‘The Flood’ takes top prize in Haifa

The top award at Haifa Film Festival carries a cash prize of NIS 100,000.

By HANNAH BROWN
Guy Nattiv’s drama about an autistic young man who has been institutionalized for years and then returns to his family won the Israeli Feature Film Competition at the 26th International Haifa Film Festival.
The prizes were awarded at a closing ceremony held on Thursday afternoon. The top award at Haifa carries a cash prize of NIS 100,000.
Ronit Elkabetz, who won an achievement award for her contribution to Israeli cinema, played the mother in The Flood, while Michael Moshonov, who won an Ophir Award for his performance, played the son.
The award for The Flood continued the trend of different films winning prizes at the Ophir Awards (the Israeli Oscars) and at film festivals.
Eran Riklis’s The Human Resources Manager, which won the Best Picture Award at the Ophirs on September 21, also competed at Haifa but only won the award for Mark Evanir’s performance in the title role.
The award for Best Actress at Haifa went to Orna Porat, for her showstopping turn as a woman only too happy to help her son conceal a murder he committed in Eitan Tzur’s Naomi.
The prize for Best Israeli Documentary was split between two films: Netalie Braun’s The Hangman and Artur Yakobov’s and Sharon Atias’s In the Third Person.
The Hangman is the story of the prison warden who carried out Eichmann’s execution and is now a ritual slaughterer, while In the Third Person looks at an artist from Bukhara who is tracing his roots.
The Golden Anchor Award, given to the best film from countries along the Mediterranean, went to Reha Erdem’s Kosmos, a Turkish film about a thief with mystical powers.