News

Festival reveals 13 features set to receive their world premieres.

Jerusalem Film Festival (Jff) has revealed its line-up of Israeli films for its 39th edition, which includes world premieres for anticipated features by Michal Vinik and Yona Rozenkier.

A total of eight features have been selected for the Haggiag Competition for Israeli features while seven titles make up the Diamond Competition for Israeli documentaries.

Scroll down for full list of titles

The Haggiag Competition includes the world premiere of Valeria Gets Married by Israeli filmmaker Vinik, who previously made waves internationally with her 2015 drama Blush about a relationship between two Israeli schoolgirls.

The Jerusalem Film Festival has unveiled the line-up for its Israeli feature film competition as well as all the other local productions selected to screen in its 39th edition, running 21-31.

The event returns to its traditional July dates for the first time since 2019 this year, after the Covid-19 pandemic forced it online in 2020 and pushed it into August and prevented it from inviting international guests in 2021.

This edition is being piloted by Jerusalem Cinematheque manager Roni Mahadav-Levin and artistic director Elad Samorzik, following the departure earlier this year of longtime cinematheque and festival director Noa Regev to head up the Israel Film Fund. Her replacement will be decided after this year’s edition.

World premieres in the Israeli competition include Michal Vinik’s drama Valeria Is Getting Married about two Ukrainian sisters who travel to Israel for marriage. It is Vinik’s first solo feature since 2015 festival breakout Blush.

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 U.S. lineup for films coming to Mubi this September has been announced, featuring some of my personal favorites of the last few years, notably Philippe Lesage’s severely overlooked coming-of-age drama Genesis, John Gianvito’s Helen Keller documentary Her Socialist Smile, Joe DeNardo, Paul Felten’s formally thrilling Slow Machine, and Robert Greene’s documentary Bisbee ’17, as well as Jia Zhangke’s latest release Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue.

Also in the lineup is Bill Forsyth’s delightful Gregory’s Girl, Ari Folman’s hybrid feature The Congress, and Manoel de Oliveira’s Visit, or Memories and Confession, which was made in 1982, and only allowed to screen after his death.

See the lineup below and get 30 days free here.

September 1 | Yellow Cat | Adilkhan Yerzhanov | Festival Focus: Venice

September 2 | Visit, or Memories and Confessions | Manoel de Oliveira | Rediscovered

September 3 | Slow Machine | Joe DeNardo, Paul Felten | Mubi Spotlight

September...

Honorary fellowship comes in the wake of Loren’s return to the big screen in The Life Ahead.

The Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School is set to fete Italian actress Sophia Loren with its 2021 honorary fellowship at its annual graduation ceremony in February, which has moved online this year.

The school selected Loren for a wide-ranging cinema career that has spanned both Europe and Hollywood. “She has left an indelible mark of talent, beauty and powerful femininity; for her portrayal of moving characters which have earned her awards and high praise,” they said.

Past recipients of the fellowship have included David Lynch,...

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...

A woman can be anything in a movie: a silent witness to men’s wisdom, flat-chested, large-bosomed, skinny, chubby, thick as a plank or clever, a muscular beast or a screaming victim, sword-wielding hero or a coward, name it. But two things she can never be – hairy, or above 30 and desired sexually by a younger man. And a man can be 30+ and just about anything, without limitations in his looks or character. Except – he falls for a woman who is older than him, and who actually doesn’t care about the ticking clock. In real life – this is even stranger than fiction.

Even if we look back at groundbreaking movies such as Hal Ashby’s Harold and Maude” (1971), or Mike Nichols’ “The Graduate” (1967) – relationships between very young men and mature women are doomed to an end, either by introducing a clear sharp end (death) or by turning it into a female perversion,...

The President of the International Jury of the 26th Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinemas (11-18 February 2020) will be Pema Tseden, the Tibetan director who was won two Golden Cyclos. He will be accompanied by Joji Alonso, producer (Philippines), Jay Jeon (director of the prestigious Busan International Film Festival (S. Korea), Yuliya Kim, producer and director of International Film Festival of Almaty (Kazakhstan) and Ariel Schweitzer, critic, academic and historian (Israel).

