Top Israeli director Talya Lavie is developing “Seven Eyes,” a feature film based on the gripping story of the female lookout soldiers who were based at the Israel-Gaza border on Oct. 7, when Hamas killed more than 1,200 Israeli civilians.
Entirely staffed by women, that Idf “lookout” unit is stationed by the Nahal Oz Outpost in Southern Israel, near the village which was decimated by Hamas. In the months preceding the attack, these female soldiers consistently reported suspicious activities, indicating that Hamas terrorists were preparing for an attack, said Lavie, an alumna of the Sundance Directors and Screenwriters Lab.
Of the 24 lookout soldiers who were stationed in Nahal Oz on Oct. 7, 15 were killed during the attack, seven were abducted by Hamas into Gaza and two survived. Lavie said the film will follow fictional characters but will be based on true events.
In “Zero Motivation,” one of Israel’s biggest B.O. hits of all times,...
Entirely staffed by women, that Idf “lookout” unit is stationed by the Nahal Oz Outpost in Southern Israel, near the village which was decimated by Hamas. In the months preceding the attack, these female soldiers consistently reported suspicious activities, indicating that Hamas terrorists were preparing for an attack, said Lavie, an alumna of the Sundance Directors and Screenwriters Lab.
Of the 24 lookout soldiers who were stationed in Nahal Oz on Oct. 7, 15 were killed during the attack, seven were abducted by Hamas into Gaza and two survived. Lavie said the film will follow fictional characters but will be based on true events.
In “Zero Motivation,” one of Israel’s biggest B.O. hits of all times,...
- 1/5/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Regev has been the CEO of the Jerusalem Cinematheque since 2013.
Jerusalem Cinematheque CEO Noa Regev has been appointed as the new CEO of the Israel Film Fund (Iff) and is due to take up the role at the beginning of April.
She replaces veteran producer and broadcast executive Lisa Shiloach-Uzrad, who spent two-and-a-half years in the role having succeeded long-time executive director Katriel Schory in 2019.
Regev has been CEO of the Jerusalem Cinematheque since 2013. She took over the organisation at a delicate point in its history as its hands-on founder Lia Van Leer, who was then in her late 80s,...
Jerusalem Cinematheque CEO Noa Regev has been appointed as the new CEO of the Israel Film Fund (Iff) and is due to take up the role at the beginning of April.
She replaces veteran producer and broadcast executive Lisa Shiloach-Uzrad, who spent two-and-a-half years in the role having succeeded long-time executive director Katriel Schory in 2019.
Regev has been CEO of the Jerusalem Cinematheque since 2013. She took over the organisation at a delicate point in its history as its hands-on founder Lia Van Leer, who was then in her late 80s,...
- 2/4/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Bringing a slick slice of Tel Aviv into the Canneseries TV festival on the French Riviera this week, the writer-director duo of Shir Reuven (“The Electrifiers”) and Talya Lavie (“Zero Motivation”) drew on their own coming-of-age experiences to create the TV series “Sad City Girls.”
It began with a script by Reuven who spent her twenties in Tel Aviv. Her directing partner Lavie spent hers in Jerusalem, but could relate to the experience when she read the script. Soon a creative team was born for the series. The first season will debut later this month on cable channel Hot, which financed the production.
“It was the first time I lived in a big city. It was mind blowing,” recalls Reuven of moving to Tel Aviv. “I had read a lot of stuff on the news that I had never seen before, like homeless people eating from the garbage.”
Lavie says:...
It began with a script by Reuven who spent her twenties in Tel Aviv. Her directing partner Lavie spent hers in Jerusalem, but could relate to the experience when she read the script. Soon a creative team was born for the series. The first season will debut later this month on cable channel Hot, which financed the production.
“It was the first time I lived in a big city. It was mind blowing,” recalls Reuven of moving to Tel Aviv. “I had read a lot of stuff on the news that I had never seen before, like homeless people eating from the garbage.”
Lavie says:...
- 10/15/2021
- by Liza Foreman
- Variety Film + TV
Sky Original’s fifth and final season of “Gomorrah,” Rtl Group and Beta Film’s German-language “Sisi,” and Canal Plus’ hip-hop themed “All The Way Up” will — rather fittingly — join the David Tennant-led, Slim Film+Televison/Federation co-produced “Around the World in 80 Days” for an internationally accented edition of Canneseries, which plays from Oct. 8-13.
Running concurrent to Mipcom before returning to its traditional April berth in 2022, this year’s fourth edition will spotlight nine countries in its ten series long-form competition, though with a limited U.S. presence.
Alongside those four aforementioned series, all playing out of competition, this year’s most high-profile competition premieres include the Gaumont-produced, Amazon Prime broadcast Cold War thriller “Totems,” a Franco-Spanish-Czech co-production that stars Niels Schneider, Lambert Wilson and Ana Girardot, and “Limbo… Until It’s Over,” the latest series from Argentine hit-makers Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn (“Officila Competition...
Running concurrent to Mipcom before returning to its traditional April berth in 2022, this year’s fourth edition will spotlight nine countries in its ten series long-form competition, though with a limited U.S. presence.
Alongside those four aforementioned series, all playing out of competition, this year’s most high-profile competition premieres include the Gaumont-produced, Amazon Prime broadcast Cold War thriller “Totems,” a Franco-Spanish-Czech co-production that stars Niels Schneider, Lambert Wilson and Ana Girardot, and “Limbo… Until It’s Over,” the latest series from Argentine hit-makers Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn (“Officila Competition...
- 9/21/2021
- by Ben Croll
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: The 34th Israel Film Festival Los Angeles has confirmed its line-up for this year’s edition, which will be held entirely online for the first time.
Running December 13 – 27, the fest will screen 23 features, including two U.S. premieres, Israel’s Oscar submission this year, Asia, as well as a number of past Ophir award winners. The event will also host Q&As after each film with talent.
Asia opens the festival having recently won Best Film at this year’s Ophir Awards, Israel’s top film awards, which automatically makes it the Oscar contender for 2021. The film also won Ophirs for Best Actress, Supporting Actress and Cinematography.
The festival will present its 2020 Iff Lifetime Achievement Award to Meir Feningstein, the event’s founder and executive director. It will also screen concert documentary Poogy / Kaveret 2013 Reunion Concert, centered on the band for which Feningstein is the drummer.
“As the world faces enormous disruption and loss,...
Running December 13 – 27, the fest will screen 23 features, including two U.S. premieres, Israel’s Oscar submission this year, Asia, as well as a number of past Ophir award winners. The event will also host Q&As after each film with talent.
Asia opens the festival having recently won Best Film at this year’s Ophir Awards, Israel’s top film awards, which automatically makes it the Oscar contender for 2021. The film also won Ophirs for Best Actress, Supporting Actress and Cinematography.
The festival will present its 2020 Iff Lifetime Achievement Award to Meir Feningstein, the event’s founder and executive director. It will also screen concert documentary Poogy / Kaveret 2013 Reunion Concert, centered on the band for which Feningstein is the drummer.
“As the world faces enormous disruption and loss,...
- 11/30/2020
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
When the coronavirus pandemic hit California in March, San Diego Film Festival artistic director Tonya Mantooth briefly considered canceling this year’s program. But when it came down to the final decision, she recalls, her team held her back, saying, “Wait a second, our mission is to use film as a catalyst to bring different perspectives and get them to the forefront. This is exactly why we exist as a festival — we need to stay in there and fight the good fight.”
In a year that is seeing a resurgence of sociopolitical movements challenging systemic racism and advocating for LGBTQ+ rights, Sdff’s 2020 edition champions those messages as told through the big screen in a sincere effort to unite communities. With its weeklong program reduced to four days, the fest is scheduled for Oct. 15 to 18, featuring both drive-in events and virtual screenings that can be enjoyed in the comfort of festgoers’ homes.
In a year that is seeing a resurgence of sociopolitical movements challenging systemic racism and advocating for LGBTQ+ rights, Sdff’s 2020 edition champions those messages as told through the big screen in a sincere effort to unite communities. With its weeklong program reduced to four days, the fest is scheduled for Oct. 15 to 18, featuring both drive-in events and virtual screenings that can be enjoyed in the comfort of festgoers’ homes.
- 10/15/2020
- by Janet W. Lee
- Variety Film + TV
In the good traditions of weddings there is something old, new, borrowed and blue about the second feature from Israeli director Talya Lavie, whose debut Zero Motivation - an enjoyably acidic M*A*S*H like black comedy about Israeli national service - won the top prize at Tribeca but never made it to general release in the UK.
