The Sam

Spiegel In

ternation

al Film Lab, 20

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5th Edition

The Sam Spiegel International Film Lab

Class of 2016

The Sam Spiegel International Film Lab

The Sam Spiegel Foundation

Partners

Supporters

JERUSALEM FILM FESTIVAL

The Sam Spiegel International Film Lab

2016An Initiative of

Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School

International Advisory Committee

Anthony Bregman, Producer, USA | Carlo Chatrian, Locarno Film Festival, SwitzerlandGeorges Goldenstern, Cannes Film Festival, France | Jovan Marjanovic, Sarajevo Film Festival, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Savina Neirotti, Torino Film Lab, Italy | Roberto Olla, Eurimages, Italy | Olivier Père, ARTE France Cinéma, FranceManfred Schmidt, MDM Film Fund, Germany | Katriel Schory, Israel Film Fund | Josh Siegel, MoMA, USA Azize Tan, Istanbul, Turkey | Marit Van Den Elshout, Cinemart, Rotterdam Film Festival, The Netherlands

Joana Vicente IFP, New York, USA

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APPRENTICEBoo Junfeng (Singapore)

2016 Cannes Un Certain Regard

ONE WEEK AND A DAY

Asaph Polonsky (Israel)2016 Cannes Critics’ Week2016

THE BLACK FROSTMaximiliano Schonfeld (Argentina)

2016 Berlinale Panorama

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SON OF SAULLaszlo Nemes

Winner of the Cannes Grand Prix (2015) and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film (2016)

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WE ARE YOUNG.WE ARE STRONG.

Burhan Qurbani (Germany) 2015 Tribeca Film Festival

BANATAdriano Valerio (Italy)2015 Venice Critics’ Week

BARASHMichal Vinik (Israel)

2015 San Sebastian New Directors

2015

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BANATAdriano Valerio (Italy)2015 Venice Critics’ Week

IMPERIAL DREAMS Malik Vitthal (USA)2014 Sundance NEXT

MR. KAPLANAlvaro Brechner (Uruguay)

2014 Busan Film Festival

A TASTEOF INK

THEKINDERGARTEN

TEACHER Nadav Lapid (Israel)

2014 Cannes Critics’ Week

RUNPhilippe Lacôte (Ivory Coast)2014 Cannes Un Certain Regard

2014

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I DREAM INANOTHERLANGUAGEErnesto Contreras (Mexico)In Post Production

A TASTEOF INKMorgan Simon (France)To Premiere in 2016

BURNING BIRDSSanjeewa Pushpakumara (Sri Lanka)To Premiere in 2016

BEFORE MEMORYYehonatan Indursky (Israel)In Post Production

THE BLACKPINIvan Marinović (Montenegro)To Premiere in 2016

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2012

2013

2014

2015

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Dear Friends,

It gives me great pleasure to welcome all of the participants to the fifth annual Sam Spiegel International Film Lab in Jerusalem.

Four billion people around the globe look to Jerusalem as a center of inspiration. The unique landscape of the city, the blend of the modern and ancient, and the incredible human diversity make Jerusalem a hub for inspiration and creativity.

The Sam Spiegel International Film Lab has greatly contributed to Jerusalem’s flourishing cultural renaissance and has played a crucial role in solidifying Jerusalem’s place as a thriving hub for the international film industry.

I wish the best of luck to all of the filmmakers, and thank you to everyone who has contributed to this event. I look forward to hearing about your future achievements and successes.

Sincerely,

Nir BarkatMayor of Jerusalem

NIr BArkATMayor of Jerusalem

GreeTINGS

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UzI DAyANChairman Israel NationalLottery Fund

Dear friends,

Mifal Hapais, the Israel National Lottery, has been raising funds for education to benefit society for over 60 years. Each year the lottery builds 40% of the classrooms and kindergartens in Israel, and establishes clubs and youth sports halls and libraries. It also purchases computers for students and teachers, and awards scholarships to thousands of students.

Mifal Hapais sees culture as complementing education and as a form of spiritual enrichment. Therefore, over the last year, the budget allocated for culture and art was multiplied by 6 and we pledge to continue allocating the same amount of money over the next five years. We invest in all sectors of culture and art with an emphasis on supporting artists, inculcating culture for young people and contributing to the periphery. We not only bring culture to the periphery but establish cultural centers where creativity thrives.

True to our slogan “Good Things Start Here”, we were excited by the establishment of the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab and we decided to go beyond the periphery and invest in this lab of excellence for both Israeli and international filmmakers.