Critic’s Choice Jury: President Rosslyn Hyams (Radio France Internationale) Members: Wang Muyan (Screen International) and Shurong Hermine Roumilhac (Radio France Internationale)

Netpac Jury: President: Roya Sadat, director (Afghanistan) Members: Samar Qupty, lead actress of “Junction 48” (Israel), Sonthar Gyal, Tibetan Director (China)

Roya Sadat, center, with crew members at a test shoot for a TV drama she is directing in Kabul, Oct. 18, 2017. Sadat sold her apartment, car and jewelry to make a movie that deepens the conversation on women’s rights.

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.

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...

Hey Tri-state area readers! Only a few of you have come out to Show-Score's Stage & Screen events this spring that I've been moderating. Here's one last opportunity for you. 

I'll be interviewing Tony-nominated director David Cromer and Tony-nominated Book writer Itamar Moses of "The Band's Visit" this Sunday at 3:00 Pm just before a screening of the movie that inspired the Tony nominated musical. We'll be talking about translating the film for the stage and then we'll all watch the film!

If you've never seen the Israeli film The Band's Visit (2007), you really must. It's quite charming and it stars the late great Ronit Elkabetz (of Late Marriage and Gett fame) and was a sleeper hit at Us arthouses in 2008. It also won 8 Ophirs (the Israeli Oscar) in its year including Best Actress. You can get tickets here.

Salon Sandra Bullock to play Texas senator Wendy Davis, who famously filibustered an anti-abortion bill for 12 hours. Oscar #2?

Variety interviews actor/playwright Tracy Letts who is really having a good year you must admit. Lady Bird is a hit in theaters and his new play just opened in Chicago

Hollywood Reporter has a good interview with Steven Soderbergh

Instagram Lupita Nyong'o loves her natural hair and is upset with a magazine for airbrushing it away

Variety Replacing Kevin Spacey in All the Money in the World is going to cost at least 2.5 million

Mnpp Do Dump or Marry: Thor Ragnarok edition

Stage

Deadline this is a surprise the Tony Awards have declared the recent production of "1984" ineligible for prizes. They have not stated why exactly.

Playbill reviews are in for Broadway's new musical The Band's Visit, based on the Ronit Elkabetz film of the same name if you remember that...

After naming Alfonso Cuarón the best-reviewed filmmaker of the 21st century and Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer the worst, Metacritic’s next list explores the 25 best movies directed by women. Unsurprisingly, Kathryn Bigelow takes both the #1 and #2 spots with “Zero Dark Thirty” and “The Hurt Locker,” respectively.

Read MoreAlfonso Cuarón Is the Best Director of the 21st Century, According to Metacritic — See the Top 25

Bigelow became the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Director with the latter, a painfully tense drama about the Iraq War. (Her latest, “Detroit,” just misses the list by a few points.) Ava DuVernay also shows up twice (with “Selma” and “13th”), as does Sarah Polley (“Away from Her” and “Stories We Tell”), while the likes of Sofia Coppola, Mia Hansen-Løve, and Maren Ade are represented as well. Here’s the data-driven review aggregator’s full list:

Read MoreUwe Boll Isn’t the...

Keep up with the always-hopping film festival world with our weekly Film Festival Roundup column. Check out last week’s Roundup right here.

Full Lineup Announcements

– The Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI) and The India Center Foundation are launching India Kaleidoscope, an exciting new festival that will present film lovers with a chance to immerse themselves in the unique sights and sounds that make up the Indian regional, independent film landscape. These films, which delve into the most relevant and pressing topics facing India, are being made by today’s most progressive filmmakers working in regional languages such as Marathi, Kannada, Tamil, and Bengali. Their films are insightful, topical, and provocative, bringing to light the dynamism and the challenges that face modern India and her many diverse communities.

The inaugural festival, taking place December 8 – 11 at the Museum, will feature eight films, including seven new titles that will be making their U.

This fall semester I started taking an Italian language class two evenings a week with my daughter, and Thursday night I was looking to decompress after our first big quiz. (Scores haven’t been revealed yet, but I think we did just fine.) So I started rummaging through my shelves and came across the Warner Archives DVD of Francesco Maselli’s A Fine Pair (1968), an ostensibly breezy romantic caper comedy which reteams Rock Hudson and Claudia Cardinale, a pairing their public was presumably clamoring for after their previous outing together in Blindfold (1965), a Universal programmer written and directed by Phillip Dunne, the screenwriter of, among many other notable movies, How Green Was My Valley. I’ve had a mad crush on Claudia ever since I first saw her in Circus World (1964) with John Wayne when I was but a youngster, and I always welcome the chance to visit movies of...

