INSIDE ENVELOPES Director and Producer: Shelly Kling / Israel/The Netherlands 2013 Category: Arts & Culture Production: with the support of Kunstenisraël, The Netherlands Language: Hebrew, English. Subtitles: English Length: 50 minutes.
Synopsis: "Inside Envelopes" is an intimate documentation of the creative process of the dance concert "envelopes", By the choreographer Keren Levi and the musician Tom Parkinson, with the participation of their siblings: Reut Levi (dancer) and Alex Parkinson (musician). By documenting the creative process as it sets out over three months in Israel and in the Netherlands, the film tells the story of four artists in their search after an identity, a home and a family within the studio and the stage.
Best Film Award (Israeli Competition): Epos International Art Film Festival, Tel Aviv - Israel 2013
CineDans Dance on Screen Film Festival, Amsterdam - The Netherlands 2013
BACK TO CASABLANCA (Son of the Land) Director: Sigalit Banai Category: Arts & Culture / Identity/Immigration Production: Ron Cahlili: Docudrama Productions, for YES-Docu, Documentary Channel / Israel 2012 Language: Hebrew, French, Arabic. Subtitles: English Length: 50 minutes.
Synopsis: Israeli actor and director Ze'ev Revach was born in Morocco in 1940. He sets out on a journey back to Casablanca, in search of a Moroccan actor to star alongside him in his next film, which he dreams that he’ll be able to distribute around the Arab world. He connects with his mother tongue, discovers the commonalities between the two cultures, but his mission is not a simple one. Revach’s heart sways between Diaspora and Homeland, between authentic and imagined Moroccan belonging and between the script of the dream and the reality.
THE JOURNEY OF THE KLEZMORIM
Director: Aude Weisberger Category: Arts & Culture / Identity Production: Aude and Amit Weisberger: AAW productions / France 2012 Language: Hebrew, French, English. Subtitles: English / French Length: 46 minutes.
Synopsis: Summer 2009, shortly after its creation in Brittany (France), the Klezmer brass band «Beigale Orkestra» goes on a discovery tour of Israel. From the night bars of Tel-Aviv to the Hassidic community of Jerusalem, the visit of this Klezmer brass band, essentially made up of « goyim » (non-Jews), raises questions.
Through the thoughts and reflections of Amit and Jérôme, co-founders of« Beigale Orkestra », the film explores themes of identity and origins.
A road movie accompanied by Klezmer melodies, the « Journey of the Klezmorim » offers the chance to overcome cultural divisions by bowing before the universal power of traditional music.
A FILM ABOUT ANNA AKHMATOVA Director: Helga Landauer Category: Arts & Culture Production: Darya Zhuk: Turnstyle TV LLC; Das Films / USA / Russia 2008 Language: Russian, English. Subtitles: English / Spanish / Russian Length: 1x52 / 2x52 minutes
Synopsis: Anna Akhmatova the most famous Russian poet of her time, a ''femme fatale''. For the Russians, Akhmatova was iconic not just for what she had done, but for the majesty of what she had not been allowed to do. By the time Anna Akhmatova was twenty-five, fate had granted her every conceivable gift: poetic talent, strength of character and beauty. With the commentary of the poet Anatoly Naiman, who knew Akhmatova in her last years.
PAAVO - A Life In Five Courses Director: Hanna Hemila / Finland 2011 Category: Arts & Culture Production: Handle Productions Oy for YLE FST: Commissioning Editor: Jenny Westergård Language: English, Swedish. Subtitles: English Length: 58 / 71 minutes
Synopsis: Finnish farm boy Paavo Turtiainen is hired into the Parisian household of Swedish theatre producer Lars Schmidt and his wife, actress Ingrid Bergman. The couple “adopts” and trains Paavo to navigate among the rich and famous. Encouraged by Schmidt, Paavo moves to New York and becomes an acclaimed chef and event planner for high society. In the film Ingrid Bergman’s daughters Isabella Rossellini and Pia Lindström talk about their “brother”.
