The 2012 Jerusalem Film Festival comes to a close tonight, after ten days of films in the unique atmosphere of Jerusalem. This year’s festival was so much fun – thanks to all the wonderful people who work to make it happen, from planning to production. New Executive Director Alesia Weston, brimming with energy and enthusiasm, imbued the festival with the joy of new beginnings.
New beginnings were the motif of the awards ceremony as well, with several awards going to filmmakers directing their first full-length feature – Ami Livne, Meni Yaesh, Dana Goldberg and Antonio Mendez Esparza.
The Haggiag Award for Best Full-Length Feature Film was awarded to the film Sharqiya, director Ami Livne’s first full-length feature. Livne shares the prize with the film’s producers Eyal Shiray, Elie Meirovitz , and Itai Tamir. Jury statement: With gentleness and restrain Livne depicts the world of a Bedouin family whose home is assigned for demolition. Through their confrontation with the authorities, and with little dialogue, the audience becomes familiar with this small family unit with its varied tensions.
Honorable Mention goes to Dana Goldberg for her film Alice.
The Pirchi Family Award in Memory of Anat Pirchi for Best First or Second Israeli feature was awarded to director Meni Yaesh, for the film God’s Neighbors. Jury statement: A dynamic and fascinating look at a population trapped by religion and violence in this impressive debut film by Meni Yaesh.
The Gottlieb Award for Best Screenplay in a Full-Length Feature was awarded to scriptwriter Dana Goldberg for the film Alice. Jury statement: For the complex script that deals with the desperate need for love and the inability to receive it. Dana Goldberg created several in-depth characters, led by Alice, wife and mother, whose loneliness is dreadful.
The Haggiag Family Award for Best Actress was awarded to both Rivka Gur for her role in Epilogue and Ilanit Ben Yaakov for her role in Alice.
The Haggiag Family Award for Best Actor was awarded to Yosef Carmon for his role in Epilogue.
Special Mention goes to Roy Assaf for his role in God’s Neighbors.
The Haggiag Family Award for Editing was awarded to Zohar Sela, for editing work on the film Sharqiya.
The Haggiag Family Award for Music was awarded to Mark Eliyahu for his work on the film The Ballad of the Weeping Spring.
The Van Leer Group Foundation Award for Cinematography in a FullLength Film was awarded to Boaz Yehonathan Ya’acov for his work on the film Sharqiya.
Members of the Jury: Yael Abecassis , Film and Television actress and the producer of Aya screened in the Festival; Kate Ogborn , Prominent British producer, the producer of The Deep Blue Sea screened at the Festival; Michael Gurevitch , Artistic director of the Khan Theater; Justin Chang , Senior film critic at Variety; Eilon Ratzkovsky , Renowned Israeli producer at July-August Productions.
The Van Leer Group Foundation Award for Best Documentary Film was awarded to directors Emad Burnat & Guy Davidi, and producers Christine Camedessous, Serge Gordey, Emad Burnat, Guy Davidi for the film Five Broken Cameras. Jury statement: A rare collaboration between two filmmakers who found one voice and delivered it with passion and force.
The Best Director of a Documentary Film Award was awarded to Ran Tal, for the film The Garden of Eden. Jury statement: A meticulous exploration that stretches the boundaries of documentary film language, a beautiful orchestration between sound and image, creating a chronicle of what lies under the surface and behind the postcard.
Members of the Jury: Danae Elon , Israeli documentary director and cinematographer; Sascha Lara Bleuler , Part of the Selection Committee of the International Film Festival Visions du Reel in Nyon, Switzerland; Gülin Üstün, Turkish film producer known for working with director Reha Erdem; Liran Atzmor, Senior producer who directed last year’s the Van Leer Awards for Best Documentary The Laws in These Parts.
Short Film Awards:
The Van Leer Award for Best Student Short Narrative Film was awarded to Yaniv Linton, for the film Tateh. Jury statement: The film, which was directed with a gentle and precise hand, does not rely on to pathos or sentimentality, but still remains stirring and thought provoking.
Honorable Mention was awarded to Staring Match Orit Fouks.