The director is at the 33rd Jerusalem Film Festival to accompany a screening of Pulp Fiction.

Iconic Us film-maker Quentin Tarantino is one of a number of high-profile international guests attending this year’s Jerusalem Film Festival (July 7-17). Tarantino is in town to accompany a screening of his 1994 feature, the Palme d’Or and Oscar-winning neo-noir black comedy Pulp Fiction. The film will be projected from a restored 35mm print from Tarantino’s personal archive.

The sold-out screening will take place at the Cinematheque tomorrow at 10pm. The director will participate in a live on-stage conversation following the film. Tarantino, who last visited Israel in 2009 to promote his Second World War thriller Inglourious Basterds, will also be presented with a lifetime achievement award at the festival’s opening ceremony tonight.

Another high-profile director attending the festival is Whit Stillman, who will participate in a Meet The Filmmaker event after a screening of his latest feature, the Kate Beckinsale...

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...

We're mixing up the month-end Icymi post to hopefully make it more enticing/interesting with random awards and different categories like so...

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Current Stars Who Deserve an Oscar Nod - they've earned momentum

Q&A -Animals & late 80s/early 90s films

Posterized: Tom Hiddleston - where to post-Loki?

Posterized: Melissa McCarthy - she's having quite a career

Pfeiffer & Aronofsky - yup, they'll be working together 

5 Favorite Posts

Bob's Burgers & The Birds - Hitchcock references for the win 

The Furniture: The Force Awakens - that myth-making forest! 

Witness - So pleasurable to revisit this for the Best Shot roundup

Please Switch Off Your Phone - the actresses are actressing, for chrissakes 

April Showers Blue Valentine - oh I need to see this again

Best of Nathaniel's Random April Watching

Best Old Thing: Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood (1957)

Best New Thing: The Fits (2016)

Best Actor: Ben Whishaw in...

With three galvanizing dramas to their credit, the Israeli brother-and-sister tandem of Shlomi and Ronit Elkabetz (creators of Gett) have joined the Dardennes, Tavianis and Coens in an exclusive club of internationally acclaimed siblings. Their latest, Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem, which won critics’ and audience prizes at the Venice Film Festival and the Best Picture Award from the Israeli Film Academy, highlights the absurdity of Israel’s divorce law (which falls under the authority of Orthodox rabbis, and requires the spouse’s consent) through an extended court case. Sharply written and wonderfully acted, it is the final chapter in the filmmakers’ Viviane Amsalem trilogy and the first to receive distribution in the U.S.>> - Michael Fox...

With three galvanizing dramas to their credit, the Israeli brother-and-sister tandem of Shlomi and Ronit Elkabetz (creators of Gett) have joined the Dardennes, Tavianis and Coens in an exclusive club of internationally acclaimed siblings. Their latest, Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem, which won critics’ and audience prizes at the Venice Film Festival and the Best Picture Award from the Israeli Film Academy, highlights the absurdity of Israel’s divorce law (which falls under the authority of Orthodox rabbis, and requires the spouse’s consent) through an extended court case. Sharply written and wonderfully acted, it is the final chapter in the filmmakers’ Viviane Amsalem trilogy and the first to receive distribution in the U.S.>> - Michael Fox...

The new issue of cléo features essays on Denis Villeneuve's Sicario, Jennifer Phang’s Advantageous, Catherine Breillat’s Abuse of Weakness, Andrea Arnold's Fish Tank, Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne's Two Days, One Night and Sean Baker's Tangerine, another on Anna May Wong, plus an interview with Kirsten Johnson (Cameraperson) and a profile of cinematographer Iris Ng. Also in today's roundup: Nina Hoss on her performance in Christian Petzold's Phoenix, reviving Ivan Passer's Cutter’s Way, honoring Ellen Burstyn and remembering Ronit Elkabetz and Doris Roberts. » - David Hudson...

The new issue of cléo features essays on Denis Villeneuve's Sicario, Jennifer Phang’s Advantageous, Catherine Breillat’s Abuse of Weakness, Andrea Arnold's Fish Tank, Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne's Two Days, One Night and Sean Baker's Tangerine, another on Anna May Wong, plus an interview with Kirsten Johnson (Cameraperson) and a profile of cinematographer Iris Ng. Also in today's roundup: Nina Hoss on her performance in Christian Petzold's Phoenix, reviving Ivan Passer's Cutter’s Way, honoring Ellen Burstyn and remembering Ronit Elkabetz and Doris Roberts. » - David Hudson...