Old, is perhaps too strong a word, but her latest certainly borrows from a fine tradition of films about lovers set over the course of a single day or night, although it leans towards the feisty end of the market occupied by the likes of 2 Days In Paris rather than the more loved up Richard Linklater approach. Newlyweds Eleanor (Avigail Harari) - her red shoes a hint of fireworks to come - and Noam (Ran Danker) have just arrived at their palatial honeymoon suite on a cloud of loved-up bliss - "You're so sweet,...
Old, is perhaps too strong a word, but her latest certainly borrows from a fine tradition of films about lovers set over the course of a single day or night, although it leans towards the feisty end of the market occupied by the likes of 2 Days In Paris rather than the more loved up Richard Linklater approach. Newlyweds Eleanor (Avigail Harari) - her red shoes a hint of fireworks to come - and Noam (Ran Danker) have just arrived at their palatial honeymoon suite on a cloud of loved-up bliss - "You're so sweet,...
- 10/10/2020
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Is a wedding the happy ending of a love story, or just the beginning? And is it even possible to get really ready to the moment? These are some of the questions risen by Israeli female director Talya Lavie in her sophomore work “Honeymood” which follows the 2004 debut, the record-breaking box office hit “Zero Motivation”, a film following two utterly demotivated young women in the Israely Army, assigned to a remote military outpost. The work earned Lavie the top prize at Tribeca in 2014, as well as the Nora Ephron Prize and six Israeli Academy Awards. Of course, it also set the bar very high for her following effort.
“Honeymood” is screening at the BFI London Film Festival
The Wedding reception has just finished and newlywed Eleanor (Avigail Harari) and Noam (Ran Danker) open the doors of the Grand suite in the Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem, ready to spend there their first night as a married couple.
“Honeymood” is screening at the BFI London Film Festival
The Wedding reception has just finished and newlywed Eleanor (Avigail Harari) and Noam (Ran Danker) open the doors of the Grand suite in the Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem, ready to spend there their first night as a married couple.
- 10/8/2020
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
The interesting thing about Honeymood is that on paper it sounds like the most tiresome premise ever conceived. Another run at the ‘one crazy night’ formula with a kooky, mismatched married couple on their honeymoon. However, by leaning into the contrived narrative Israeli director Talya Lavie crafts a film far more creative than After Hours by way of The Heartbreak Kid.
Part of the reason the film works so well is the characterisation of the bride and groom (Avigail Harari and Ran Danker). Lavie clearly understands that the premise would fall apart were it not for the insecurities and foibles of its principle characters. So, the script digs deep to find the richness of character that would justify such an absurd journey. In this case a fanciful drama teacher, prone to superstition and a relentless people-pleaser of a husband.
When one of the couple’s wedding gifts turns out to...
Part of the reason the film works so well is the characterisation of the bride and groom (Avigail Harari and Ran Danker). Lavie clearly understands that the premise would fall apart were it not for the insecurities and foibles of its principle characters. So, the script digs deep to find the richness of character that would justify such an absurd journey. In this case a fanciful drama teacher, prone to superstition and a relentless people-pleaser of a husband.
When one of the couple’s wedding gifts turns out to...
- 10/7/2020
- by Liam Macleod
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The fall film festival season, one unlike any other, continues on as BFI London Film Festival have announced the full lineup for their 68th edition. Featuring both virtually and physical screenings, the festival takes place between October 7-18. The physical screenings will occur at BFI Southbank and cinemas across the UK while all virtual screenings are geo-blocked to the UK, though Festival talks and Lff Expanded are available to experience for free from anywhere in the world. The lineup features Pixar’s latest animation Soul, as well as new films by Tsai Ming-liang, Francis Lee, Chloé Zhao, Steve McQueen, Garrett Bradley, Christian Petzold, Chaitanya Tamhane, Miranda July, and more.
“This has been such a period of uncertainty and change across the industry and when we embarked on a radical new plans for our 2020 edition, we stepped into unknown territory,” said Tricia Tuttle, BFI London Film Festival Director. “But we’ve...
“This has been such a period of uncertainty and change across the industry and when we embarked on a radical new plans for our 2020 edition, we stepped into unknown territory,” said Tricia Tuttle, BFI London Film Festival Director. “But we’ve...
- 9/8/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
This year’s BFI London Film Festival, taking place as a hybrid of online and physical activities due to ongoing pandemic disruption, has unveiled a program of 58 titles.
A selection of screenings will take place at cinemas and others will take place in a virtual form for audiences across the UK. The films come from 40 countries. All screenings are geo-blocked to the UK, though festival talks will be available to experience for free around the world.
As previously announced, Steve McQueen’s Mangrove will open this year’s fest and Francis Lee’s Ammonite will close.
Titles include Pixar’s new movie Soul, which would’ve been at Cannes, Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland, which is set to premiere in Venice, Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round, which was part of this year’s Cannes Label, Miranda July’s Kajillionaire, which debuted at Sundance, Bassam Tariq’s Mogul Mowgli, which was at Berlinale,...
A selection of screenings will take place at cinemas and others will take place in a virtual form for audiences across the UK. The films come from 40 countries. All screenings are geo-blocked to the UK, though festival talks will be available to experience for free around the world.
As previously announced, Steve McQueen’s Mangrove will open this year’s fest and Francis Lee’s Ammonite will close.
Titles include Pixar’s new movie Soul, which would’ve been at Cannes, Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland, which is set to premiere in Venice, Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round, which was part of this year’s Cannes Label, Miranda July’s Kajillionaire, which debuted at Sundance, Bassam Tariq’s Mogul Mowgli, which was at Berlinale,...
- 9/8/2020
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Pixar’s ‘Soul’ and Chloe Zhao’s ‘Nomadland’ are two of four cinema-only titles.
The BFI London Film Festival has unveiled the full programme for its 2020 physical-virtual hybrid edition, with 58 features playing to audiences across the UK from October 7-18.
Pixar’s Soul and Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland starring Frances McDormand join Steve McQueen’s festival opener Mangrove and Francis Lee’s closer Ammonite as the four cinema-only titles, playing at select venues across the country.
Scroll down for the full lineup of features
A further 10 titles will play both in cinemas and via the festival’s online platform. These...
The BFI London Film Festival has unveiled the full programme for its 2020 physical-virtual hybrid edition, with 58 features playing to audiences across the UK from October 7-18.
Pixar’s Soul and Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland starring Frances McDormand join Steve McQueen’s festival opener Mangrove and Francis Lee’s closer Ammonite as the four cinema-only titles, playing at select venues across the country.
Scroll down for the full lineup of features
A further 10 titles will play both in cinemas and via the festival’s online platform. These...
- 9/8/2020
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Entering its 19th edition this year, Tribeca Film Festival has announced its feature film lineup, including a number of anticipated titles as well as festival favorites. World premiering at the festival is Chad Hartigan’s sci-fi romance Little Fish, Gerardo Naranjo’s Kokoloko, Eleanor Coppola’s Love is Love is Love, Michael Winterbottom’s sequel The Trip to Greece, Rodney Ascher’s A Glitch in the Matrix, Talya Lavie’s Honeymood, BenDavid Grabinski’s Happily, Bryan Bertino’s The Dark & The Wicked, plus documentaries on Stanley Kubrick, Dmx, Harry Belafonte, John Belushi, Brian Wilson, and more.
In terms of festival favorites, there’s Josephine Decker’s Shirley (our review), Jayro Bustamante’s La Llorona Heidi Ewing’s I Carry You With Me, Gaspar Noé’s medium-length work Lux Aeterna, the St. Vincent-Carrie Brownstein collaboration The Nowhere Inn, and more. Plus, Judd Apatow’s The King of Staten Island will...
In terms of festival favorites, there’s Josephine Decker’s Shirley (our review), Jayro Bustamante’s La Llorona Heidi Ewing’s I Carry You With Me, Gaspar Noé’s medium-length work Lux Aeterna, the St. Vincent-Carrie Brownstein collaboration The Nowhere Inn, and more. Plus, Judd Apatow’s The King of Staten Island will...
- 3/4/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
New production is in the vein of My Sweet Pepperland which premiered in Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2013.
Paris-based The Party Film Sales has boarded world sales on Iraqi-Kurdish filmmaker Hiner Saleem’s upcoming drama Goodnight, Soldier.
Set in contemporary Kurdistan, it revolves around a young couple who have overcome their families’ hatred for one another but find themselves facing another challenge when the husband is rendered impotent after being shot at the front.
The Party Film Sales has released a first image for the film [pictured] which is currently in post-production.
Saleem, who lives between France and his native Iraqi Kurdistan,...
Paris-based The Party Film Sales has boarded world sales on Iraqi-Kurdish filmmaker Hiner Saleem’s upcoming drama Goodnight, Soldier.
