Israeli movies at Jerusalem Film Festival announced

The lineup of movies in the Israeli competition categories for the 33rd Jerusalem Film Festival was just announced, and it’s an especially strong group.

By HANNAH BROWN
ORI SIVAN’S ‘Harmonia.’ (photo credit: ETIEL TZIYON)
ORI SIVAN’S ‘Harmonia.’
(photo credit: ETIEL TZIYON)
The lineup of movies in the Israeli competition categories for the 33rd Jerusalem Film Festival was just announced, and it’s an especially strong group, as some of Israel’s best-known directors will present their new films.
The Jerusalem Film Festival will run from July 7-17 at the Jerusalem Cinematheque.
In the Haggiag Competition for Full-Length Israeli Feature, two films that won awards and acclaim at the recent Cannes Film Festival will be shown.
Asaph Polonsky’s One Week and a Day won the Gan Foundation Prize at Cannes, and it tells the story of a bereaved father who decides to smoke the rest of his deceased son’s medical marijuana after the week of mourning ends.
Eran Kolirin’s latest film, Beyond the Mountains and Hills, is about a career army officer who finds it hard to return to civilian life after nearly three decades in the military. The movie was acquired by a US distributor at Cannes last month. Kolirin’s best-known movie, The Band’s Visit, won the top prize at the Jerusalem Film Festival in 2007.
Meny Yaesh’s The Bouncer is about a man who starts working for a loan shark in order to pay for fertility treatments for his wife. His previous film, God’s Neighbors, won prizes at Cannes and the Jerusalem Film Festival.
Nir Bergman’s latest film, Saving Neta, tells the story of four women whose lives change after they meet a man named Neta. Bergman’s first feature, Broken Wings, won the prize for the best feature at the Jerusalem Film Festival in 2002, and his second film, Intimate Grammar, won the Haggiag Prize in 2010.
Ori Sivan’s Harmonia is a transposition of the biblical story of Abraham and Sarah to the classical-music world of modern Israel. Sivan co-directed Saint Clara with Ari Folman (Waltz with Bashir) in 1996.
Guy Raz’s The Forest That Was tells the story of a man who makes a terrible mistake on his way to work.
Dorit Hakim’s The Moon at House 12 is about two estranged sisters and how they find their way back to each other.
A number of films will compete in the Van Leer Competition for Best Israeli Documentary, among them documentaries about young people with Down’s syndrome going backpacking in India; David Ben-Gurion’s time on Kibbutz Sde Boker; the struggle of Muslim players for Beitar Jerusalem to win acceptance from the team’s fans; a teacher accused of child abuse; the memories of North African women who settled in Dimona; a candidate for mayor of Jerusalem; and an Iraqi immigrant who became a photography pioneer.
There will also be special screenings and competitions for short films and student films.