Terrible news to report today. The great Israeli actress Ronit Elkabetz has passed away at only 51 years of age. 

Her last film proved to be her biggest hit (Gett: The Trial of Viviane Absalem) -- we interviewed her right here -- but that courtroom drama was far from her only gem. We first fell (and fell hard) for the intense raven haired beauty in the astounding Late Marriage (2001) where she played the older woman in a sexually intense love affair with a slightly younger man (Lior Ashkenazi) whose parents were eager to marry him off to a "proper" bride and end his long-standing bachelordom. She won the Ophir (Israel's Academy Award) for that film, one of three wins for her as Best Actress.

If you've never seen "Late Marriage," you really must.She also starred in Or (My Treasure) (2004), the international hit The Band's Visit (2007), and other films in both France and Israel.

Country’s film industry and former president Shimon Peres react with dismay at news that the multi-award-winner has died from cancer

Multi-award-winning Israeli actor-director Ronit Elkabetz has died aged 51 from cancer, it has been announced. The daughter of Moroccan immigrants, Elkabetz’s most successful film was also her most recent: Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem, in which she starred as an orthodox Jewish woman attempting to obtain a religious divorce; she also co-directed and wrote it with her brother Shlomi. The film won numerous awards, and was nominated for the best foreign language film Golden Globe in 2015.

News of Elkabetz’s death was greeted with dismay across the Israeli film industry, with fellow director Amos Gitai saying: “It’s no wonder she captivated the world’s attention, she was loved by everyone ... she was simply spectacular.” Former president Shimon Peres said in a statement that Elkabetz was “an...

Country’s film industry and former president Shimon Peres react with dismay at news that the multi-award-winner has died from cancer

Multi-award-winning Israeli actor-director Ronit Elkabetz has died aged 51 from cancer, it has been announced. The daughter of Moroccan immigrants, Elkabetz’s most successful film was also her most recent: Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem, in which she starred as an orthodox Jewish woman attempting to obtain a religious divorce; she also co-directed and wrote it with her brother Shlomi. The film won numerous awards, and was nominated for the best foreign language film Golden Globe in 2015.

News of Elkabetz’s death was greeted with dismay across the Israeli film industry, with fellow director Amos Gitai saying: “It’s no wonder she captivated the world’s attention, she was loved by everyone ... she was simply spectacular.” Former president Shimon Peres said in a statement that Elkabetz was “an...

The star and director of Gett: The Trial Of Viviane Amsalem has passed away following a prolonged battle with cancer.

Ronit Elkabetz, Israeli leading actress and director, has passed away at the age of 51, following a prolonged battle with cancer. She is survived by her husband and two three-year-old twins.

The daughter of a hairdresser and a postal employee, Elkabetz didn’t study acting, but broke into the profession in 1990 after an earlier career as a model.

In 1997 she moved to Paris to study acting with Ariane Mnouchkine, supporting herself as a waitress before she was invited to the famous Avignon Theatre Festival to do a one woman show on the life Martha Graham.

Her strong, powerful, outspoken personality and remarkable camera presence left an indelible mark from her very early films and TV performances. She threw herself into every part she assumed with a fierce, desperate commitment, that seemed to take possession of her whole...

The co-director, co-writer and star of Golden Globe nominee Gett: The Trial Of Viviane Amsalem, Ronit Elkabetz, passed away this morning following a battle with cancer. She was 51. Israel-born Elkabetz worked across both Israeli and French cinema, starring in such acclaimed films as André Techiné’s The Girl On The Train and Eran Kolirin’s The Band’s Visit for which she won a Best Actress Ophir Award from the Israeli Film Academy. Gett was the last part of a trilogy about…...

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,...

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...

Two Latin American films take home top awards.

Argentine director Santiago Mitre’s Paulina (Patota) has won the Nespresso Grand Prize at the 54th Critics’ Week – the Cannes Film Festival sidebar devoted to first and second features.

The film stars Dolorès Fonzi as a promising young lawyer who ditches a hot shot career in Buenos Aires to teach in an impoverished town on the border with Brazil and Paraguay. Brutally attacked by a group of youths shortly after her arrival, she has to decide whether to continue with her mission.