Set in contemporary Kurdistan, it revolves around a young couple who have overcome their families’ hatred for one another but find themselves facing another challenge when the husband is rendered impotent after being shot at the front.
The Party Film Sales has released a first image for the film [pictured] which is currently in post-production.
Saleem, who lives between France and his native Iraqi Kurdistan,...
- 2/21/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Lavie is best known for her first feature, Tribeca prize winner Zero Motivation.
On the eve of the Efm, London-based WestEnd Films has snapped up worldwide rights to Honeymood, a romantic comedy from Talya Lavie. the director of Zero Motivation.
Honeymood is a romantic comedy set over the course of one night in Jerusalem. A bride and groom arrive at a lavish hotel suite after their wedding. Instead of relaxing and enjoying a romantic night, they get into a fight that soon develops into a dazed, urban odyssey, confronting them with past loves, repressed doubts, and the lives they have left behind.
On the eve of the Efm, London-based WestEnd Films has snapped up worldwide rights to Honeymood, a romantic comedy from Talya Lavie. the director of Zero Motivation.
Honeymood is a romantic comedy set over the course of one night in Jerusalem. A bride and groom arrive at a lavish hotel suite after their wedding. Instead of relaxing and enjoying a romantic night, they get into a fight that soon develops into a dazed, urban odyssey, confronting them with past loves, repressed doubts, and the lives they have left behind.
- 2/20/2020
- by 57¦Geoffrey Macnab¦41¦
- ScreenDaily
Prizes go to Mihal Brezis and Oded Binnun’s Dead Language and Maya Dreifuss’ Highway 65.
Dead Language by husband-and-wife filmmakers Mihal Brezis and Oded Binnun clinched the new $18,000 Jerusalem Foundation Award at the 14th edition of Jerusalem Film Festival’s (Jff) Pitch Point event, established to connect Israeli filmmakers with international partners.
The story follows a 27-year-old woman who, while waiting for her husband at the airport, ends up driving a complete stranger to his hotel after he mistakes her for his assigned driver – a random, short-lived encounter that shakes up her life.
It is Brezis and Binnun’s second...
Dead Language by husband-and-wife filmmakers Mihal Brezis and Oded Binnun clinched the new $18,000 Jerusalem Foundation Award at the 14th edition of Jerusalem Film Festival’s (Jff) Pitch Point event, established to connect Israeli filmmakers with international partners.
The story follows a 27-year-old woman who, while waiting for her husband at the airport, ends up driving a complete stranger to his hotel after he mistakes her for his assigned driver – a random, short-lived encounter that shakes up her life.
It is Brezis and Binnun’s second...
- 7/30/2019
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
The Friulian actor makes his start in film production with an independent company; among the first films are Le Sorelle Macaluso, Honeymood, Here We Are and Due. Taking its first steps on the production market is Rosamont, an independent production company created by Marica Stocchi and actor Giuseppe Battiston with the goal of producing films of quality for the national and international markets. Among the first titles the company is working on is Le Sorelle Macaluso (see the news) by Emma Dante, in cinemas in 2020 and distributed by Teodora Film. Rosamont is also currently involved with Israeli company Spiro Films in the co-production of Honeymood by Talya Lavie and Here We Are by Nir Bergman. Among Rosamont’s future projects (the name is taken from a verse by Friulian poet Pierluigi Cappello and means “red sunset”) there is also Battiston’s directorial debut with Due, from the novel Bouvard and Pécuchet.
The Israeli cinema veteran is stepping down at the end of the year.
Renen Schorr has just enjoyed his last edition of the Cannes Film Festival in his role as director of the prestigious Sam Spiegel School for Cinema and Television in Jerusalem, which he has spearheaded over the past 30 years.
The Israeli cinema industry veteran announced his departure in the Israeli press on the eve of the festival and is now on a swansong tour.
“I will be stepping down from the school in five months’ time, around November, December time,” Schorr told Screen. ”Until then I am working...
Renen Schorr has just enjoyed his last edition of the Cannes Film Festival in his role as director of the prestigious Sam Spiegel School for Cinema and Television in Jerusalem, which he has spearheaded over the past 30 years.
The Israeli cinema industry veteran announced his departure in the Israeli press on the eve of the festival and is now on a swansong tour.
“I will be stepping down from the school in five months’ time, around November, December time,” Schorr told Screen. ”Until then I am working...
- 5/24/2019
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Schory said decision is his as Israeli industry battles controversial state reforms.
Katriel Schory, the respected long-time head of the Israel Film Fund (Iff), has announced he is planning to step down in early 2019.
“After 20 years of serving as the executive director of the Israel Film Fund, I notified the board of directors of my wish to step down, early next year,” Schory said in a letter, due to be mailed out to friends and contacts in the international film industry on Monday.
The industry veteran emphasised he will not be walking away from the Israeli film industry, which he...
Katriel Schory, the respected long-time head of the Israel Film Fund (Iff), has announced he is planning to step down in early 2019.
“After 20 years of serving as the executive director of the Israel Film Fund, I notified the board of directors of my wish to step down, early next year,” Schory said in a letter, due to be mailed out to friends and contacts in the international film industry on Monday.
The industry veteran emphasised he will not be walking away from the Israeli film industry, which he...
- 11/5/2018
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
The Current Love of My Life
Director: Talya Lavie
Writer: Talya Lavie
Israeli director Talya Lavie scored great success with her 2014 debut Zero Motivation, a richly characterized, darkly comedic portrait of young female soldiers on a remote desert base, picking up Best Narrative feature out of Tribeca.
Continue reading...
Director: Talya Lavie
Writer: Talya Lavie
Israeli director Talya Lavie scored great success with her 2014 debut Zero Motivation, a richly characterized, darkly comedic portrait of young female soldiers on a remote desert base, picking up Best Narrative feature out of Tribeca.
Continue reading...
- 1/3/2017
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Festival’s new $20,000 international competition prize goes to Albert Serra for The Death Of Louis Xiv; One Week And A Day wins best Israeli feature.
The 33rd Jerusalem Film Festival, which wraps on Sunday, has awarded its top prizes to The Death Of Louis Xiv by Albert Serra (best international film), One Week And A Day by Asaph Polonsky (best Israeli feature), and Dimona Twist by Michal Aviad (best Israeli documentary).
The international jury was comprised of Cornerstone Films’ Alison Thompson, Icelandic director Grímur Hákonarson, and Israeli director Talya Lavie, who praised Serra “for creating a bold and distinctive chamber piece in a beautifully detailed world. For its stunning set design and cinematography that captures its period brilliantly. For creating an intimate and moving look at the sunset of a great figure in history.”
An honourable mention went to Tobias Lindholm’s A War.
The Death Of Louis Xiv wins the $20,000 cash prize for the festival’s new international...
The 33rd Jerusalem Film Festival, which wraps on Sunday, has awarded its top prizes to The Death Of Louis Xiv by Albert Serra (best international film), One Week And A Day by Asaph Polonsky (best Israeli feature), and Dimona Twist by Michal Aviad (best Israeli documentary).
The international jury was comprised of Cornerstone Films’ Alison Thompson, Icelandic director Grímur Hákonarson, and Israeli director Talya Lavie, who praised Serra “for creating a bold and distinctive chamber piece in a beautifully detailed world. For its stunning set design and cinematography that captures its period brilliantly. For creating an intimate and moving look at the sunset of a great figure in history.”
An honourable mention went to Tobias Lindholm’s A War.
The Death Of Louis Xiv wins the $20,000 cash prize for the festival’s new international...
- 7/15/2016
- by wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
Festival’s new $20,000 international competition prize goes to Albert Serra for The Death of Louis Xiv; One Week And a Day wins best Israeli feature.
The 33rd Jerusalem Film Festival, which wraps on Sunday, has awarded its top prizes to The Death of Louis Xiv by Albert Serra (best international film), One Week And A Day by Asaph Polonsky (best Israeli feature), and Dimona Twist by Michal Aviad (best Israeli documentary).
The jury was comprised of Cornerstone Films’ Alison Thompson, Icelandic director Grímur Hákonarson, and Israeli director Talya Lavie, who praised Serra “for creating a bold and distinctive chamber piece in a beautifully detailed world. For its stunning set design and cinematography that captures its period brilliantly. For creating an intimate and moving look at the sunset of a great figure in history.”
An honourable mention went to Tobias Lindholm’s A War.
Louis Xiv wins the $20,000 cash prize for the festival’s new international competition, supported...
