By JERUSALEM POST STAFFmoses play 88 298(photo credit: )'American Dreamz' opens Eilat film fest
American Dreamz, a comedy about an American Idol-type television show, will be the opening attraction at this year's Eilat International Film Festival (the official title is the Isrotel Eilat International Film Festival), which will be held for the fourth time this year, from May 24-27. American Dreamz, which stars Hugh Grant, Mandy Moore, and Dennis Quaid, was inspired by the fact that more people in the US vote for the television talent contest than voted for president in the last election. Grant plays the show's smarmy host and Quaid is the president who decides to appear on the show to court voters.
The approximately 50 films on the program come from all over the world, with concentrations of movies from Greece and Latin America. Festival guests include several representatives of Platforma Video, a Greek film company, as well as director Evangelos Frantzis, whose A Dog's Dream, a psychological crime drama, is on the program this year. Other guests (at press time) include Egidio Eronico, whose My Father stars Charlton Heston in one of his last roles before he contracted Alzheimer's Disease (the film was made in 2003); Diego Valenzuela, director of For Rent, the story of a Chilean musician who returns home after 15 years abroad; and Shruti Bhardwaj, director of Trip Military P.M.T. - Post, a documentary about Israelis and the trance scene in Goa.
The American film, Pretty Persuasion, about a girl (Evan Rachel Wood) who accuses her teacher of sexual harassment, made a big splash at last year's Sundance festival. Israeli films include There Is No Place Too Far, Uri Gallerou's documentary about a man who takes a bike trip all over the world to honor victims of terrorism.
The festival includes competitions for Best Foreign Film and Best Israeli Film. Local children and audience members will judge a competition for Best Children's Film.
For more details and to order tickets, call 08-6386657 or go to the festival Website at www.eilatfilmfest.com - Hannah BrownPianist Bracha Eden dies at 78
Pianist Bracha Eden, part of the well known Israeli pianist duo Eden-Tamir, passed away last night, due to a massive brain hemorrhage, at the age of 78.
Eden was born in Jerusalem and studied piano with composer Yossef Tal before becoming head of the conservatory at the Rubin Music Academy in Jerusalem. She later became head of the keyboard department where she met pianist and Holocaust survivor Alexander Tamir. In 1956 they created the Eden-Tamir duo, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary.
Eden and Tamir have promoted piano duos - both for four hands and for two - in Israel and abroad to great acclaim. Eden, together with Tamir, is one of the few Israeli classical music performers mentioned in the prestigious Groves dictionary. - Peggy CidorRami Kleinstein takes on the US
Composer-singer Rami Kleinstein is headed off to the US for four concerts next month in New York (two shows), San Francisco, and Los Angeles. The last time the American-born, Israeli singer was abroad for a concert series was four years ago. This time around, Kleinstein will be accompanied by five-piece band.
Often dubbed "Israel's Elton John," the piano-playing love-song king, Kleinstein, will perform hits from his 20-year career including such songs as "Various Sides," "Apples and Dates," "Say It," and "Everything You Want." - Viva Sarah Press Roses for Moses
There's Moses the lawgiver, there's Moses the leader of his people, and there's Moses as immortalized by Michaelangelo. Now there's Moses - the True Story, a musical that tells the story of the leader and the man. Created, directed, composed and choreographed by Oren Halali, it will have its world premiere at the Holon Theater on June 6.
The storyline follows the events in the Bible from the baby's discovery by Pharaoh's daughter to the nation's arrival in the Promised Land (without Moses). It stars singer Tal Sondak, a 2001 Eurovision competitor, in the title role and a cast of 150 singers, dancers and musicians.
"Already at age 10, when I was sent to boarding school after the death of my mother," says Halali, "I was captured by the story of Moses - the child forced to grow up without his mother and so develop the strength of character that turned him into one of the greatest leaders of the Jewish people."
Halali is the artistic director and choreographer of the Hora Re'im Holon folk dance troupe. He has also represented Israel numerous times abroad, most notably in Brazil where he organized the Carmel Festival in Sao Paulo that attracted 84 dance troupes from all over South America. - Helen Kaye
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