The 41st Jerusalem Film Festival has announced a special screening of The Hateful Eight, in the presence of its director, Quentin Tarantino, and actor Jennifer Jason Leigh, honored guest of the festival. The screening will take place on Thursday, July 18, 2024, at 16:45 at the Jerusalem Cinematheque.
Leigh was nominated for an Oscar for her role as the tough outlaw Daisy Domergue in The Hateful Eight. Set in the Civil War era, the Western meets Agatha Christie as eight rough strangers find themselves sheltering together from a blizzard at Minnie’s Haberdashery in Wyoming. Bounty hunter John Ruth (Kurt Russell) rides a stagecoach handcuffed to Daisy, whom he is taking to Red Rock, where she has been sentenced to be hung. Catching a ride with them is another bounty hunter, Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson). Forced to seek refuge from the storm, they find themselves at Minnie’s with the sheriff Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins), Bob (Demian Bichir) who is tending the place while the owners are away, Confederate General Sanford Smithers (Bruce Dern), hangman Oswaldo Mowbray (Tim Roth), and cowboy Joe Gage (Michael Madsen). Surviving the elements is nowhere near as dangerous and difficult as surviving the violent intentions of one’s fellow humans.
The Hateful Eight, as I wrote in my 2015 review, is a powerful and in many ways beautiful film. The blinding white snow is not only overpowering, it is almost poetic in its complete erasure of everything in its path. A lone stagecoach making its way through the snow, travelers stranded in a storm, Minnie’s Haberdashery the sole inn. The old folktale frame takes on a certain harsh majesty in its visual representation. Man struggling with and against nature, the outer forces and his or his own, inner nature.
A film tribute to Jennifer Jason Leigh, who will be presented with an award at the opening ceremonies, will take place at the festival, with screenings of films that showcase several of her many memorable roles: Margot at the Wedding, Existenz, Georgia, and The Hateful Eight. Leigh’s performance as Daisy in The Hateful Eight is riveting: “What makes Daisy truly wonderful is Jennifer Jason Leigh. She is a versatile actor who radiates tensile strength and seductive power, capable of maintaining a duality that inspires revulsion and admiration in the same breath. Even in chains, bloody bruised, Daisy Domergue is never vanquished. She may be evil, manipulative and violent to the core, without a moral bone in her body, and racist to boot, but she is strong, smart, and compels one’s admiration.”
The 41st edition of the Jerusalem Film Festival will take place from July 18 – 27, 2024. The traditional opening ceremonies will be held on July 18th under the stars at the Sultan’s Pool. The festival is headed by the Jerusalem Cinematheque CEO and Jerusalem Film Festival Executive Director Roni Mahadav-Levin, Outgoing Artistic Director Elad Samorzik, and Incoming Artistic Director Or Sigoli, and is supported by the Ministry of Culture, Van Leer Foundation, and the Jerusalem Foundation.
The full festival program and additional information may be found on the Jerusalem Film Festival website.