The 33rd Jerusalem Film Festival, which wraps on Sunday, has awarded its top prizes to The Death of Louis Xiv by Albert Serra (best international film), One Week And A Day by Asaph Polonsky (best Israeli feature), and Dimona Twist by Michal Aviad (best Israeli documentary).
The jury was comprised of Cornerstone Films’ Alison Thompson, Icelandic director Grímur Hákonarson, and Israeli director Talya Lavie, who praised Serra “for creating a bold and distinctive chamber piece in a beautifully detailed world. For its stunning set design and cinematography that captures its period brilliantly. For creating an intimate and moving look at the sunset of a great figure in history.”
An honourable mention went to Tobias Lindholm’s A War.
Louis Xiv wins the $20,000 cash prize for the festival’s new international competition, supported...
- 7/15/2016
- by wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
According to local filmmakers, the recent suppression of documentary Beyond The Fear is just one episode in a quickening erosion of artistic freedom in Israel.
As Nanni Moretti’s Mia Madre began to roll on the opening night of the Jerusalem Film Festival in the picturesque Sultan’s Pool amphitheatre in early July, another screening was kicking off just metres above the spectators’ heads.
On a terrace overlooking the event, some 50 film-makers and producers had gathered for a protest screening of Maria Kravchenko and the late Herz Frank’s Beyond The Fear.
They included The Kindergarten Teacher director Nadav Lapid; Keren Yedaya, who won Cannes’ Camera d’Or for her debut work Or; Ra’anan Alexandrowicz, whose credits include the award-winning The Law In These Parts; and Shlomi Elkabetz, co-director of the Golden Globe-nominated Gett: The Trial Of Viviane Amsalem which premiered in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in May 2014 and went on to win best film at...
As Nanni Moretti’s Mia Madre began to roll on the opening night of the Jerusalem Film Festival in the picturesque Sultan’s Pool amphitheatre in early July, another screening was kicking off just metres above the spectators’ heads.
On a terrace overlooking the event, some 50 film-makers and producers had gathered for a protest screening of Maria Kravchenko and the late Herz Frank’s Beyond The Fear.
They included The Kindergarten Teacher director Nadav Lapid; Keren Yedaya, who won Cannes’ Camera d’Or for her debut work Or; Ra’anan Alexandrowicz, whose credits include the award-winning The Law In These Parts; and Shlomi Elkabetz, co-director of the Golden Globe-nominated Gett: The Trial Of Viviane Amsalem which premiered in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in May 2014 and went on to win best film at...
- 7/24/2015
- ScreenDaily
More than half of the Independent Filmmaker Project’s (Ifp) 140 titles at the upcoming Project Forum in Septembers’ Ifp Independent Film Week hail from women.
Announcing the slate on Wednesday, Ifp executive director Joana Vicente noted the strong representation of women when she praised the organisation’s “long-standing history of supporting diverse voices.”
In recent years Ifp has played a key role in launching the first films of many of today’s most adventurous women filmmakers including Desiree Akhavan, Anna Boden, Rama Burshtein, Debra Granik, Leah Meyerhoff, Laura Poitras, Gillian Robespierre and Dee Rees.
Under the curatorial leadership of deputy director/head of programming Amy Dotson and senior director of programming Milton Tabbot, this year’s nexus for filmmakers and executives comprises Rbc’s Emerging Storytellers programme, No Borders International Co-Production Market and Spotlight On Documentaries.
Rbc’s Emerging Storytellers highlights creative visionaries and showcases narrative features and web series in development new to the independent scene.
Short...
Announcing the slate on Wednesday, Ifp executive director Joana Vicente noted the strong representation of women when she praised the organisation’s “long-standing history of supporting diverse voices.”
In recent years Ifp has played a key role in launching the first films of many of today’s most adventurous women filmmakers including Desiree Akhavan, Anna Boden, Rama Burshtein, Debra Granik, Leah Meyerhoff, Laura Poitras, Gillian Robespierre and Dee Rees.
Under the curatorial leadership of deputy director/head of programming Amy Dotson and senior director of programming Milton Tabbot, this year’s nexus for filmmakers and executives comprises Rbc’s Emerging Storytellers programme, No Borders International Co-Production Market and Spotlight On Documentaries.
Rbc’s Emerging Storytellers highlights creative visionaries and showcases narrative features and web series in development new to the independent scene.
Short...
- 7/23/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The premiere post-tiff destination (September 20-25th) in the film community and a major leg up for narrative and non-fiction films in development, the Independent Filmmaker Project (Ifp) announced a whopping 140 projects selected for the Project Forum at the upcoming Ifp Independent Film Week. Made up of several sections (Rbc’s Emerging Storytellers program, No Borders International Co-Production Market and Spotlight on Documentaries), we find latest updates from the likes of docu-helmers Doug Block (112 Weddings) and Lana Wilson (After Tiller), and among the narrative items we find headliners in Andrew Haigh (coming off the well received 45 Years), Sophie Barthes (Cold Souls and Madame Bovary), Terence Nance (An Oversimplification of Her Beauty), Lawrence Michael Levine (Wild Canaries), Jorge Michel Grau (We Are What We Are), Eleanor Burke and Ron Eyal (Stranger Things) and new faces in Sundance’s large family in Charles Poekel (Christmas, Again) and Olivia Newman (First Match). Here...
- 7/22/2015
- by admin
- IONCINEMA.com
More than half of the Independent Filmmaker Project’s (Ifp) 140 titles at the upcoming Project Forum in Septembers’ Ifp Independent Film Week hail from women.
Announcing the slate on Wednesday, Ifp executive director Joana Vicente noted the strong representation of women when she praised the organisation’s “long-standing history of supporting diverse voices.”
In recent years Ifp has played a key role in launching the first films of many of today’s most adventurous women filmmakers including Desiree Akhavan, Anna Boden, Rama Burshtein, Debra Granik, Leah Meyerhoff, Laura Poitras, Gillian Robespierre and Dee Rees.
Under the curatorial leadership of deputy director/head of programming Amy Dotson and senior director of programming Milton Tabbot, this year’s nexus for filmmakers and executives comprises Rbc’s Emerging Storytellers programme, No Borders International Co-Production Market and Spotlight On Documentaries.
Rbc’s Emerging Storytellers highlights creative visionaries and showcases narrative features and web series in development new to the independent scene.
Short...
Announcing the slate on Wednesday, Ifp executive director Joana Vicente noted the strong representation of women when she praised the organisation’s “long-standing history of supporting diverse voices.”
In recent years Ifp has played a key role in launching the first films of many of today’s most adventurous women filmmakers including Desiree Akhavan, Anna Boden, Rama Burshtein, Debra Granik, Leah Meyerhoff, Laura Poitras, Gillian Robespierre and Dee Rees.
Under the curatorial leadership of deputy director/head of programming Amy Dotson and senior director of programming Milton Tabbot, this year’s nexus for filmmakers and executives comprises Rbc’s Emerging Storytellers programme, No Borders International Co-Production Market and Spotlight On Documentaries.
Rbc’s Emerging Storytellers highlights creative visionaries and showcases narrative features and web series in development new to the independent scene.
Short...
- 7/22/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Producer Shlomi Elkabetz is onboard for director Maysaloun Hamoud’s debut feature.
Israeli film-maker and producer Shlomi Elkabetz is set to produce Maysaloun Hamoud’s feature In Between, an unprecedented portrait of young Palestinian women living life to the full in Tel Aviv.
The film will revolve around two party animal Palestinian girls hailing from villages in Northern Israel – Leila and Salma — whose liberal lifestyles in Tel Aviv are disrupted by the arrival of Noor, a devout religious Muslim girl from the of Umm al-Fahm, an Arab town situated within Israeli borders.
In the backdrop, the film will explore the reality of being a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship.
“The way Leila and Salma are living is breaking all the taboos of traditional conservative Arab society,” explained Hamoud at a presentation of the project at the Pitch Point event at the Jerusalem Film Festival on Monday.
“They choose to leave traditional village life because they want to be free...
Israeli film-maker and producer Shlomi Elkabetz is set to produce Maysaloun Hamoud’s feature In Between, an unprecedented portrait of young Palestinian women living life to the full in Tel Aviv.
The film will revolve around two party animal Palestinian girls hailing from villages in Northern Israel – Leila and Salma — whose liberal lifestyles in Tel Aviv are disrupted by the arrival of Noor, a devout religious Muslim girl from the of Umm al-Fahm, an Arab town situated within Israeli borders.
In the backdrop, the film will explore the reality of being a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship.
“The way Leila and Salma are living is breaking all the taboos of traditional conservative Arab society,” explained Hamoud at a presentation of the project at the Pitch Point event at the Jerusalem Film Festival on Monday.