The Adélie Hoffenberg Award for Independent Israeli Short Film was awarded to Pini Tavger for the film Drops. Jury statement: For the gentle and sensitive way in which the film expresses the feelings of a soldier who finds comfort in the water drops that remind him of his childhood.
The “In the Spirit of Freedom” Awards In Memory Of Wim Van Leer:
The Nathan Cummings Foundation Award was awarded to director Antonio Mendez Esparza, for the feature film Here and There. Jury statement: This first feature captures with immediacy and authenticity the rituals and demands of daily rural life. With a focus on one Mexican family, using nonprofessional actors, it touches on the global issue of unemployment, giving voice to those usually not heard.
The Ostrovsky Family Foundation Award was awarded to director Tatiana Huezo Sanchez, for the documentary film The Tiniest Place. Jury statement: The large-scale massacre of El Salvadorans beginning in 1979 is evoked in this film by present-day witnesses. Layers of memory emerge from individual as well as collective details, while sounds, images of nature, and voices beautifully construct a coherent political point of view.
The Members of the Jury: Violeta Bava – Programmer at the Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival and also acts as the Co-director of the Buenos Aires Laboratory; Annette Insdorf – The Director of Undergraduate Film Studies at Columbia and author of several books; Erez Pery – Artistic Director of the Cinema South Festival and lecturer in film studies at Sapir College.
The Jewish Experience Awards Endowed by Leon and Michaela Constantiner
The Lia Award, presented by the Joan Sourasky-Constantiner Holocaust Multimedia Research Center of the Jerusalem Cinematheque was awarded to director Gastón Solnickifor the film Papirosen.
Honorable Mention goes to Uri Rosenwaks for the project Leibowitz – Faith Country and Man.
The Avner Shalev Yad Vashem Chairman’s Award, presented by the Yad Vashem Visual Center was awarded to directors Sandy Dickson & Churchill Roberts for the film The Last Flight of Petr Ginz.
Members of the Jury: Lesley Sachs – Leading activist in movements for religious pluralism and the advancement of women; Liliane Targownik – Director and scriptwriter; Tal Haim Yoffe – Documentary filmmaker.
The 7th Jerusalem Pitch Point winners:
The International Relations ARTE Prize was awarded to Nowhere Man by director Benjamin Freidenberg, produced by Laila Films.
The Van Leer Award was awarded to Away from his Absence by director Keren Yedaya, produced by Transfax Film Production.
The CNC Award was awarded to A Screw by director Shira Geffen, produced by Movieplus Productions.
The Jerusalem International Film Lab winners:
The Jerusalem Film and TV Fund , production grant for an exceptional script whose plot is centered in Jerusalem was awarded to Clay, directed by Chaim Elbaum.
The Beracha Foundation Awards production grant for the second-place project was awarded to The Kindergarten Teacher, directed by Nadav Lapid.
The Beracha Foundation Awards production grant for the winning project was awarded to RUN directed by Philippe Lacôte.
The Israeli Video-Art and Experimental Film Awards
The Jerusalem Foundation Award for Experimental Films and Video Works was awarded to The Brain, directed by Shahar Fredy Kislev.
The Second Place winner, courtesy of the Ostrovsky Family Foundation, was awarded to Good to Die, directed Shai Ratner.
Honorable Mention was awarded to Snow Tapes directed by Michael Zupraner and Explosive Flow directed by Rinat Kotler.
Jerusalem Face Film – Short Film Competition Prize in the amount of 20,000 NIS was awarded to Black Cat by Avi Sabag and the Naggar School of Photography, Media, New Music, Animation and Phototherapy in Musrara, Jerusalem. The prize in the amount of 5,000 NIS was awarded to Dudu Collects Loves by Esther Katz.
Members of the Jury: Yael Perlov, Ron Ofer, Michal Vinik .
The Wim van Leer Awards for High School Student for feature film goes to Guy Shapira for Leitzan. The Wim van Leer Awards for High School Student for documentary film goes to Mansev Dersa for At Tilhi Ba’Sadot.
Members of the Jury: Rafael Balulu, Itamar Chen, Adva Magel Cohen
[…] Tal received the award for Best Director of a Documentary Film for The Garden of Eden at the Jerusalem Film Festival 2012, the judges praising the director for […]
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