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Israeli Film Festival
Third annual Israeli Film Festival
$8.00 per film or all four films $28 M
$10 per film or all four films $36 NM
Tickets available for purchase at the door.
Violins in Wartime
Thursday, January 24th at 7pm
Documentary, 50 minutes
Written and directed by: Yael Katzir Y
Languages: Hebrew Subtitles: English
Second Lebanon-war (summer 2006) invades the life of violin maker Amnon Weinstein. His co-worker son is immediately drafted. The annual violin master course he founded is about to begin, and world class soloists are due to arrive to teach young violinists from around the world. As sirens wail and cities become the front, the film captures intimate moments of struggle with fear and trauma reflecting on the violin’s unique narrative in Jewish tradition, and the way music keeps us sane.
Screening will be followed by a Klezm’Or’Ami’m for a short program of klezmer music featuring violins. Coffee & dessert to follow screening.
Sima Vaknin Witch
Saturday, January 26th at 7:30pm
Comedy 94 minutes
Director: Dror Shaul
Producers: Micki Rabinovich, Dudi Zilber, Danny Ben Menahem, Moshe Edery
Language: Hebrew with English subtitles
Sima is an older women who discovers she has supernatural powers after a curse that she puts on her neighbor comes true. She becomes famous overnight as a psychic and is driven by her greedy and in debt son in law to make as much money as she can with her new powers. Her psychic popularity grows and she is talked into backing some corrupt Russian politicians who buy her support. As she enters politics everything seems to fall apart and she is overwhelmed with conflict. Sima is about to learn many lessons until she finds love and peace. A broad comedic farce with slapstick humor.
The Flat
Sunday January 27th at 10am
Followed by a discussion with Simon Sibelman Documentary, 97 minutes
Director: Arnon Goldfinger
Producers: Arnon Goldfinger, Thomas Kufus
Language: Hebrew. German with English subtitles
The flat on the third floor of a Bauhaus building in Tel Aviv was where director, Arnon Goldfingers’ grandparents lived since they immigrated to Palestine in the 1930′s. Were it not for the view from the windows, one might have thought that the flat was in Berlin. When his grandmother passed away at the age of 98 family members were called to the flat to clear out what was left. Objects, pictures, letters and documents awaited them, revealing traces of a troubled and unknown past.The Flat has been garnering buzz ever since it premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in New York. In addition to winning the award for Best Editing in a Documentary Feature at the prestigious festival, the film has been getting overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics.
Mabul (The Flood)
Sunday January 27th at 1:30pm
Drama, 100 minutes
Directed by: Guy Nattiv
Excusive producers:
Elie Meirovitz Eric Heumann Antoine de ClermontTonnerre
Language: Hebrew with English subtitles
Adult content and language
Everything is complicated in Yoni’s life. He’s almost 13, real gifted, but physically undeveloped and struggles daily to grow up before his threatening up-coming Bar Mitzva. He sells homework in order to secretly buy a body building wonder powder. His new classmates, a year older and two heads taller, bully him at every chance they get and his parents barely say a word to each other and communicate through him, if at all. As if all this isn’t enough – only a week before the ceremony – his autistic brother, Tomer, 17, hidden for years in a hostel that is now shut down – returns home. This shakes not only Yoni’s life, but the unstable foundation of the entire family. During his fast journey into adulthood, Yoni finds out painful truths about his dysfunctional parents. The film is the winner of the best film and best cinematography categories at the Haifa International Film Festival in September 2010, and six Israeli Academy Award nominations.