John Madden, director of Shakespeare in Love, will be the guest of the Haifa International Film Festival for the Israeli premiere of his new film The Debt, starring Helen Mirren. The spy thriller is a re-make of the 2007 Israeli film The Debt, directed by Assaf Bernstein, with screenplay by Assaf Bernstein and Ido Rosenblum. The film was produced by Eitan Even, recently elected President of the Israeli Academy of Film and Television, who is co-producer of Madden’s 2011 film.
The action moves between past and present, looking into the dark secrets of three Mossad agents. Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson and Ciarán Hinds portray the now-retired agents in the present, while Jessica Chastain, Marton Csokas and Sam Worthington represent the trio in their glory days. The film is screened courtesy of Globus Group, UIP distributors in Israel.
A stellar array of 60 guests – actors, producers, distributors, and other film industry members will come to Haifa for this year’s festival, which will have quite the international flair.
Madden arrives as part of a British delegation to launch a co-production agreement between Israel and the UK. Gareth Unwin, producer of The King’s Speech, another member of this delegation, will chair the jury for the Israeli Feature Film Competition and will participate in the 8th Internatioal Marketing Forum. An initiative of the British Council and in cooperation with the Marketing Forum, the British Embassy in Israel, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture and Sport and the Israel Film Fund to extend the Haifa International Film Festival’s involvement in the International Marketing Forum and promote Israeli films abroad, the delegation includes: Joe Oppenheimer, Executive Producer at BBC Films; David Thompson, an independent producer, former Head of BBC Films; Isabel Davis, Senior Production Executive at the British Film Institute; and Michael Kuhn, Executive Producer of Being John Malkovich (1999).
Special events at the festival will include the 8th edition of the Pitching Forum “Our Story.” 14 Israeli projects will be presented to an international panel: Gabi Rothmeier, Director of the MFG Fund Germany, heading a delegation of 8 feature and documentary film producers at the festival; Guy Daleiden, Director of The Film Fund Luxembourg, heading a delegation of senior producers; Jacqueline Ada, of the CNC Fund in France and independent producers. The Haifa Israeli Cinemarket will take place for the second time this year. A complementary program to “Our Story,” seven new Israeli films in progress will be presented to a panel of international distributors. The Geyer Award – a 25,000 Euro post production grant will be awarded to a work in progress by CinePostProduction, Berlin.
Several prominent directors and producers will arrive for the screening of their films at the festival:
Russian director Sergei Bodrov (Prisoner of the Mountains 1996, Mongol 2007) will be present at the screening of his film A Yakuza’s Daughter Never Cries (2010).
The French actor André Wilms (Monsieur Hire 1989, Europa Europa 1990) will be present for the screening of the film Le Havre, directed by Aki Kaurismaki, which participated in the official competition at Cannes 2011, and won the Fipresci Award.
Italian director Christina Comencini and her husband, producer Riccardo Tucci (Catlleya) will be present for the screening of their film Quando la Notte, based on her story, which participated in the official competition at the Venice Film Festival.
Tucci is also the producer of Terraferma, directed by Emmanuela Crialise, which won the Jury Prize at this year’s Venice Film Festival, and will be present at the screening.
Irish director John Michael McDonagh will present his film The Guard starring Brenden Gleeson, which co-opened the Sundance festival and received a special mention at the Berlinale.
The film The Loneliest Planet arrives after screenings at Locarno, Toronto and New York. Starring Israeli actress Hanni Furstenberg and Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal, the film’s director Julia Loktev (Day Night Day Night 2006 won prizes at Cannes and Chicago) will attend the festival to present her film.
Jes Benstock documentary filmmaker (Reel London 2006, The Holocaust Tourist 2005, Poof 1999) will present his film The British Guide to Showing Off, featuring Brian Eno, Andrew Logan and Richard O’Brien. The film premiered at the 2011 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
Director Aktan Arym Kubat will present his new film Mother’s Paradise, screenplay written by Mohsen Makhmalbaf.
Daniel Mulloy will arrive for a retrospective of his films and present his new film Baby (US premiere at Sundance 2011) starring Arta Dobroshi who will also attend the festival. Mulloy’s films will be screened in the context of the British Shorts three year project, a collaboration of the Haifa festival with the British Council and Gesher Multicultural Film Fund to foster a creative exchange of ideas and promote short films.