Mitre won the €10,000 prize, which has previously been awarded to Guillermo del Toro, Gaspar Noe and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu among others.

Paulina marks Mitre’s second film after The Student, which won Locarno’s special jury prize in 2011.

Land and Shade (La tierra y la sombra), from Colombian filmmaker César Augusto Acevado, won the France 4 Visionary Award, which rewards “outstanding creativity and innovation” and includes a prize...

This year's Critics' Week jury, presided over by Ronit Elkabetz (other members: Katell Quillévéré, Peter Suschitzky, Andréa Picard and Boyd van Hoeij) has presented the The Nespresso Grand Prize to Santiago Mitre's Paulina. The France 4 Visionary Award, presented for "outstanding creativity and innovation," goes to Cesar Augusto Acevedo's Land and Shade, which also picks up the Sacd Award. And winning the Gan Foundation Support for Distribution is Clément Cogitore's The Wakhan Front. We've got reviews of, trailers for and clips from the winners. » - David Hudson...

This year's Critics' Week jury, presided over by Ronit Elkabetz (other members: Katell Quillévéré, Peter Suschitzky, Andréa Picard and Boyd van Hoeij) has presented the The Nespresso Grand Prize to Santiago Mitre's Paulina. The France 4 Visionary Award, presented for "outstanding creativity and innovation," goes to Cesar Augusto Acevedo's Land and Shade, which also picks up the Sacd Award. And winning the Gan Foundation Support for Distribution is Clément Cogitore's The Wakhan Front. We've got reviews of, trailers for and clips from the winners. » - David Hudson...

Isabella Rossellini to discuss on and off camera sexism in cinema at Cannes’ Women in Motion event; other female-focused Cannes events include #SeeHerNow twitter campaign.

Film-maker and actress Isabella Rossellini will kick off the inaugural edition of the Women in Motion programme in Cannes on Thursday (May 14).

A joint initiative between the festival and its new sponsor the luxury goods group Kering, the new event is aimed at highlighting women’s contribution to the film industry.

Alongside French producer Claudie Ossard, the Italian-American actress will discuss the subject of female representation in the film industry and sexism in cinema, both on screen and behind the scenes.

The Blue Velvet actress is in Cannes this year as the president of the Un Certain Regard jury.

Industry veteran Ossard has produced numerous films over the last 30 years including Jean-Jacques Beineix’s Betty Blue and Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amélie.

Other speakers at the inaugural edition of Women in Motion will include...

Elie Wajeman’s The Anarchists, starring Palme d’Or winner Adele Exarchopoulos and Cesar winner Tahar Rahim, to open Critics’ Week

Scroll down for full list

Cannes Critics’ Week, devoted to first and second features, has unveiled the line-up for its 54th edition (May 14-22).

In total, 1,750 shorts and 1,000 features were submitted for consideration.

Artistic director Charles Tesson said this year’s poster - showing actress Lou de Laâge, seemingly embracing the air on a beach - captured the spirit of the parallel section.

“On the poster the actress Lou de Laâge embraces the open horizon in front of her,” he said. “This wonderful energy and amazing life force it carries embody the desire leading us to discover the new breath of fresh air in cinema worldwide.”

The section will open with French Elie Wajeman’s second film The Anarchists (Les Anarchistes) set in Paris in 1899, starring the reportedly sizzling on-screen couple of Tahar Rahim and Adèle Exarchopoulos...

Actress and filmmaker joined by four including Katell Quillévéré and Andréa Picard.

Israeli actress and filmmaker Ronit Elkabetz will preside over the jury of the 54th Semaine de la Critique in Cannes (May 14-22).

Elkabetz is something of a Critics’ Week regular having starred in Keren Yedaya’s 2004 feature Or and directed 2008 drama 7 Days (Shiva).

Her third film Gett, the Trial of Viviane Amsalem, selected at the Directors’ Fortnight in 2014, was nominated for the Golden Globes 2015 in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

Also on the jury are director Katell Quillévéré, DoP Peter Suschitzky, Toronto programmer Andréa Picard and journalist Boyd van Hoeij.

The jury will award three prizes: the Nespresso Grand Prize and the France 4 Visionary Award for feature films, the Sony CineAlta Discovery Prize for short films.