“They choose to leave traditional village life because they want to be free...
- 7/14/2015
- ScreenDaily
Spiro chief Eitan Mansuri will be in Toronto with final draft of Lavie’s The Current Love Of My Life.
Talya Lavie’s second feature The Current Love Of My Life, a New York-set comedy in which secular and orthodox worlds collide, is moving towards a 2016 shoot, according to producer Eitan Mansuri of Tel Aviv’s Spiro Films.
Lavie’s debut Zero Motivation, which captured the ennui of a group of female army recruits, became the best-performing Israeli film at the local box office when it was released last year.
“It’s got the backing of the Israel Film Fund and now we’re trying to figure out whether it makes sense to go with North American partners for the financing or build a European co-production,” Mansuri said of Lavie’s new project.
He plans to attend Toronto and the project forum of the Independent Filmmaker Project in New York in September as part of the decision-making...
Talya Lavie’s second feature The Current Love Of My Life, a New York-set comedy in which secular and orthodox worlds collide, is moving towards a 2016 shoot, according to producer Eitan Mansuri of Tel Aviv’s Spiro Films.
Lavie’s debut Zero Motivation, which captured the ennui of a group of female army recruits, became the best-performing Israeli film at the local box office when it was released last year.
“It’s got the backing of the Israel Film Fund and now we’re trying to figure out whether it makes sense to go with North American partners for the financing or build a European co-production,” Mansuri said of Lavie’s new project.
He plans to attend Toronto and the project forum of the Independent Filmmaker Project in New York in September as part of the decision-making...
- 7/13/2015
- ScreenDaily
Every day, more and more films are added to the various streaming services out there, ranging from Netflix to YouTube, and are hitting the airwaves via movie-centric networks like TCM. Therefore, sifting through all of these pictures can be a tedious and often times confounding or difficult ordeal. But, that’s why we’re here. Every week, Joshua brings you five films to put at the top of your queue, add to your playlist, or grab off of VOD to make your weekend a little more eventful. Here is this week’s top five, in this week’s Armchair Vacation.
5. Ballet 422 (VOD)
There are very few things in this world quite like the birth of a new creative venture. Be it the making of a film, the writing of a new novel or the painstaking artistry that goes into the crafting of a new sculpture, watching an artist or...
5. Ballet 422 (VOD)
There are very few things in this world quite like the birth of a new creative venture. Be it the making of a film, the writing of a new novel or the painstaking artistry that goes into the crafting of a new sculpture, watching an artist or...
- 6/19/2015
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
‘Les Loups’ is the first great Quebec film of 2015
The dark unforgiving waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the mouth of the St. Lawrence river provide the backdrop to Les Loups, a beautifully crafted melodrama. Set in a small island Quebec town during the spring thaw, a stranger arrives during the height of the controversial seal hunts. Vibrant and mysterious, many suspect that Elie, the young woman from Montreal, is not who she says and is likely a reporter or an activist bent on portraying the townsfolk in a bad light… read the full article.
‘The Phantom Menace’ and the goodness of Star Wars nostalgia
A long time ago…in 1999, the pop culture zeitgeist was caught in a Star Wars maelstrom. Writer-director George Lucas and his crack creative team had gone back to the well that made space opera cinema what it is known and appreciated as today by producing...
The dark unforgiving waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the mouth of the St. Lawrence river provide the backdrop to Les Loups, a beautifully crafted melodrama. Set in a small island Quebec town during the spring thaw, a stranger arrives during the height of the controversial seal hunts. Vibrant and mysterious, many suspect that Elie, the young woman from Montreal, is not who she says and is likely a reporter or an activist bent on portraying the townsfolk in a bad light… read the full article.
‘The Phantom Menace’ and the goodness of Star Wars nostalgia
A long time ago…in 1999, the pop culture zeitgeist was caught in a Star Wars maelstrom. Writer-director George Lucas and his crack creative team had gone back to the well that made space opera cinema what it is known and appreciated as today by producing...
- 2/28/2015
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
I spoke with Zero Motivation director Talya Lavie about mixing genres and surrealism in her debut feature film
Neal Dhand: Did you always consider this a comedy? There are some rather dark moments – sexual violence and suicide – that could easily move this into darker territory. Were they always in the script?
Talya Lavie: The film is defined as a “dark comedy”, but while writing the script, I didn’t want to constrain myself in a specific genre. I put a large scale of emotions in it and the scenes you mentioned were there from the first draft of the script. I was actually interested in mixing different spirits in this film: humor, sadness, nonsense and tragedy.
Nd: Do you consider those scenes mentioned above to be unique to a female-military perspective?
Tl: Since the main characters of the film are women and I’m a female director, I...
Neal Dhand: Did you always consider this a comedy? There are some rather dark moments – sexual violence and suicide – that could easily move this into darker territory. Were they always in the script?
Talya Lavie: The film is defined as a “dark comedy”, but while writing the script, I didn’t want to constrain myself in a specific genre. I put a large scale of emotions in it and the scenes you mentioned were there from the first draft of the script. I was actually interested in mixing different spirits in this film: humor, sadness, nonsense and tragedy.
Nd: Do you consider those scenes mentioned above to be unique to a female-military perspective?
Tl: Since the main characters of the film are women and I’m a female director, I...
- 2/28/2015
- by Neal Dhand
- SoundOnSight
Israeli Film Critics Association chooses Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel as best international film.
The Israeli Film Critics Association selected its best films of 2014. Zero Motivation, written and directed by Talya Lavie, was named best film of the year. Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, distributed in Israel by Forum Film, was named best international film of 2014.
Sasson Gabai was chosen as best actor for Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem. Dana Ivgy was named best actress for her portrayal of Zohar, a disgruntled soldier in Zero Motivation.
Newcomer Talya Lavie was chosen as best director and best screenwriter of the year for her debut film Zero Motivation. A supporting actress in the film, Tamara Klingon, was named Discovery of the Year.
The critics gave their Artistic Achievement Award went to cinematographer Nadav Hekselman for his work on Funeral at Noon.
Films had to be released in Israel between January and mid-December this year...
The Israeli Film Critics Association selected its best films of 2014. Zero Motivation, written and directed by Talya Lavie, was named best film of the year. Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, distributed in Israel by Forum Film, was named best international film of 2014.
Sasson Gabai was chosen as best actor for Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem. Dana Ivgy was named best actress for her portrayal of Zohar, a disgruntled soldier in Zero Motivation.
Newcomer Talya Lavie was chosen as best director and best screenwriter of the year for her debut film Zero Motivation. A supporting actress in the film, Tamara Klingon, was named Discovery of the Year.
The critics gave their Artistic Achievement Award went to cinematographer Nadav Hekselman for his work on Funeral at Noon.
Films had to be released in Israel between January and mid-December this year...
- 12/14/2014
- by wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
"An exciting new original voice in cinema, who happens to be really funny, intelligent, and female." Yep, that's our review quoted in the new trailer for "Zero Motivation." The directorial debut of Talya Lavie (who we placed on our Breakthrough Directors of 2014 list), which plays like a mash-up of "M.A.S.H.," "The Last Detail," and "Office Space," "Zero Motivation" is a hilarious look at tedium, bureaucracy, and red tape as seen through the lens of the slow moving Israeli army. And in particular, a unit of young, female soldiers who are relegated to the doom of boredom in a human resources office. Based on Lavie's own experiences, "Zero Motivation" is extremely distinct, particular, sharp, and wryly observed. The film won the Narrative Feature and Nora Ephron prizes at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year, and Lavie's been on our radar ever since. We cannot wait to see what she cooks up.
- 12/9/2014
- by The Playlist
- The Playlist
Writer-director Talya Lavie was inspired by her own time in the Israeli Defense Force and paints a picture of day-dreaming, gender politics and high heels
If you show a staple gun in the first act it has to go off in the third. But that’s about the only dramatic principle to which the characters in Zero Motivation adhere. Normally that would be a problem, seeing as how this film is set in the army, but it’s not like we’re on the battle lines. Writer-director Talya Lavie drew from her own personal experience in the Israeli Defense Forces, setting her first feature in the dullest administrative office in a remote desert base. The elevator pitch “Girls meets M*A*S*H” may seem a tad reductive, but it’s apt. The angst is the same though the specifics, and urgency, has changed.
The Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge of Paper and Shredding,...
If you show a staple gun in the first act it has to go off in the third. But that’s about the only dramatic principle to which the characters in Zero Motivation adhere. Normally that would be a problem, seeing as how this film is set in the army, but it’s not like we’re on the battle lines. Writer-director Talya Lavie drew from her own personal experience in the Israeli Defense Forces, setting her first feature in the dullest administrative office in a remote desert base. The elevator pitch “Girls meets M*A*S*H” may seem a tad reductive, but it’s apt. The angst is the same though the specifics, and urgency, has changed.
The Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge of Paper and Shredding,...
- 12/5/2014
- by Jordan Hoffman
- The Guardian - Film News
School teams with Arp Selection for award; Cameron Bailey, Alberto Barbera among jury.
A $500,000 film fund for first-time filmmakers has been launched in Israel for graduates of Jerusalem’s Sam Spiegel Film School.
The school has teamed up with French producer and distributor Arp Selection to invest $100,000 in one feature project a year for five years. Both partners will contribute $50,000 a year, with Arp taking French distribution rights to the project.
The winning script will be selected by an international jury comprised of Cameron Bailey, artistic director of the Toronto International Film Festival, Alberto Barbera, director of the Venice Film Festival, Michèle Halberstadt of Arp Sélection, France), and Renen Schorr, founding director of the Sam Spiegel Film School, in the first year.
They will announce their decision on March 24, 2015, as part of the School’s Silver Jubilee celebrations.
“Initiating a platform like this for our alumni is an exciting and special moment for us,” said Schorr...
A $500,000 film fund for first-time filmmakers has been launched in Israel for graduates of Jerusalem’s Sam Spiegel Film School.
The school has teamed up with French producer and distributor Arp Selection to invest $100,000 in one feature project a year for five years. Both partners will contribute $50,000 a year, with Arp taking French distribution rights to the project.
The winning script will be selected by an international jury comprised of Cameron Bailey, artistic director of the Toronto International Film Festival, Alberto Barbera, director of the Venice Film Festival, Michèle Halberstadt of Arp Sélection, France), and Renen Schorr, founding director of the Sam Spiegel Film School, in the first year.
They will announce their decision on March 24, 2015, as part of the School’s Silver Jubilee celebrations.
“Initiating a platform like this for our alumni is an exciting and special moment for us,” said Schorr...
- 12/4/2014
- by tuttlouise@gmail.com (Louise Tutt)
- ScreenDaily
A “Staple” Female-centric Portrait: Lavie Adds Dark Charm to Bureaucratic Military Milieu
With a subject so entrenched with weight and political correctness, there seems to be unspoken set of expectations that come with the territory of any narrative involving the testosterone and blood-drenched subjects of military, war, and combat. These expectations shape but also restrict the genre itself: as a romantic comedy is to the female audience, so is the war film to the male one. By creating a darkly comedic template and by utilizing a fully-fledged female ensemble, Talya Lavie artfully subverts such expectations in Zero Motivation, and by doing so, redefines the boundaries of the genre and the potential of its reach without sacrificing great storytelling.
At an isolated Israeli base camp in the middle of the desert, best friends Daffi (Nelly Tagar) and Zohar (Dana Ivgy) struggle to find their footing in a place that only seems...
With a subject so entrenched with weight and political correctness, there seems to be unspoken set of expectations that come with the territory of any narrative involving the testosterone and blood-drenched subjects of military, war, and combat. These expectations shape but also restrict the genre itself: as a romantic comedy is to the female audience, so is the war film to the male one. By creating a darkly comedic template and by utilizing a fully-fledged female ensemble, Talya Lavie artfully subverts such expectations in Zero Motivation, and by doing so, redefines the boundaries of the genre and the potential of its reach without sacrificing great storytelling.
At an isolated Israeli base camp in the middle of the desert, best friends Daffi (Nelly Tagar) and Zohar (Dana Ivgy) struggle to find their footing in a place that only seems...
- 12/4/2014
- by Amanda Yam
- IONCINEMA.com
The thing about hating your job and not giving a shit is that it can happen to anyone, anytime — it might even explain the longueurs late in most two-term presidencies. In Talya Lavie's bored, biting comedy Zero Motivation, aggrieved ennui hits right in the heart of the Intifada.
Not that war ever touches the go-nowhere days depicted here. Conscripted Israeli BFFs Zohar (Dana Ivgy) and Daffi (Nelly Tagar) are over it all in ways we immediately recognize, from the movies and from life: They're young folks tasked with meaningless work by authority too clueless to catch all the jokes spitballed at it. Officer Rama (Shani Klein) browbeats her Minesweeper-playing subordinates to stop giggling and take care of their office busywork. Flustered, early on, Rama demands that the ...
Not that war ever touches the go-nowhere days depicted here. Conscripted Israeli BFFs Zohar (Dana Ivgy) and Daffi (Nelly Tagar) are over it all in ways we immediately recognize, from the movies and from life: They're young folks tasked with meaningless work by authority too clueless to catch all the jokes spitballed at it. Officer Rama (Shani Klein) browbeats her Minesweeper-playing subordinates to stop giggling and take care of their office busywork. Flustered, early on, Rama demands that the ...
- 12/3/2014
- Village Voice
This is a reprint of our review from the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival. Satirical comedies set in the military aren’t aplenty in cinema. Sure, you have “M.A.S.H” and “Stripes,” and “Dr. Strangelove” qualifies to some extent (though it’s more of black comedy about war), and “The Last Detail” (which really veers towards drama, ultimately), but classics in the genre are few and far between. Even more uncommon, perhaps never before seen, is an Israeli military movie told from a female point of view as written and directed by a female filmmaker. And so director Talya Lavie’s “Zero Motivation” is a rare breed indeed. But so what. Does it actually do something beyond that? Absolutely. Lavie’s picture is a unique, sharply observed and hilarious look at the monotony of enlistment, the ridiculousness of subordination and chain-of-command concepts, and the utter boredom of carrying out meaningless orders.
- 12/2/2014
- by Rodrigo Perez
- The Playlist
The film about a woman facing a rabbinical court to obtain a divorce from a husband won the top award at the Israeli Ophirs.
Gett, The Trial of Viviane Amsalem has picked up the top prize at the Israeli Film Academy’s Ophirs Awards, which will see it submitted for Best Foreign-Language Oscar. It also picked up a supporting actor trophy for Sasson Gabbai.
The film marks the final part of a trilogy exposing the tribulations of a woman facing a rabbinical court and trying to obtain a divorce from a husband who refuses to grant it.
The courtroom drama, written and directed by the siblings Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz, debuted in Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes and went on to win the Best Israeli Feature, Audience Award and Best Actor at the Jerusalem Film Festival. It has sold to 25 territories
Another big winner last night was Talia Lavie’s black comedy Zero Motivation, which picked...
Gett, The Trial of Viviane Amsalem has picked up the top prize at the Israeli Film Academy’s Ophirs Awards, which will see it submitted for Best Foreign-Language Oscar. It also picked up a supporting actor trophy for Sasson Gabbai.
The film marks the final part of a trilogy exposing the tribulations of a woman facing a rabbinical court and trying to obtain a divorce from a husband who refuses to grant it.
The courtroom drama, written and directed by the siblings Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz, debuted in Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes and went on to win the Best Israeli Feature, Audience Award and Best Actor at the Jerusalem Film Festival. It has sold to 25 territories
Another big winner last night was Talia Lavie’s black comedy Zero Motivation, which picked...
- 9/22/2014
- by dfainaru@netvision.net.il (Edna Fainaru)
- ScreenDaily
Talya Lavie’s Zero Motivation won the Grand Prix at this year’s Odessa International Film Festival (Oiff), overshadowed in its final days by the shooting down of a Malaysian Airways plane.
Lavie’s debut feature, handled internationally by The Match Factory, was voted by the festival-goers to receive the Golden Duke statuette and the $12,000 cash prize.
Director Lavie and actress Shani Klein were accompanied on stage by the Israel Film Fund Katriel Schory to accept the Grand Prix from the hands of the Oiff president Viktoriya Tigipko.
News of the Malaysian Airways plane tragedy broke early on Thursday evening during a reception in honour of Turkish films showing at the festival.
A minute’s silence was held in memory of the crash victims ahead of Gogol Wives’ documentary Pussy vs Putin that evening.
On Friday, another minute of silence was held at the beginning of the awards ceremony in memory of the aeroplane’s passengers as well...
Lavie’s debut feature, handled internationally by The Match Factory, was voted by the festival-goers to receive the Golden Duke statuette and the $12,000 cash prize.
Director Lavie and actress Shani Klein were accompanied on stage by the Israel Film Fund Katriel Schory to accept the Grand Prix from the hands of the Oiff president Viktoriya Tigipko.
News of the Malaysian Airways plane tragedy broke early on Thursday evening during a reception in honour of Turkish films showing at the festival.
