15th Annual Israeli Film Festival of Philadelphia

by: Publisher

Thu Feb 03, 2011 at 13:19:19 PM EST

The Israeli Film Festival of Philadelphia celebrates its 15^th Anniversary Season with eight prize-winning films by Israeli filmmakers over a six-week period beginning February 26th with screenings in Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs.  The Festival celebrates Israeli cinema with the aim of enriching the American vision of Israeli culture and society through film.  (See our coverage of the Israeli Film Festival in 2006 and 2009.)

Advanced ticket sales are available online.  There are a limited number of free tickets for high school and college students at each screening. Reservations for student tickets can be made online and must picked up one hour prior to each screening.

According to Nurit Yaron, the Film Festival's chair,

Each season the Israeli Film Festival presents a slate of feature films and documentaries that are carefully selected to represent a diverse reflection of Israel.  It is our goal to celebrate the creativity of Israeli filmmaking and vibrancy of Israeli culture. Our program includes award-winning feature films and documentaries that have received wide recognition both in Israel and abroad.

The Matchmaker

The Festival opens on Saturday, February 26th with The Matchmaker directed by Avi Nesher.  Winner of the 2010 Israeli Film Academy for Best Actor and Best Actress Awards, The Matchmaker is an enchanting coming-of-age tale about the redemptive power of love and the manifold incarnations of friendship.  Yankele Bride, a Holocaust survivor who makes his living as a matchmaker, hires 16-year old Arik to scout potential clients throughout the bustling port city of Haifa.  The quirky characters Arik meets on the job - Clara, a beautiful, fragile woman whom Bride loves from afar; Sylvia, a survivor of Josef  Mengele's Nazi experiments who yearns for a husband; and Meir, a librarian - open his eyes to a world of wonder, pain and longing.  Avi Nesher made his feature film debut with The Troup and has since made Turn Left at the End of the World (the biggest grossing movie in Israeli history) followed by The Secrets.  The Matchmaker will have two screenings, both at the Philadelphia International House, on Saturday, February 26th at 8:00 PM and again on Sunday, February 27th at 3:00 PM.

Information and trailers about the other seven film after the jump.

Precious Life, a searing documentary about Israeli/Palestinian relations by Shlomi Eldar, will screen at the Philadelphia International House on Sunday, February 27th at 7:00 PM.  The movie brings to light the plight of a Palestinian baby who was born without an immune system, a genetic disease that had killed his two sisters.  Eldar helps facilitate funds for a bone marrow transplant through an anonymous Israeli donor whose own son had been killed in the Army.  He also documents the drama of the Palestinian doctor taking the matching blood samples across the border checkpoint.  The winner of the Best Documentary from the 2010 Israeli Film Academy, Precious Life highlights the complex dynamics reflecting the personal and political ambiguities in the region.  

Gei Oni, directed by Dan Wolman Saturday, March 5 at 8:00 PM, Drexel University, Edmond D. Bossone Research Enterprise Center, Mitchell Auditorium, 3128 Market Street, Philadelphia (2010, 105 minutes, Hebrew, Yiddish, and Arabic with English subtitles)

Gei Oni - Valley of Fortitude

The Festival continues on March 5th at Drexel University's Mitchell Auditorium with Gei Oni, directed by Dan Wolman and based on the classic novel by Israeli author Shulamit Lapid.  A historical epic, Gei Oni interweaves the story of the first wave of Jewish European migration to Palestine at the end of the 19th century with an unusual love story.  Fania, having escaped the pogroms of Russia, seeks a new life in late 19th century Palestine.  She meets Yechiel, a widower with two young children.  Agreeing to marriage as a means of survival, Fania follows the farmer to a hard pioneer life in his tiny village near the city of Safed.  Gei Oni is a dramatic narrative of the Jewish dream of returning and rebuilding the land of Zion.  Director Dan Wolman will be the guest speaker following the screening.