THERE MUST BE ANOTHER WAY Director: Yariv Mozer Category: Arts & Culture Production: for IBA Channel One / Israel 2009 Language: Hebrew, Arabic, English, Subtitles: English Length: 62 minutes
Synopsis: A film from the Middle East, with a different sound. Following the military operation in Gaza and despite resistance from left and right, Israel sent for the first time for the Eurovision Song Contest a Jewish-Arab duo: NOA, considered to be the leading Israeli singing artist abroad, and Arab singer MIRA AWAD. Filmmaker Yariv Mozer (''My First War'') follows them on their journey: the climax of an ongoing five-year musical relationship between the two artists and their common wish for coexistence between their two nations.
DUNDUN - The Talking Drum Director: Ibisankale Kayode / Nigeria 2010 Category: Arts / Human Interest Language: English narration & subtitles. Length: 52 minutes
Synopsis: ''Dundun'', also called the Talking Drum, is considered by many to be the most eloquent of all the African drums, and is believed to have originated within the divinity. In the southern Sahara in Africa the Dundun is traditionally regarded as ''the instrument of the Kings''.''Dundun - The Talking Drum'' takes the viewer to the city of Oyo in Nigeria where the drum is believed to have originated. This comprehensive documentary shows the cultural and historical context surrounding the drum and an in-depth examination of its construction, from chopping down the correct tree to the finishing design touches. The film also presents many performances and demonstrates who may use the drum, when and for what it is used, and what is communicated.
ONE EYE WIDE OPEN - following Zvi Lachman Director: Aner Preminger & Ami Drozd / Israel 2009 Category: Art Co-Production: with AVRO Broadcasting Association / Close-Up, The Netherlands Language: Hebrew. Subtitles: English Length: 52 minutes
Synopsis: The film follows Israeli Artist Zvi Lachman, during the decade 1998-2008. Lachman's sculptures and charcoal drawings involve processes of accumulation, addition, subtraction and erasure. Lachman's art is shaped by the tension between a liberal, secular worldview and between the religious roots of culture, between a universal and international consciousness and the demands of a local identity. American critic Geoffrey Hartman describes Lachman as "one of the best, if not the best sculptor working presently in Israel" (NY Arts).
ZITRA (tomorrow) - of truth and reconciliation Director: Judd Ne'eman (Winner of Israel Prize for Cinema) / Israel / Germany 2008 / 2009 Category: Arts Language: Hebrew, German, English, Czech. Subtitles: English / Spanish Length: 54 / 68 minutes
Synopsis: A Musical Documentary follows a group of young German and Israeli musicians & actors, working on a joined performance in German and Hebrew. The play is based on the memories of Manka Alter, a Holocaust survivor who was a lead singer in the Cabaret of Ghetto Terezin (Theresienstadt). Through Manka's memories, performed on stage by the young generation, the film raises philosophical questions on truth and reconciliation. The rehearsals and the staging of the cabaret are intertwined with the reenacting of the scenes from the play on the streets of Schwerin and Berlin.
ROSH GERANIUM Director: Amit Goren / Israel 2007 Category: Art Language: Hebrew. Subtitles: English Length: 85 minutes
Synopsis: Raffi Lavie, the Israeli painter, the art and classical music critic, is arguably the most influential cultural figure of his generation, an embodiment of the image of the "Sabra". The film follows Raffi Lavie, who had to give up the lease on his mythological apartment in Tel-Aviv, where he lived for 33 years with his wife Ilana and their children - when he is forced to reorganize his life, in order to relocate and begin yet another new phase in his life. Amit Goren's film makes Lavie's personality and art accessible, while remaining both entertaining and thought provoking.