A minute’s silence was held in memory of the crash victims ahead of Gogol Wives’ documentary Pussy vs Putin that evening.
On Friday, another minute of silence was held at the beginning of the awards ceremony in memory of the aeroplane’s passengers as well...
- 7/21/2014
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Talya Lavie’s Zero Motivation won the Grand Prix at this year’s Odessa International Film Festival (Oiff), overshadowed in its final days by the shooting down of a Malaysian Airways plane.
Lavie’s debut feature, handled internationally by The Match Factory, was voted by the festival-goers to receive the Golden Duke statuette and the $12,000 cash prize.
Director Lavie and actress Shani Klein were accompanied on stage by the Israel Film Fund Katriel Schory to accept the Grand Prix from the hands of the Oiff president Viktoriya Tigipko.
News of the Malaysian Airways plane tragedy broke early on Thursday evening during a reception in honour of Turkish films showing at the festival.
A minute’s silence was held in memory of the crash victims ahead of Gogol Wives’ documentary Pussy vs Putin that evening.
On Friday, another minute of silence was held at the beginning of the awards ceremony in memory of the aeroplane’s passengers as well...
Lavie’s debut feature, handled internationally by The Match Factory, was voted by the festival-goers to receive the Golden Duke statuette and the $12,000 cash prize.
Director Lavie and actress Shani Klein were accompanied on stage by the Israel Film Fund Katriel Schory to accept the Grand Prix from the hands of the Oiff president Viktoriya Tigipko.
News of the Malaysian Airways plane tragedy broke early on Thursday evening during a reception in honour of Turkish films showing at the festival.
A minute’s silence was held in memory of the crash victims ahead of Gogol Wives’ documentary Pussy vs Putin that evening.
On Friday, another minute of silence was held at the beginning of the awards ceremony in memory of the aeroplane’s passengers as well...
- 7/21/2014
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Zero Motivation director planning Brooklyn-set comedy.
Talya Lavie, director of local box office hit Zero Motivation, is developing a comedy about an illegal Israeli immigrant musician in New York working a Hebrew teacher with a wealthy, Brooklyn, ultra-orthodox Jewish family.
Entitled The Current Love of My Life, it is a contemporary adaptation of a story by 19th century author Sholem Aleichem, whose work also inspired Fiddler on the Roof.
Lavie unveiled the film at the final pitching session of the script development Jerusalem Film Lab on Friday.
In her contemporary re-telling, penniless Israeli musician Bini, who is living in New York illegally, is hired by a wealthy ultra-orthodox Jewish family in Brooklyn to teach their youngest son Hebrew on the eve of his marriage to a girl from an important religious family in Jerusalem.
Too lazy to study the language or reply to his future wife’s Hebrew emails, the son asks Bini to keep up the...
Talya Lavie, director of local box office hit Zero Motivation, is developing a comedy about an illegal Israeli immigrant musician in New York working a Hebrew teacher with a wealthy, Brooklyn, ultra-orthodox Jewish family.
Entitled The Current Love of My Life, it is a contemporary adaptation of a story by 19th century author Sholem Aleichem, whose work also inspired Fiddler on the Roof.
Lavie unveiled the film at the final pitching session of the script development Jerusalem Film Lab on Friday.
In her contemporary re-telling, penniless Israeli musician Bini, who is living in New York illegally, is hired by a wealthy ultra-orthodox Jewish family in Brooklyn to teach their youngest son Hebrew on the eve of his marriage to a girl from an important religious family in Jerusalem.
Too lazy to study the language or reply to his future wife’s Hebrew emails, the son asks Bini to keep up the...
- 7/14/2014
- ScreenDaily
Zero Motivation director planning Brooklyn-set comedy.
Talya Lavie, director of local box office hit Zero Motivation, is developing a comedy about an illegal Israeli immigrant musician in New York working a Hebrew teacher with a wealthy, Brooklyn, ultra-orthodox Jewish family.
Entitled The Current Love of My Life, it is a contemporary adaptation of a story by 19th century author Sholem Aleichem, whose work also inspired Fiddler on the Roof.
Lavie unveiled the film at the final pitching session of the script development Jerusalem Film Lab on Friday.
In her contemporary re-telling, penniless Israeli musician Bini, who is living in New York illegally, is hired by a wealthy ultra-orthodox Jewish family in Brooklyn to teach their youngest son Hebrew on the eve of his marriage to a girl from an important religious family in Jerusalem.
Too lazy to study the language or reply to his future wife’s Hebrew emails, the son asks Bini to keep up the...
Talya Lavie, director of local box office hit Zero Motivation, is developing a comedy about an illegal Israeli immigrant musician in New York working a Hebrew teacher with a wealthy, Brooklyn, ultra-orthodox Jewish family.
Entitled The Current Love of My Life, it is a contemporary adaptation of a story by 19th century author Sholem Aleichem, whose work also inspired Fiddler on the Roof.
Lavie unveiled the film at the final pitching session of the script development Jerusalem Film Lab on Friday.
In her contemporary re-telling, penniless Israeli musician Bini, who is living in New York illegally, is hired by a wealthy ultra-orthodox Jewish family in Brooklyn to teach their youngest son Hebrew on the eve of his marriage to a girl from an important religious family in Jerusalem.
Too lazy to study the language or reply to his future wife’s Hebrew emails, the son asks Bini to keep up the...
- 7/14/2014
- ScreenDaily
Other winners include Ivan Marinovic, Amikam Kovner and Assaf Snir.
Ethiopian-born, Israeli filmmaker Alamork Marsha’s Fig Tree, based on her experiences as a child in war-torn Addis Ababa in 1991, has won the $50,000 top prize at the pitching event of Sam Spiegel school’s Jerusalem International Film Lab.
It was an apt choice as fighting escalated between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, some 70 kilometres down the road, where more than 160 inhabitants have died in Israeli air strikes over the past six days, launched in response to a barrage of rocket attacks on Israel. (In fact air sirens were heard in Jerusalem just 15 minutes before the awards were announced.)
In her pitch, Marsha revealed how Fig Tree was inspired by her childhood, living with her grandmother on the outskirts of the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa during the civil war and her Jewish family’s decision to move to Israel. She said one...
Ethiopian-born, Israeli filmmaker Alamork Marsha’s Fig Tree, based on her experiences as a child in war-torn Addis Ababa in 1991, has won the $50,000 top prize at the pitching event of Sam Spiegel school’s Jerusalem International Film Lab.
It was an apt choice as fighting escalated between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, some 70 kilometres down the road, where more than 160 inhabitants have died in Israeli air strikes over the past six days, launched in response to a barrage of rocket attacks on Israel. (In fact air sirens were heard in Jerusalem just 15 minutes before the awards were announced.)
In her pitch, Marsha revealed how Fig Tree was inspired by her childhood, living with her grandmother on the outskirts of the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa during the civil war and her Jewish family’s decision to move to Israel. She said one...
- 7/13/2014
- ScreenDaily
The festival is laying on a packed programme of film industry events this year, headlined by the Jerusalem Pitch Point meeting.
The meeting revolves around a central pitching event on July 14, open to both industry professionals, film students and the public, aimed at connecting Israeli filmmakers with international partners on their upcoming projects.
Participants this year include celebrated experimental director Nina Menkes, established filmmakers Nir Bergman and Dina Zvi Riklis and up and coming director Eitan Gafny, whose Lebanon-set zombie picture debut Cannon Fodder has sold well internationally.
For the first time, the event will also screen a selection of Israeli works-in-progress to selected industry professionals, including Madame Yankelova’s Fine Literature Club, the feature debut of Guilhad Emilio Schenker, whose 2010 short Lavan screened in more than 70 festivals and won numerous prizes.
The projects will compete for a trio of prizes meted out by France’s National Cinema Centre, Franco-German broadcaster...
The meeting revolves around a central pitching event on July 14, open to both industry professionals, film students and the public, aimed at connecting Israeli filmmakers with international partners on their upcoming projects.
Participants this year include celebrated experimental director Nina Menkes, established filmmakers Nir Bergman and Dina Zvi Riklis and up and coming director Eitan Gafny, whose Lebanon-set zombie picture debut Cannon Fodder has sold well internationally.
For the first time, the event will also screen a selection of Israeli works-in-progress to selected industry professionals, including Madame Yankelova’s Fine Literature Club, the feature debut of Guilhad Emilio Schenker, whose 2010 short Lavan screened in more than 70 festivals and won numerous prizes.
The projects will compete for a trio of prizes meted out by France’s National Cinema Centre, Franco-German broadcaster...
- 7/10/2014
- ScreenDaily
Ritesh Batra, Talya Lavie, Nora Martirosyan among entrants.