It seems our enthusiasm was not misplaced – the focus of cinematic creativity is shifting to Jerusalem and the city is becoming a center for international filmmaking.

Wishing success and enjoyment for all filmmakers and film lovers!

Uzi DayanChairman of Mifal Hapais

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Dear Friends, On behalf of the Jerusalem Development Authority and the Jerusalem Film and Television Fund, we’re proud to greet the participants of the fifth edition of the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab taking place in Jerusalem with a warm welcome.

During these past months you have participated in a creative journey here in Jerusalem and did it the “Sam Spiegel Way,” an intensive and fruitful one, as proved by the glittering success achieved by the lab’s former participants.

To us, the lab’s mission is vital. It is another step towards turning Jerusalem into a key venue in the cinematic discourse in Israel and worldwide and this joins the revolution on the local and international screens that the Jerusalem Film and Television Fund, the first and leading regional film fund in Israel, has created.Over the past five years more than 60 feature films and television dramas were produced in Jerusalem and gained worldwide recognition and prizes at leading film festivals around the world.

We do hope that soon, your screenplays and dreams will evolve into significant feature films. We are proud to support the The Sam Spiegel International Film Lab and its important role in your professional and artistic journey.

Best wishes,

Eyal Haimovsky & Yoram Honig

yorAm HoNIGDirector, The Jerusalem

Film and Television Fund

eyAL HAImovSkyCEO, The Jerusalem Development Authority

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renen Schorr

It is hard to believe that the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab is already five years old. When we were approached, some six years ago, by the head of the Sam Spiegel School Renen Schorr, with an idea to initiate an international film lab in Jerusalem, we thought it might be an interesting concept that would allow a deep professional and personal dialogue between interesting people with interesting ideas. We thought that the special (and challenging!) atmosphere of Jerusalem, its people, its tastes and voices - the unique energy that this city creates – well, it probably can be an interesting scene to work in; and it would definitely bring voices, languages and cultures into the city – which is always a wonderful way to ensure creative and free thought that are so critical to any artists - here in Jerusalem as in any place in the world.

Five years later, we know that something bigger happens in the lab every year. The place and its uniqueness, the energies of the people that run and organize the lab, professionalism of everyone involved, the deep and serious thought given to every detail - all come together to create a scene that ensures exceptional outcomes. Film creators that we met four years ago as young aspiring artists – have become leading professionals; films that were developed in the lab have won the most prestigious awards; and the lab has become an important station in the development of the most promising careers in filmmaking.

Dr. TALI yArIv mASHALDirectorBeracha Foundation

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The Beracha Foundation’s interest in donating to the development of art and culture in Israel comes from our belief that artistic creativity is a crucial voice in a healthy society; it is that voice that often reflects on ourselves, on our relationships, our communities, our lives. It is crucial to enable these artistic voices to be heard and seen, and it is crucial to enable these voices to develop and thrive in an atmosphere that protects and cherishes them.

The Sam Spiegel International Film Lab does all that, and more: by bringing the various artists to Jerusalem we have the opportunity to see and hear them; and through them – to reflect on ourselves, to grow and develop and, hopefully, to thrive.

It is with great pride and honor that we are once again partnering with the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab, and we truly congratulate everyone involved in this unique and important venture.

Dr. Tali Yariv Mashal

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renen Schorrrenen Schorr

Dear All,

During the events of the Jerusalem Film Festival, the participants of the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab will stand before you, an audience of distinguished international jury members, as well as film professionals from Israel and abroad. The young directors and producers from a boundless world will enthusiastically present the object of their passions: their first or second full-length film. THE film.

This “ceremony” will take place for the 5th time in Mishkenot Sha’ananim when the participants will meet 40 Decision Makers (jury members, sales agents, producers and fund directors). And again, we hope, that the magic will happen – the films will take off from our airport, on their way to being made.

A few years ago, at the end of the academic year, teacher and graduate Nir Bergman came into my office.I asked what’s new at his annual scriptwriting workshop for full length feature films. “They don’t give the extra mile”, Nir said with a sour face.

“I ask them to rewrite their script and they just do what they want. They don’t fight with the text; they don’t give me the extra mile”.This conversation sparked the new “Extra Mile” concept at the Sam Spiegel School. “The Mile” are the students.The “Extra Mile” are the school’s graduates.

IFAT TUBIAssociate Director

The Sam Spiegel International Film Lab

reNeN SCHorrFounding DirectorThe JerusalemSam Spiegel Film School

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The Sam Spiegel Film Lab’s “Extra Mile” are the endeavors for film school graduates from around the world.