Festivals & Awards:
FIFA International Festival of Films on Art, Montréal – Canada 2008
DeREEL Independent Film Festival, Melbourne - Australia 2008
Temps D'Images Film Award for Films on Art – Portugal 2008
Winner: Best Editing Award : Doc Aviv Documentary Film Festival - Israel 2007
SHEHERAZADE'S TEARS Director: Judd Ne'eman / Israel/Ukraine 2006 Category: Arts / Human Interest Language: Arabic, Hebrew, Russian, Ukrainian. Subtitles: English Length: 81 minutes
Synopsis: Irina was a professional choreographer and dancer in the Ukraine . She moved to Israel twenty years ago after falling in love with a young Israeli Arab whom she met in Kiev . Irina teaches ballet dancing in an Arab village. She travels with her students, an Arab boy and a Jewish girl, who perform a piece from “Sheherazade” at the the Kiev youth ballet festival. They demonstrate her belief that where people can dance together they also can live together .
Festivals & Awards:
Winner: Platinum Remi Award : Worldfest Houston International Film Festival, Texas - USA 2007
Sole E Luna Doc Fest-Mediterranean & Islamic International Documentary Festival, Palermo- Italy 2007
Fipatel, FIPA International Festival of Audiovisual Programs, Biarritz - France 2007
Crossroads of Europe, International Documentary Film Festival, Lublin - Poland 2008
THE BALCONY Director: Ruth Walk / Israel 2000 Category: Culture Production: Yael Perlov Language: Hebrew. Subtitles: English / French Length: 54 minutes
Synopsis: ''The Balcony'' is the story of the 83-year-old Actor Israel Beker: a survivor from the Holocaust, a Painter, and the creator of the autobiography feature film Long is the Road (1946) in which he appears as himself in the leading role. Israel Beker's apartment's walls adorned with his paintings, represents the past. His balcony, like a stage in a new theatre overlooking the noisy street, anchors him to the present
Festivals & Awards:
International Forum of New Cinema Berlin Film Festival - Germany 2001
A ROOM OF YOUR OWN - WOMEN WRITERS A series of 5 documentary films about Israeli Women Writers Director: Ruth Walk Category: Culture. Production:Yael Perlov / Israel 2005-2010 Language: Various lengths. Subtitles: Hebrew. English
Synopsis: Almost 80 years after British author Virginia Woolf declared that a woman who wants to write needs money and a room of her own, two Israeli filmmakers set out to explore whether anything has changed since. The documentary series they have produced follows the daily routine of five female writers. The camera zooms in on the room, desk, laptop or typewriter of Ida Fink, Orly Castel-Bloom, Agi Mishol, Sarah Shilo , and Emunah Yaron (Agnon's daughter), In their modest homes. The "stars" of the series do not always have a room of their own. These women devote their lives to writing, for which the pen, paper and text are the center of their worlds. Whether they are poets or authors, writing is the essence of their lives, and stems from an existential necessity. Click to read more >
STAGE OF MIND Director: Niv Cohen and Dan Shanan / Israel 2005 Category: Arts / Society Language: Hebrew. English translation Length: 55 minutes
Synopsis: Two elderly Israeli actors ponder whether there is still a future for them in the acting world. Mordechai Ben-Zeev and Ruth Segal, two of the founders of the Haifa Theatre, deal with growing old as an actor with different perspectives. Both are still struggling to survive in this ''cruel and vicious'' profession as they define it.
Festivals & Awards:
Roma Art Doc Fest - Official Selection ''Theatre'' - Italy 2006
DocNZ International Documentary Film Festival - New Zealand 2005
SECONDS OF GLORY Director: Marco Carmel / Israel 2004 Category: Society & Ethnology Production: Zvi Shefy, David Zerif Language: Hebrew, Russian. Subtitles: English Length: 52 minutes
Synopsis: Hovering on the fringes of the film and TV industry in Israel is the world of the extras and 'bit' players - the small-time, amateur actors. The film follows the lives of three such characters over a period of time: Christina a new immigrant from the Ukraine, Solange a former actress and singer and Chovav "King of the Extras" who has appeared in every Israeli film made in the last 30 years.
Festivals & Awards:
Dignity and Work International Film Festival Gdansk - Poland 2008
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