israeli Academy (Ophir) Awards Best Picture nominee screens again Sunday, November 2.

Fellow festival-opener and U.S. Premiere Kicking Out Shoshana is director Shay Kanot's comedy about an Israeli soccer player (Oshri Cohen) forced to pose as a homosexual as punishment for flirting with a mafia boss's girlfriend. Predictably, he loses support from fans and teammates in conservative Jerusalem -- but attains heroic status in its gay community under his guise. The film screens again on November 5.

Also headlining the festival's second-chance screenings are The Dove Flyer (Farewell Bagdad) (2013) and Apples from the Desert (2014). The Dove Flyer is director Nissam Diyam's adaptation of Eli Amir's novel about the 130 million Jews who fled Iraq between 1950 and 1951. Apples from the Desert (directors: Matti Harari and Arik Lubetzkiis) is about a young girl named Rebecca (Moran Rosenblatt) who runs away from her Jewish Orthodox home in Jerusalem to join a kibbutz with a young man in the desert.

The Opening Night Gala on October 23 honored film producer Arnon Milchan, film and television producer Mace Neufeld and actress Dana Ivgy. Arnon's 130-plus films include 2014 releases Gone Girl and Birdman -- both currently in theaters -- as well as 12 Years a Slave (2013), A Time to Kill (1996) and Pretty Woman (1990). Neufeld boasts the recent Denzel Washington/Antoine Fuqua team-up The Equalizer (2014) and the classic The Hunt for Red October (1990) while Ivgy stars in two festival entries, gala feature Next to Her (2014) and Zero Motivation (2014). Next to Her tells the story of Chelli (Liron Ben-Shlush), a young woman whose codependent relationship with her younger, developmentaly-challenged sister Gabby (Ivgy) compicates when Chelli's love interest Zohar (Yaakov Zada Daniel) enters the picture.

To learn more, go to http://www.israelfilmfestival.com

Other Israel Film Fest 2014 Shines Light on Unity & Conflict

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Wednesday, 05 November 2014 11:21

Written by Renzo Adler

Almost Friends

In a land of seemingly perpetual strife and conflict, The Other Israel Film Festival (November 6 - 13, 2014), founded in 2007, sheds light on the history of Israel as well as the lives of its minority, Arab, and Palestinian citizens. Through documentaries, dramatic films, and panel discussion, the Other Israel Film Fest promotes understanding and provides a forum for discussion on current affairs in Israel.

The highlight of the fest is the music documentary East Jerusalem, West Jerusalem, which follows singer/songwriter and peace activist David Broza. Sharing the title with Broza’s latest album, this documentary will have its NYC premiere at Other Israel. After the screening, Broza will also have a discussion interwoven with a music performance that will include singer Mira Awad and musician/producer Steve Earle.

Having its US premiere at the fest, Almost Friends, directed by Nitzan Ofir and Barak Heymann follows the growing friendship between two girls, one living in a secular part of Israel, the other in the deeply religious neighborhoods, who reach across boundaries as pen pals.

Fire Lines, directed by David Viola and Avi Goldstein, documents how Israeli and Palestinian fire-fighters worked together to fight the Carmel fireof 2010.

The Village of Peace, directed by Ben Schuder and Niko Philipides shows the lives of a group of African-Americans who left Chicago in 1967 and moved to Dimona, Israel to build a new life and community.

Other events include:

the Other Perspectives panel where filmmakers Sayed Kashua, Menashe Noy, Lucy Aharish, Dana Ivgy and others discuss Israeli current affairs, culture, and the perception of Israel abroad.

The Challenges of a Young Country, a discussion with David Blight and Ari Shavit, moderated by Emily Bazelon, examines parallels between Israel today and the United States when it was only 66 years old, and the challenges both face, and what Israel can learn from America’s past.

The Other Israel Film Festival gives an enlightening look at a world of conflict, and through cinema, aims to promote better cultural understanding.

Carole Zabar, a festival founder said, "The Other Israel Film Festival was founded to be a vehicle for cultural change and social insights into the nature of Israel as a democracy and the complex condition of the lives of its minorities that are living in the Jewish State."

To learn more, go to: http://www.otherisrael.org/

The Other Israel Film Festival
November 6 - 13, 2014

Various Venues

Jalopnik Film Fest Tears Up Silver Screen

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Monday, 03 November 2014 22:01

Written by Renzo Adler

The cinematic arts are synonymous with speed and humanity’s relationship with fast machines. From 1903’s Great Train Robbery, Michael Caine careening through city streets in The Italian Job, the speeder bikes on Endor in Return of the Jedi, to even the giddy voyeurism of Russian dash-cams. Jalopnik, the Gawker blog devoted to all things automative have just the film festival for people that get a kick out of octane. The Jalopnik Film Festival (November 6, 2014) at Brooklyn’s Nitehawk Cinema (136 Metropolitan Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11249) brings the pedal to the metal to the silver screen.

The opening night of the fest shows the VOLVO short film, Ignition, with special guest appearance at the fest by IndyCar Driver Josef Newgarden and World Challenge Driver Andy Pilgrim and Jalopnik Judges Bloomberg Television Anchor Matt Miller, Auto Advertiser Jeff Zwart, and TV Writer/Host Spike Ferensten in Attendance.

Ayrton's Wish directed by Tamir Moscivici, shows a deceased F1 racer’s charity to the people of Brazil.
Apex: The Story of the Hypercar directed by J.F. Musial, documents the creation of some of the most extreme hyper-cars on the planet.

There is also a wide selection of short films from directors all over the world.

The Jalopnik Film Fest is the festival of choice for the speed-freaks and gear-heads among cinema enthusiasts.

To learn more, go to: http://films.jalopnik.com/

Nitehawk Cinema
136 Metropolitan Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11249