Jerusalem International Film Lab Opens its First Session

The Sam Spiegel Film School, Jerusalem has launched the Jerusalem International Film Lab. 12 promising Israeli and international filmmakers will arrive in Jerusalem this week to begin the first session at Mishkenot Shaananim on December 2, 2011.

The Jerusalem Film Lab will accompany 12 directors in creating their first or second feature-length film. Mentored by world-class script editors, they will work individually and in groups for two periods of writing and discussion in Jerusalem. In the third stage of the lab, 8 scripts deemed to be most fit for production will be chosen for presentation at the Jerusalem Film Festival.

Interested in applying for next year? Complete details can be found on the Jerusalem International Film Lab website.

Initiated by Renen Schorr, Director of the Sam Spiegel School, the lab is modeled after similar programs for encouraging and developing emerging talents, such as the Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab, the Torino Film Festival and the Binger Institute in Amsterdam. Schorr established the lab with Avishay Kahana, a recent graduate of the school, and Ifat Tubi will be Schorr’s associate in managing the lab.

The Israeli selection committee chaired by script editor Hagai Levi, with screenwriter Ronit Weiss-Berkowitz has chosen: Chaim Albom (Maale Film School), Tzvia Barkai (Sam Spiegel), Michal Vinik (Tel Aviv University), Nadav Lapid (Sam Spiegel), Assaf Polonsky (American Film Institute, LA) and Shimon Shai (Sam Spiegel).

The International selection committee chaired by producer and screen editor Yoram Mandel with screenwriter, author and playwright, Guy Meirson has chosen: Alvaro Brechner (Uruguay – his first film was screened at Cannes Critics Week), Ernesto Contraras (Mexico – his first film was screened at Cannes), Buran Kurbani (Germany – his frst film was screened at the Berlin Film Festival), Malik Vitthal (USA – winner of a 2011 Sundance grant), Dominga Sotomayor (Chile – in the final stages of editing her first film), and Phillip Lecote (Ivory Coast/France).

The Lab is a joint project of the Sam Spiegel Film School, Jerusalem with the Ministry of Culture and Sport Film Council, the Jerusalem Film and Television Fund, and the Israel State Lottery, and with the support of the Jerusalem Fund, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Sam Spiegel estate, Mishkenot Shaananim, the Kronhill Pletka Foundation, the Israel Film Fund, the Russell Berrie Foundation, the French Institute in Tel Aviv, the American Center in Jerusalem, the BI-ARTS program of the British Council and the Goethe Institute Jerusalem.