The idea to establish a bold, ambitious international film lab in Jerusalem, where a group of select participants would develop full-length films under the tutelage of first-class script editors came to be a reality with the participants of the first edition. The scripts were autobiographical, social, political, or a mixture —all driven by a “special urgency.” A passion to create distinctive, original, character-driven films, films that must be made.

The eleven scripts that will be presented this July in Jerusalem were written and rewritten the “extra mile” way. The tutors Jacques Akchoti, Clare Downs and Eran Riklis were there for 6 months in their full benevolence and in their full creativity; during the “ups and downs” and writing crises.

Marking the Lab’s 5th year of work, and despite its remarkable achievements – 75% of the Lab’s first and second year screenplays have been made and have premiered at the most prestigious festivals in the world- we have decided to set another “extra mile” for this year’s participants. They were asked to prepare a scene from the film to be, so that the jury who have read the scripts will get a taste of the film’s artistic style. So will the producers, sales agents and other distinguished guests who came to see the pitches. It wasn’t easy to persuade the directors and their producers- it took extra time and sources- but we believe that this “Extra Mile” enables the filmmakers a clear and equal compass to send the message of “OUR FILMS MUST BE MADE”.

The $70,000 in prizes, which the jury will award to two of the projects, are both production grants as well as important, esteemed acknowledgements.

Our “Extra Mile” acknowledgement goes to many recipients. To the International Advisory Committee, the scouts, the selection committees, the participants — directors, producers and co-writers — the script editors and now the jury. A varied group of outstanding individuals from 25 nations. To all of you, thank you for your significant efforts and your faith.

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An additional “Extra Mile” thanks is to the 30 top industry professionals from around the world who have honored us with their presence and who came here especially to become partners in the Lab’s projects.

Special thanks to the Lab’s supporters in Israel and abroad who believed in its vision, and certainly in our “chutzpah” that Israel and Jerusalem should create an international center of excellence for full-length feature films and invest in talents from all around the world: the Beracha Foundation, the Jerusalem Film and Television Fund; The National Lottery Fund; The Sam Spiegel Foundation; The Jerusalem Municipality; The Israel Film Fund, The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Polish Culture Institute.

So, start your engines; we want to land safely in the promised land of films that must be made.

We hope and believe that all eleven projects will take off from the Jerusalem “airport” to film locations around the world, en route to the major international cinema centers and lovers.

Our thanks to you all for your trust and generosity.

Renen Schorr & Ifat Tubi

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THE SAM SPIEGEL INTERNATIONAL FILM LAB was launched in December 2011 by the Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School to foster the development and production of full-length feature films by some of the world’s most promising talents. The Sam Spiegel International Film Lab became the third Film Lab of its kind in the world, along with the Sundance Institute (USA) and the Torino Film Lab (Italy).

Only 5 years after it opened, 75% of the Lab developed films (from the first two years) were produced, an exceptional achievement.

The films premiered at the most prestigious film festivals such as Cannes (Academy Award Winner Son of Saul, The Kindergarten Teacher, Run, Apprentice and One Week and a Day ; Berlin (The Black Frost); Venice (Banat); Sundance (Imperial Dreams); Tribeca (We Are Young. We Are Strong.); San Sebastian (Barash); Busan (Mr. Kaplan) and won numerous significant awards. Part of the films were their countries representatives at the Academy Award.

Each year, the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab brings 12 talented young writer-directors to Jerusalem who are at the advanced stages of writing their first or second full-length feature film. All participants write over a seven-month period, and are invited for two periods of writing and discussion in Jerusalem under the mentorship of three of the world’s top script editors, in addition to on-line contact throughout the entire period of rewriting. The Lab also works

to promote the production feasibility of the projects.

Internationally, the Film Lab reaches out to leading institutes and figures in film education and industry to refer suitable candidates. Simultaneously, the Lab’s scouts identify promising candidates from around the world who meet the qualifications for acceptance.

All candidates have directed at least two short films or a feature that has inspired international attention. The Israeli selection is open to all Israeli film school alumni.

Finished scripts are presented before the Lab’s jury members, within the framework of the Jerusalem Film Festival, at the beginning of July, in an annual pitching event.

The Sam Spiegel International Film Lab’s pitching event is a platform to present the outstanding projects, developed by the Lab, to a select group of producers, sales agents, distributors and other professionals from around the world.The Lab’s jury awards production prizes totaling in $70,000, generously donated by the Beracha Foundation.

