There is hardly a more exploited concept in literature and cinema as it is a love triangle, and there are few filmmakers that could pull it in a new and fresh way. The Israeli filmmaker Ofir Raul Graizer has a difficult task to stir the water in his unique way with his sophomore feature “America” that has premiered in the official Crystal Globe competition at Karlovy Vary. Some sort of a festival tour might be expected judging by the tone of film, its execution and Graizer’s own reputation: his debut “The Cakemaker” (2017) that also premiered at Kviff went to become the Israeli official entry for 2018 Oscar and a minor arthouse hit.
The title, which later proves to be quite misleading, comes to the place where our protagonist Ilay Cross (Michael Moshonov) resides and works as a swimming coach. One day, he receives a phone call from his father’s...
The title, which later proves to be quite misleading, comes to the place where our protagonist Ilay Cross (Michael Moshonov) resides and works as a swimming coach. One day, he receives a phone call from his father’s...
- 7/9/2022
- by Marko Stojiljković
- AsianMoviePulse
For director Ofir Raul Graizer, everything changed in Karlovy Vary. In 2017, the Israeli filmmaker brought his feature debut “The Cakemaker” to the Czech film festival, entering the spa town an unknown and leaving a rising star.
If the route that carried Graizer to his Karlovy Vary world premiere was dotted with eight years of false starts and rejection letters from international film funds, after the romantic drama received an historic 12-minute ovation – so ardent that people still talk about it until this day – Graizer’s path forward was set. Not only would “The Cakemaker” sweep Israel’s Ophir Awards (thus becoming that country’s Oscar submission), the film’s galvanizing reception opened new doors into the European industry.
And so, when Graizer’s more ambitious follow-up “America” made its world premiere at this year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, the project did so as the first Israeli-German-Czech co-production, carried...
If the route that carried Graizer to his Karlovy Vary world premiere was dotted with eight years of false starts and rejection letters from international film funds, after the romantic drama received an historic 12-minute ovation – so ardent that people still talk about it until this day – Graizer’s path forward was set. Not only would “The Cakemaker” sweep Israel’s Ophir Awards (thus becoming that country’s Oscar submission), the film’s galvanizing reception opened new doors into the European industry.
And so, when Graizer’s more ambitious follow-up “America” made its world premiere at this year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, the project did so as the first Israeli-German-Czech co-production, carried...
- 7/9/2022
- by Ben Croll
- The Wrap
“America” is a burdensome title for Israeli director Ofir Raul Graizer’s bright, frangible new film, casting expectations of continent-sized import onto a more individual, interior study of immigrant unrest. Visually iridescent and unexpectedly buoyant even when dealing with matters of plunging personal tragedy, this study of a Chicago-based swimming coach returning to his native Israel after his father’s death — setting off a chain of both present-tense misfortunes and disinterred traumas — braids blunt melodramatic storytelling with a softer, more searching look at conflicted identity, both cultural and sexual. If the film isn’t always narratively credible, it’s sincerely felt to the last.
“America” shares this appealing quality — as well as a few parallel plot points, and a quiet, diffident queerness — with Graizer’s 2017 debut “The Cakemaker,” and should resonate warmly with the same audience that made that film (selected as Israel’s international Oscar submission) an arthouse sleeper.
“America” shares this appealing quality — as well as a few parallel plot points, and a quiet, diffident queerness — with Graizer’s 2017 debut “The Cakemaker,” and should resonate warmly with the same audience that made that film (selected as Israel’s international Oscar submission) an arthouse sleeper.
- 7/6/2022
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
The Israeli filmmaker’s follow up to The Cakemaker plays in competition this week Karlovy Vary.
As with his debut feature The Cakemaker, Israeli director Ofir Raul Graizer latest film America unspools this week in competition at the Karlovy Vary International FIlm Festival.
The film follows Eli, played by Michael Moshonov, who is forced to return to his native Israel after his father’s death. After contacting old friend Yotam (Ofri Biterman) – as well as meeting his fiancée Iris (Oshrat Ingedashet) – an incident will soon occur that will create a seismic shift in the lives of each of them.
The...
As with his debut feature The Cakemaker, Israeli director Ofir Raul Graizer latest film America unspools this week in competition at the Karlovy Vary International FIlm Festival.