Graduates of the Jerusalem International Film Lab 3rd edition will compete for $80,000 in production prizes at a pitching event at the Jerusalem International Film Festival.
Aspiring directors and producers will present 13 full-length film projects to a panel of jurists and industry.
Competing filmmakers include Talya Lavie (Israel), whose her first feature Zero Motivation won the two awards at the Tribeca Film Festival, Ritesh Batra (India), whose his first feature The Lunchbox premiered last year in Cannes Critics’ Week; Nora Martirosyan (Armenia), who won the Arte International Prize in Cannes’ Atelier (2014), and Ása Hjörleifsdóttir (Iceland), who received the Vff Talent Highlight Pitch Awards at the 2014 Berlinale.
The jury, headed by Michele Halberstadt of Arp, comprises Manfred Schmidt (executive director of the Mdm, Germany), Katriel Schory (executive director of the Israel Film Fund), Charles Tesson (artistic director of the Cannes Critics’ Week), Rémi Burah (Deputy CEO of Arte France Cinéma), [link...
Graduates of the Jerusalem International Film Lab 3rd edition will compete for $80,000 in production prizes at a pitching event at the Jerusalem International Film Festival.
Aspiring directors and producers will present 13 full-length film projects to a panel of jurists and industry.
Competing filmmakers include Talya Lavie (Israel), whose her first feature Zero Motivation won the two awards at the Tribeca Film Festival, Ritesh Batra (India), whose his first feature The Lunchbox premiered last year in Cannes Critics’ Week; Nora Martirosyan (Armenia), who won the Arte International Prize in Cannes’ Atelier (2014), and Ása Hjörleifsdóttir (Iceland), who received the Vff Talent Highlight Pitch Awards at the 2014 Berlinale.
The jury, headed by Michele Halberstadt of Arp, comprises Manfred Schmidt (executive director of the Mdm, Germany), Katriel Schory (executive director of the Israel Film Fund), Charles Tesson (artistic director of the Cannes Critics’ Week), Rémi Burah (Deputy CEO of Arte France Cinéma), [link...
- 6/30/2014
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Peter Webber to head jury, David Puttnam to deliver lecture during fifth edition of the Ukranian festival.
Golden Bear winner Black Coal, Thin Ice and the Camera D’Or recipient Party Girl [pictured] are among the 12 films selected for the International Competition at the fifth edition of the Odessa International Film Festival (Oiff), which runs July 11-19.
UK director Peter Webber will head the jury composed of Ukrainian film-maker Sergei Loznitsa, Israeli actress Jenya Dodina, Belorussian actress-director Olga Dykhovichnaya and French actor-critic Jean-Philippe Tessé.
The other films in the running for the Golden Duke award are:
Bryan Reisberg’s social and psychological drama Big Significant Things (Us)Levan Koguashvili’s feelgood film Blind Dates (Georgia)Director and painter Lech Majewski’s Field of Dogs (Poland)Alonso Ruizpalacios’ road movie debut Güeros (Mexico)Valentin Hotea’s social and psychological drama Roxanne (Romania)Anna Melikyan’s Kinotavr award-winner Star (Russia)Maximilan Erlenwein’s psychological thriller Stereo (Germany)Tribeca winner [link=nm...
Golden Bear winner Black Coal, Thin Ice and the Camera D’Or recipient Party Girl [pictured] are among the 12 films selected for the International Competition at the fifth edition of the Odessa International Film Festival (Oiff), which runs July 11-19.
UK director Peter Webber will head the jury composed of Ukrainian film-maker Sergei Loznitsa, Israeli actress Jenya Dodina, Belorussian actress-director Olga Dykhovichnaya and French actor-critic Jean-Philippe Tessé.
The other films in the running for the Golden Duke award are:
Bryan Reisberg’s social and psychological drama Big Significant Things (Us)Levan Koguashvili’s feelgood film Blind Dates (Georgia)Director and painter Lech Majewski’s Field of Dogs (Poland)Alonso Ruizpalacios’ road movie debut Güeros (Mexico)Valentin Hotea’s social and psychological drama Roxanne (Romania)Anna Melikyan’s Kinotavr award-winner Star (Russia)Maximilan Erlenwein’s psychological thriller Stereo (Germany)Tribeca winner [link=nm...
- 6/11/2014
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Zeitgeist Films picks up Tribeca winner.
The Match Factory has confirmed a Us deal for Talya Lavie’s first feature Zero Motivation with Zeitgeist Films.
The sale follows on from the film’s strong reception at Tribeca, where the film won the Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature and the Nora Ephron Prize.
“We are thrilled to be working with The Match Factory again as we admire their taste in the films they produce and represent” stated co-president Nancy Gerstman of Zeitgeist Films. “We fell in love with Zero Motivation as did the audiences we watched it with at Tribeca.”
Other recent sales of Zero Motivation include FilmsWeLike for Canada and Jiff Distribution for Australia.
The film will be released in Israel in June by Shani Films.
“I am delighted to cooperate again with Nancy and Emily, they are totally motivated to turn the film into a success, as they did with Hannah Arendt,” said [link=nm...
The Match Factory has confirmed a Us deal for Talya Lavie’s first feature Zero Motivation with Zeitgeist Films.
The sale follows on from the film’s strong reception at Tribeca, where the film won the Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature and the Nora Ephron Prize.
“We are thrilled to be working with The Match Factory again as we admire their taste in the films they produce and represent” stated co-president Nancy Gerstman of Zeitgeist Films. “We fell in love with Zero Motivation as did the audiences we watched it with at Tribeca.”
Other recent sales of Zero Motivation include FilmsWeLike for Canada and Jiff Distribution for Australia.
The film will be released in Israel in June by Shani Films.
“I am delighted to cooperate again with Nancy and Emily, they are totally motivated to turn the film into a success, as they did with Hannah Arendt,” said [link=nm...
- 5/15/2014
- by geoffrey@macnab.demon.co.uk (Geoffrey Macnab)
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Leading art house sales outfit The Match Factory has revealed details of its packed Cannes slate.
Among the titles the Cologne-based company is presenting on the Croisette are three films in Official Selection.
Alice Rohrwacher ́s second feature, Le Meraviglie is screening in Competition.The film’s cast includes Monica Bellucci.
Rohrwacher, whose Corpo Celeste screened in the Directors’ Fortnight in 2011, worked on the new feature with her regular producer, Carlo Cresto-Dina (Tempesta) in co-production with Switzerland (Amka Films Productions) and Germany (Pola Pandora).
The Match Factory is also handling Snow in Paradise, the first feature film by renowned UK editor, Andrew Hulme. The film is screening in Un Certain Regard.
The film is based on the true story of Martin Askew who grew up in a crime-riddled east end of London in a culture of violence.
The sales outfit is also representing Cannes regular Kornél Mundruczó’s White God, which will play...
Among the titles the Cologne-based company is presenting on the Croisette are three films in Official Selection.
Alice Rohrwacher ́s second feature, Le Meraviglie is screening in Competition.The film’s cast includes Monica Bellucci.
Rohrwacher, whose Corpo Celeste screened in the Directors’ Fortnight in 2011, worked on the new feature with her regular producer, Carlo Cresto-Dina (Tempesta) in co-production with Switzerland (Amka Films Productions) and Germany (Pola Pandora).
The Match Factory is also handling Snow in Paradise, the first feature film by renowned UK editor, Andrew Hulme. The film is screening in Un Certain Regard.
The film is based on the true story of Martin Askew who grew up in a crime-riddled east end of London in a culture of violence.
The sales outfit is also representing Cannes regular Kornél Mundruczó’s White God, which will play...
- 5/8/2014
- by geoffrey@macnab.demon.co.uk (Geoffrey Macnab)
- ScreenDaily
Festival awards can be curious things sometimes. There are films that receive various prizes at major festivals, yet have trouble connecting with broader audiences. Others still have difficulty garnering critical support even after recognition from a particular jury. Time will tell if Talya Lavie's "Zero Motivation" resonates beyond the screening radius of the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival, but in the meantime, it's a favorite in a number of areas. We asked members of Indiewire's Criticwire Network covering this year's festivities in Tribeca to send us their favorite films and performances from this year's program. Among the narrative features, "Zero Motivation" (which took home the World Narrative prize at last week's festival awards) placed highest on their overall combined lists. The darkly comic Israeli soldier tale appeared on the most ballots, narrowly edging out a group of other international Tribeca premieres. "Glass Chin," Noah Buschel's drama about life after boxing glory,...
- 4/29/2014
- by Steve Greene
- Indiewire
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