The highly competitive selection process for the Lab participants has resulted in its five editions of world-class projects with unique and provocative content. All possess that special urgency of films that MUST BE MADE, covering a range of social and political topics and/or autobiographical in poignant, character-driven plots.The Lab was conceived by Renen

THe SAm SpIeGeL INTerNATIoNAL FILm LAB

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Schorr, the Founding Director of the Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School and the founder of the Jerusalem Film and Television Fund. He serves as the Lab’s director, alongside Ifat Tubi - Associate Director.

The Lab is a cooperative venture of the Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School, The Jerusalem Film and Television Fund at the Jerusalem Development Authority, the Beracha Foundation, Israel National Lottery Fund, the Sam Spiegel Foundation, the Jerusalem Municipality, the Israel Film Fund and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

STEERING COMMITTEEChair- Renen Schorr, Sam Spiegel School

Yoram Honig, Jerusalem Film and Television Fund

Dolin Melnik, Israel State Lottery

SELECTION COMMITTEE- INTERNATIONAL, 2016Shuki Ben- Naim Scriptwriter

Naomi Levari Director and Producer

SELECTION COMMITTEE, ISRAEL-2016 Ayelet Menahemi Director

Nadav Lapid Director and Scriptwriter

Renen Schorr Director and Producer

renen Schorr

THe SAm SpIeGeL INTerNATIoNAL FILm LAB

The historical building of Mishkenot Sha’ananim – a guesthouse for artists and intellectuals-

the home of the The Sam Spiegel International Film Lab

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THe JerUSALemSAm SpIeGeL FILm SCHooLIn 2015-6 the school celebrated its silver jubilee with four major achievements: First prize at Cannes’ Cinéfondation for the film Anna (the second film from the school to win the coveted prize); an 8 weeks retrospective at Cambridge University; an Academy Award for “Son of Saul”- a Lab developed film. The fourth achievement is that our research shows that 75% of the school’s graduates work in major roles in the Israeli film industry.

Also this year, the Sam Spiegel Film School will produce a comprehensive DVD including its top 25 classic films voted by an international jury of 100 film school directors, film critics, and leading Israeli film researchers from Israel and around the world. 

Yet, the great endeavour of the school, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, is creating a new concept “The Extra Mile School”. In this new framework, the school sets a new level which enables its graduates numerous elevating artistic platforms. In the years of 2016-17, the school will work with 20% its 700 alumni.

THE BIRTH OF A SCHOOLAgainst the compelling background drama of a 1988 student revolt, the Jerusalem Film School was born. Film department students of Israel’s then sole state film school, the Beit Zvi School of Theater & Film, had taken to rioting in protest against the school’s alleged preference for the theater department. Their demand for autonomy spurred the Education and Culture Minister to establish a public inquiry that subsequently supported the students’ position and recommended the creation of the first independent school for film and television in Israel.

In 1989, the Jerusalem Foundation and the Ministry of Education and Culture established the Jerusalem Film and Television School as Israel’s national film school. In 1996, after receiving a contribution from his estate, the school was renamed The Sam Spiegel Film & Television School, Jerusalem in honor of the legendary, Academy Award-Winning producer Sam Spiegel.

FORGING NEW STANDARDSFrom its inception in November 1989, during a time of a deep local film industry crisis that drove audiences away, with director-producer Renen Schorr at the helm, The Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School asked new questions that Israeli students had never heard before: Is the film you wish to make relevant? Is it original? Has its story been told? Are you the only one who can tell the story? Do you have an obligation to tell it? Is it relevant to your own inner world and to your personal taste? Is it relevant to your audience? To which audience? With what artistic means will you reach this audience? Will its meaning traverse countries and cultures?

Thankfully, this demand for relevance resulted in a genuine energy and passion that seized the first student body. Their presentation of graduate films in 1992 marked a turning point in Israeli cinema. Their films dealt boldly, through heroes and emotions, with topics of political, cultural and personal conflicts and identity, opening a dialogue with Israeli and international audiences.

The school became a trailblazer in Israeli film education, setting new standards for Israeli film schools. Among the efforts spearheaded by the school to revolutionize the nation’s film education: viewing film students as future cultural leaders; fostering the unique

THe JerUSALem SAm SpIeGeL FILm SCHooL

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voice of each student in a “personal story-telling” school milieu; changing the priority of investment in Israel’s film students; transforming the hero to the focal point in the story and the narrative; fighting for the acknowledgment of short films as a genre; providing state of-the art equipment; proclaiming students as citizens of the world by funding their participation in numerous international film festivals and workshops; gaining mass exposure by marketing school films to local and international festivals and promoting the broadcast of student films on Israeli and international television networks.