The film follows Eli, played by Michael Moshonov, who is forced to return to his native Israel after his father’s death. After contacting old friend Yotam (Ofri Biterman) – as well as meeting his fiancée Iris (Oshrat Ingedashet) – an incident will soon occur that will create a seismic shift in the lives of each of them.
The...
- 7/5/2022
- by Laurence Boyce
- ScreenDaily
How a chance life event can spiral to affect all those involved and have repercussions going down the years forms the pulsating core of Ofir Raul Graizier’s ambitious essay about guilt, sacrifice, redemption and the bonds of friendship.
Such heady themes are set across a tight time frame and locations spanning Israel and Chicago.
The axis revolves around two childhood friends: Eli (Michael Moshonov) and Yotam (Ofri Biterman). The former has left Israel to become a swimming coach in the States when he is told that his abusive father has died. He hasn’t seen him in ten years and is called back by the lawyers to deal with the estate.
He travels reluctantly but looks forward to meeting up with Yotam, the friend from schooldays with whom he used to go swimming, and who is now about to be married to Iris (Oshrat Ingedashet), also estranged from her parents.
Such heady themes are set across a tight time frame and locations spanning Israel and Chicago.
The axis revolves around two childhood friends: Eli (Michael Moshonov) and Yotam (Ofri Biterman). The former has left Israel to become a swimming coach in the States when he is told that his abusive father has died. He hasn’t seen him in ten years and is called back by the lawyers to deal with the estate.
He travels reluctantly but looks forward to meeting up with Yotam, the friend from schooldays with whom he used to go swimming, and who is now about to be married to Iris (Oshrat Ingedashet), also estranged from her parents.
- 7/4/2022
- by Richard Mowe
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Following the success of Ofir Raul Graizer’s debut feature “The Cakemaker,” acquired by Netflix in the U.S. and already optioned for a Hollywood remake, securing financing for his second film “America” was much easier. But then the pandemic came. “This made things extremely complicated,” he tells Variety.
“We shot in 2020. There were still no vaccines, so we were basically making a film when there was a sense that the world was coming to an end. This was the feeling we had: a constant anxiety attack.”
Now, “America” – a Laila Films production – will compete for the Crystal Globe award at Karlovy Vary Film Festival. With Beta Cinema handling world sales, it was produced by Itai Tamir. Michael Moshonov, Oshrat Ingedashet and Ofri Biterman star.
In “The Cakemaker,” a German baker travels to Jerusalem in search of his dead male lover’s family. This time, Eli – an Israeli swimming coach living in the U.
“We shot in 2020. There were still no vaccines, so we were basically making a film when there was a sense that the world was coming to an end. This was the feeling we had: a constant anxiety attack.”
Now, “America” – a Laila Films production – will compete for the Crystal Globe award at Karlovy Vary Film Festival. With Beta Cinema handling world sales, it was produced by Itai Tamir. Michael Moshonov, Oshrat Ingedashet and Ofri Biterman star.
In “The Cakemaker,” a German baker travels to Jerusalem in search of his dead male lover’s family. This time, Eli – an Israeli swimming coach living in the U.
- 7/4/2022
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
The trailer has debuted for “America,” a drama directed by Ofir Raul Graizer (“The Cakemaker”), which will world premiere at Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival in the Crystal Globe Competition. Beta Cinema is handling world sales.
The film centers on Eli, an Israeli swimming coach living in the U.S. A phone call notifies him that his father, who he has not been in touch with, has died. Eli reluctantly travels to Tel Aviv for the first time in 10 years to deal with the estate. On his short trip, he decides to visit his childhood friend Yotam, who used to swim with Eli when they were young. However, Yotam has left swimming long ago. He is running a flower shop in Jaffa with his fiancée Iris, who, like Eli, is not in touch with her family. When Eli comes to visit the two, he will set in motion a series...
The film centers on Eli, an Israeli swimming coach living in the U.S. A phone call notifies him that his father, who he has not been in touch with, has died. Eli reluctantly travels to Tel Aviv for the first time in 10 years to deal with the estate. On his short trip, he decides to visit his childhood friend Yotam, who used to swim with Eli when they were young. However, Yotam has left swimming long ago. He is running a flower shop in Jaffa with his fiancée Iris, who, like Eli, is not in touch with her family. When Eli comes to visit the two, he will set in motion a series...
- 6/27/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
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