A feast for culture vultures

Israel's movie season kicks into full gear.

By HANNAH BROWN
balibo aussie film 311 (photo credit: Screenshot)
balibo aussie film 311
(photo credit: Screenshot)
Currently in its 12th year, The Tel Aviv-Los Angeles Master Class Workshop, sponsored by the Los Angeles Jewish Federation, will take place at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque from June 18-25. The program brings together filmmakers and students from the two cities and features classes for students from both countries given by a host of Hollywood professionals.
This year’s guests are experts in the musical side of the industry and in television production. David Renzer, the head of Universal’s music division, has worked with some of the world’s most celebrated musicians, including Elton John, Elvis Costello, Bon Jovi, 50 Cent, Mariah Carey, and many others. Doug Frank headed Warner Bros. music division and supervised the music for dozens of movies, including the Harry Potter series, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and The Matrix. Steve Schnur is the worldwide executive for music and marketing for Electronic Arts (EA), the largest video game producer in the world, which has created such titles as The Sims. Randy Edelman has written and supervised the music for such films as Leap Year, Beethoven’s Big Break, 27 Dresses and The Mummy 3.
While these guests will work with Israel’s many aspiring movie composers, there will be other participants who work as television producers and screenwriters. Jonathan Littman is the head of the television department at Jerry Bruckheimer Productions, and has produced a long list of television series, including CSI, Without a Trace, The Amazing Race and Cold Case. Writer and producer Ed Redlich has produced Shark, Without a Trace and The Practice, among others. Sarah Timberman, the president of her own production company, Timberman/Beverly Productions, produced the series Kidnapped and is collaborating with Redlich on a new project.
Mickey Yerushalmi, the head of the cultural committee of the Tel Aviv-Los Angeles Master Class program, is excited by how the partnership has grown: “There is cooperation on both sides, and the participants are full of curiosity and initiative. Through the master classes, both the American and Israeli professionals have learned creatively through true international cooperation.”
The 7th Australia Israel Cultural Exchange (AICE) Australian Film Festival begins on June 20 at the Jerusalem Cinematheque, then moves to the Nazareth, Haifa and Tel Aviv Cinematheques, and finishes its run on July 10.
Featuring the best recent films from Australia, the festival opens withthe political thriller, Balibo.Balibo stars Anthony LaPaglia, who is probably bestknown for his role on the television series, Without aTrace. The film tells the story of five Australian-basedjournalists who were shot during Indonesia’s invasion of East Timor in1975. The film’s director, Robert Connolly, will attend the festivaland be present for questions at many of the screenings.
Another highlight of the festival will be Samson &Delilah, a love story about a teen aboriginal couple livingin the Central Australian desert, which won the prestigious Camera d’Orat the Cannes Film Festival. Actress Rachel Ward directed the movieBeautiful Kate, the story of a forbidden sexualrelationship, which stars her husband, Bryan Brown, and RachelGriffiths. The film is set in both modern times and the 19th century.Sarah Watt’s My Year without Sex focuses on anordinary family grappling with extraordinary challenges. JoelAnderson’s Lake Mungo tells the story of thedrowning death of a girl, but her family begins to feel afterwards thatthere may be more to her death than they know. Glendyn Ivin’sLast Ride stars Hugo Weaving (from Lord ofthe Rings and The Matrix movies) as afather who goes on an unexpected journey with his estranged son. Thefestival includes short films and documentaries, includingGlass: A Portrait of Philip in 12 Parts, directed byScott Hicks, who made Shine. TheChoir, directed by Michael Davie, is about a group of inmatestrying to survive in South Africa’s largest prison. Short films includethe animated films, Chicken of God and TheCat Piano.
For details on the festival, go to the AICE Website at http://www.aice.com.au/