The 54th Cannes Critics’ Week sidebar has named Israeli actress and filmmaker Ronit Elkabetz as jury president. Elkabetz co-helmed this year’s Golden Globe nominee Gett: The Trial Of Viviane Amsalem with her brother Shlomi. It ran last year in Directors’ Fortnight. Elkabetz’s jury will include director Katell Quillévéré, cinematographer Peter Suschitzky, Toronto Film Fest programmer Andréa Picard and journalist Boyd van Hoeij. The panel will award the Nespresso Grand…...

The 54th Cannes Critics’ Week sidebar has named Israeli actress and filmmaker Ronit Elkabetz as jury president. Elkabetz co-helmed this year’s Golden Globe nominee Gett: The Trial Of Viviane Amsalem with her brother Shlomi. It ran last year in Directors’ Fortnight. Elkabetz’s jury will include director Katell Quillévéré, cinematographer Peter Suschitzky, Toronto Film Fest programmer Andréa Picard and journalist Boyd van Hoeij. The panel will award the Nespresso Grand…...

An actress/filmmaker who could easily call the impractical venue/annually gem-filled gift-giving Cannes sidebar a home away from home, Ronit Elkabetz, who has seen a pair of her films play in the section, will now serve as jury president for the Cannes’ Critics’ Week (May 14th to the 22nd). Filmmaker Katell Quillévéré (Love Like Poison), Peter Suschitzky (regular Cronenberg Dp and has The Tale of Tales coming out), Andréa Picard (the mastermind behind Tiff’s Wavelengths) and THR critic Boyd van Hoeij will share jury duties and hand out a trio of awards. Last year, it was It Follows and The Tribe that were the break out film of the section. Our Nicholas Bell recently remarked that Elkabetz “owns every frame” of Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem. Line-up will be released on April 20th.

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,...

The legal dissolution of a marriage has been dramatic fodder for serious films throughout the years, including Kramer Vs Kramer and The Sum Of Us. Oh, and even a few comedies like The War Of The Roses (but it’s very, very dark). Husband and wife are treated equally in the court (when the lawyers aren’t able to work things out) as the judge and jurors decide how the union will end. But what about other countries, other cultures? What occurs when one spouse apparently has all the power in the proceedings? Such is the conflict in this new film set in Israel, where a trio of rabbis decide one woman’s fate. And since there’s no claims of adultery or physical abuse, the divorce decree can only happen if the husband will consent. That’s the main obstacle and conflict in Gett: The Trial Of Viviane Amsalem.

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.

With three galvanizing dramas to their credit, the Israeli brother-and-sister tandem of Shlomi and Ronit Elkabetz (creators of Gett) have joined the Dardennes, Tavianis and Coens in an exclusive club of internationally acclaimed siblings. Their latest, Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem, which won critics’ and audience prizes at the Venice Film Festival and the Best Picture Award from the Israeli Film Academy, highlights the absurdity of Israel’s divorce law (which falls under the authority of Orthodox rabbis, and requires the spouse’s consent) through an extended court case. Sharply written and wonderfully acted, it is the final chapter in the filmmakers’ Viviane Amsalem trilogy and the first to receive distribution in the U.S.>> - Michael Fox...

With three galvanizing dramas to their credit, the Israeli brother-and-sister tandem of Shlomi and Ronit Elkabetz (creators of Gett) have joined the Dardennes, Tavianis and Coens in an exclusive club of internationally acclaimed siblings. Their latest, Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem, which won critics’ and audience prizes at the Venice Film Festival and the Best Picture Award from the Israeli Film Academy, highlights the absurdity of Israel’s divorce law (which falls under the authority of Orthodox rabbis, and requires the spouse’s consent) through an extended court case. Sharply written and wonderfully acted, it is the final chapter in the filmmakers’ Viviane Amsalem trilogy and the first to receive distribution in the U.S.>> - Michael Fox...

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...

AFI Fest presented by Audi officially has announced its dates and call for entries. The American Film Institute's annual celebration of artistic excellence, AFI Fest brings Hollywood icons, emerging artists and audiences together to experience global cinema in the movie capital of the world. The film festival is the only one of its stature that is free to the public. The 29th edition of AFI Fest will take place in Hollywood, California from November 5 through 12, 2015.