Lebanon, directed by Samuel Maoz Sunday, March 13 at 7:00 PM, Bryn Mawr Film Institute, 824 West Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr (2009, 94 minutes, Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles)

Lebanon

The Festival moves to the Main Line's Bryn Mawr Film Institute on March 13th with Lebanon, directed by Samuel Maoz.  Taking place during the first Lebanon War in 1982, a novice crew of Israeli soldiers enters the ruins of a Lebanese town previously bombed by the Air Force.  Young men who have never fought before find themselves trapped within a tank as they are thrown into a situation that quickly spins out of control.  Winner of the Golden Lion Award from the 2009 Venice Film Festival, Lebanon was also the winner of the European Discovery Award and the Carlo di Palma Cinematographer Award, both from the 2010 European Film Festival, and Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Sound and Best Supporting Actor, all from the 2009 Israeli Film Academy.  Dr. Elna Yadin, a psychotherapist from Byrn Mawr College, will be the guest speaker after the film.

This is Sodom, directed by Adam Sanderson & Muli Segev Saturday, March 26 at 8:30PM and Sunday, March 27 at 3:00PM International House, 3701 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia (2010, 88 minutes, Hebrew with English subtitles)

This is Sodom

The Festival returns to the Philadelphia International House with two screenings of the comedy This is Sodom, directed by Adam Sanderson and Muli Segev, on Saturday, March 26th at 8:30 PM and again on Sunday, March 27th at 3:00 PM.  A delightfully raucous, slapstick comedy, This is Sodom reenacts the moment of the birth of the Jewish people, as the patriarch Abraham bargains with God for the life of his nephew, Lot, supposedly the only righteous person in the infamous city of Sodom, the biblical capital of gambling, sex and corruption.  This is Sodom set the record for the most tickets sold for an Israeli movie in its first weekend.

The Human Resources Manager, directed by Eran Riklis Sunday, March 27 at 7:00 PM, International House, 3701 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia (2010, 103 minutes, Hebrew and Romanian with English subtitles)

The Human Resources Manager

Israel's Oscar entry for Best Foreign Language Film, The Human Resources Manager, will be shown on Sunday, March 27th at 7:00 PM at the Philadelphia International House.  Based on the novel by A.B. Yehoshua and directed by Eran Riklis, The Human Resources Manager won Best Feature Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Soundtrack and Best Supporting Actress, all from the 2010 Israeli Film Academy.  In this touching tragic-comedy, a Human Resource manager at Israel's largest bakery is blamed for not noticing that one of his employees is missing.  After discovering that the employee is a victim of a suicide bombing, the manager finds himself the unlikely escort of the young woman's coffin back to her hometown in Romania.  Eran Riklis is the acclaimed director of The Lemon Tree and The Syrian Bride which was screened in Philadelphia at the 2006 Israeli Film Festival.

Missing Father, directed by Yair Elazar Saturday, April 2 at 8:45 PM, Gratz College, 7605 Old York Road, Melrose Park (2009, 86 minutes, Hebrew with English subtitles)

Missing Father

Missing Father, a documentary by Yair Elazar, will be screened on Saturday, April 2nd at 8:45 PM at Gratz College.  Decades after the death of Israel's legendary but discredited Chief of Staff David Elazar (Dado), his youngest son launches a personal investigation into the life of the national celebrity and military genius.  Now a father himself, Yair Elazar feels compelled to understand the father whose many absences from home made him an enigma to his children.  Through a sincere and lucid requiem, the director takes a journey in his father's footsteps, aiming to penetrate the web of myths shrouding his father's memory, and to overcome his anger at him for sacrificing family life for a military career.  Yair Elazar will be the guest speaker following the film.

Voices from El-Sayed, directed by Oded Adomi Leshem Saturday, April 9 at 8:45 PM, Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy, Jewish Federation Campus, 272 Bryn Mawr Avenue, Bryn Mawr (2009, 75 minutes, Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles)

Voices from El-Sayed

The Festival concludes on Saturday, April 9th at Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy with Voices from El-Sayed directed by Oded Adomi Leshem, winner of the 2009 Guggenheim Emerging Artist Award.   The Bedouin village of El-Sayed in the picturesque Israeli Negev desert is home to the largest percentage of deaf people in the world.  Hearing and non-hearing residents alike live in silence, and all use a variant of sign language adapted over several generations to local needs and habits.  One member's decision to get a cochlear implant for his son brings into sharp focus how the gift of hearing may feel like the loss of community and identity.  Director of the film, Oded Adomi Leshem, will be the guest speaker following the film.

Information

For further information about the festival or any of the screenings, please call 484-904-5421 or visit the festival's website.