The 39th Jerusalem Film Festival, which will take place from July 21-31 at the Jerusalem Cinematheque, just announced its list of Israeli films and it is a varied list, including debut films, as well as much-anticipated movies by veteran directors, with a few surprises.
The Haggiag Competition for Israeli Feature Films, which has included some of Israel’s most beloved classics over the years, will have eight movies this year.
'June Zero'
In an interesting collaboration, Jake Paltrow (the brother of Gwyneth Paltrow) has written a screenplay with Israeli director Tom Shoval, who made Youth and Shake Your Cares Away, for a movie called June Zero, which Paltrow directed.
It takes place in Israel in the days leading up to the execution of Adolf Eichmann and it looks at the upcoming execution through the eyes of three very different people: a corrections officer who guards Eichmann, a Holocaust survivor returning to Poland for the first time since the war and a child tasked with helping build an oven to cremate Eichmann’s remains. The cast includes Joy Rieger and Tzahi Grad.
Ofir Raul Grazier, who made the acclaimed film, The Cakemaker, which won the Ophir Award for Best Picture in 2018, has a new film, America, which tells the story of an Israeli swim teacher living in Chicago, who returns to Israel after 10 years’ absence to bury his father. Encounters with old friends change his life in a story set between a flower shop and an ancient monastery.
'Karaoke'
Moshe Rosenthal’s first feature film, Karaoke, got positive reviews at its world premiere at the recently concluded Tribeca Film Festival. It stars Sasson Gabay and Rita Shukrun as a couple in their 60s, whose lives are shaken up when they get to know their charismatic new neighbor (Lior Ashkenazi), who holds karaoke evenings at this apartment.
Concerned Citizen, directed by Idan Haguel, tells a complex story about an upscale gay couple who discover that moving into a Tel Aviv neighborhood that is home to many migrant workers raises more issues than they expected. The movie was shown at the Berlin International Film Festival.
The Diamond Competition for Israeli Documentary Cinema will feature movies on the life journey of an Egyptian singer who moved to Israel, the tangled saga of a hostage in a hotel terror attack in the 1970s, the censored letters of IDF soldiers, criminal violence in Arab towns and much more.
In addition, documentaries on Sudanese refugees and the late actress/director Ronit Elkabetz will be shown.
The festival will also feature competitions for short films, experimental and video art, and films by high-school students.