AFI Fest will begin accepting submissions on Monday, March 2 for documentary, experimental, feature, narrative and short films at AFI.com/Afifest or through Withoutabox.com . The festival's early submission deadline for both short films (under 30 minutes) and feature films is Friday, May 1 and the final submission deadline is Friday, July 24. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognizes AFI Fest as a qualifying festival for the Short Films category of the Academy Awards®. AFI Fest is the only festival in North America with a market partner, the American Film Market.

The 2014 festival hosted 121 films from around the world, including the world premieres of "American Sniper," "Selma" and "A Most Violent Year." A special Tribute honoring Sophia Loren's illustrious career was held at the Dolby Theatre with a special screening of the 50th anniversary of her Academy Award ®-nominated role in "Marriage Italian Style" (Dir. Vittorio De Sica, 1964). Conversations on the craft of acting, with Michael Keaton and Edward Norton, and cinematography, with Roger Deakins, rounded out the programming. Guests at the festival included Steve Carell, J.C. Chandor, Jessica Chastain, Damien Chazelle, Marion Cotillard, Ava DuVernay, Clint Eastwood, Jake Gyllenhaal, Oscar Isaac, Tommy Lee Jones, Julianne Moore, David Oyelowo, Joaquin Phoenix, Kristen Stewart, Hilary Swank, Tilda Swinton, Mark Wahlberg and Oprah Winfrey.

AFI Fest 2014 brought filmmakers from all over the world to present their films to the city's film lovers, including directors Bertrand Bonello ("Saint Laurent," - France); Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne ("Two Days, One Night"- Belgium); Xavier Dolan ("Mommy," -Canada); Shlomi and Ronit Elkabetz ("Gett: the Trial of Vivianne Amsalem," -Israel); Abderrahmane Sissako (Oscar®-nominated "Timbuktu,"- Mauritania); Damián Szifrón (Oscar®-nominated "Wild Tales,"- Argentina); Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado ( Oscar®-nominated "The Salt of the Earth," -France); Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy ("The Tribe,"- Ukraine); and Andrey Zvyagintsev (Oscar®-nominated "Leviathan,"- Russia).

Filmmakers can e-mail programming@AFI.com or call 866.AFI.Fest for more information about the submissions process.

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,...

Jose here. In Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem, Israeli goddess Ronit Elkabetz returns to play a part she’s lived with for more than a decade. In 2004, Ronit and her brother Shlomi teamed up as writers and co-directors of a film trilogy that would concentrate on the experiences of a woman as seen through the roles society imposed on her. In the first installment, To Take a Wife, Viviane must deal with being trapped in a loveless marriage to her husband Elisha (Simon Abkarian), in 7 Days, Viviane must sit Shiva and come to terms with the fact that she is obligated to mourn despite not feeling pain. In Gett, which opened this weekend on the heels of its Golden Globe Foreign Film nomination (Oscar passed it by), Viviane is trying to gain her freedom from Elisha, but finds that practically impossible given that her husband hasn’t committed...

Horse & Carriage: The Elkabetzs’ Kafkaesque Interpretation of So-Called Sacred Institution

The third film in a trilogy examining the relationship between a husband and wife comes full circle with Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem, a viciously astute examination of Israel’s divorce procedures. Brother and sister directing duo Roni and Schlomi Elkabetz began their enterprise back in 2004 with To Take a Wife, which continued with 7 Days in 2007, though it isn’t necessary to have seen either of these features to appreciate what they’re doing here with this deliciously crafted drama that’s as infuriating as it is highly engrossing. If on paper it sounds like a tedious slog of a subject matter, put aside those assumptions because the Elkabetzs’ have made an invigorating, emotionally charged powder keg, a film that simultaneously harpoons the misogynistic practices of the rabbinical courts just as it gives powerful agency to its highly determined female protagonist.

Wrenching Israeli divorce drama Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem's strict focus on courtroom sparring constantly threatens the film's fine balance of gorgeously lensed, body-language-centric reaction shots and expertly paced interrogatory dialogue scenes. We don't get to see estranged couple Elisha (Ararat's Simon Abkarian) and Viviane (co-writer/-director Ronit Elkabetz) interact with each other, their loved ones, or their respective counselors beyond adversarial questions and recriminatory glances. But Gett never devolves into a trite shout-fest because its creators are more interested in the slow, painful wearing-away of Viviane's and Elisha's respective defenses than they are in either boosting her or belittling him. Elisha is, in this context, a hate...

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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