Within two decades, the school won 16 Best Film School Program awards in student film festivals; received 410 awards, including 2 time first prizes at Cannes, Berlin and Venice; was honored with 181 international festival retrospectives in 55 countries, including Berlin, Rotterdam, Clermont-Ferrand, Sarajevo, Havana, Jerusalem (3 times), Haifa and the New York Museum of Modern Art’s first ever tribute to a film school.

THE SCHOOL - 2016Currently 153 handpicked students study in the school’s unique “triangle” structure of curriculum:

The Full Track The main, flagship director’s track features a five year comprehensive program to enable students to study and master all aspects of filmmaking. The curriculum includes directing, screenwriting, cinematography, editing and production.

The Screenwriting Track In 1999, a special two-year intensive screenwriting track was initiated, aimed at nurturing screenwriters for film and television, working to create a model for cooperation between screenwriters and directors. The

diploma works of the student is a script for a full length feature and a television series.

The Entrepreneurial Producers TrackIn 2004, a singular three-and-a-half year track was inaugurated for entrepreneurial producers. The first of its kind in Israel, the program was created to cultivate producers who would initiate and lead projects in various media and change the infrastructure of Israeli cinema. The diploma work of the student is to initiate and write a project, to cast a screenwriter and a director and lead a production including its marketing and distribution.

Each of the three programs operates autonomously, while students are urged to achieve a creative synergy among the tracks.

SILVER JUBILEE – The Extra Mile Celebrating its Silver Jubilee, the school decided to intensify its dialogue with its alumni by assisting with professional placements, “Mornings After” conferences, a “Shadowing” internship program, feature length tribute projects and many more. In 2015 the school launched The Sam Spiegel Alumni Fund for First Features. The school has committed $100,000 annually, in partnership with ARP Sélection, France, for the coming five years, awarding the prize to a first feature film by a graduate. The first winning project is Nimrod Eldar’s The Day After I’m Gone.

The “Extra Mile School” was on focus and put into action at GEECT’s (European Film Schools): School’s Best Kept Secrets; School-Alumni Relations - Going the Extra Mile”, initiated and held at the school in July 2015.

renen Schorr

THe JerUSALem SAm SpIeGeL FILm SCHooL

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JUry 2016

Slawomir Idziak is one of Europe’s prolific cinematographers. He has been DoP in numerous notable Polish films, but most memorably with the great director, Krzysztof Kieslowski: A Short Film about Killing, The Double Life of Veronique, Three Colors: Blue.

During the 90’s he was the DoP on I Want You (Michael Winterbottom), The Journey of August King (John Duigan), Men with Guns (John Sayles), Gattaca (Andrew Niccol), The Last September (Deborah Warner) and more.

His first big budget action drama was Proof of Life (Taylor Hackford) which was followed by Black Hawk Down (Ridley Scott), King Arthur (Antoine Fuqua) and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (David Yates).

For his work as DoP he received many awards at international film festivals (Berlin, Venice, London, Prague, Auckland) and an Academy Award nomination for Black Hawk Down.

Idziak conducts many workshops in film schools throughout the world (Helsinki, Hamburg, Berlin,  Cologne, London, Sydney, Lodz and Copenhagen).

In July 2016 he will also conduct a masterclass at the Jerusalem Sam Spiegel School.

SLAwomIrIDzIAkFilmmakerPoland

CHAIrmAN

Charles Tesson is the Artistic Director of Critics’ Week at Cannes Film Festival since 2012. He is also a film critic at Cahiers du cinéma where he began at 1979, and is its former editor (1998-2003). He is also a professor in Cinema History and Esthetics at la Sorbonne nouvelle (University of Paris III).

Tesson wrote several books on cinema, such as Satyajit Ray (1992), Luis Bunuel (1995), El from Luis Bunuel (1996), Photogénie de la Série B (1997), Théâtre et cinéma (2007) and Akira Kurosawa (2008). He wrote few special issues for Cahiers du cinema, such as Made in Hong Kong (1984, with Olivier Assayas), Made in China (1999) and co-authored the book L’Asie à Hollywood (2001).

Since 2016 Charles is also the President of Aides au Cinémas du Monde (CNC - Institut Français).

CHArLeS TeSSoN Cannes Critics’ weekFrance

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Kirsten Niehuus has been the managing director of the film funding department of the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg since 2004. Prior to that she worked in the film industry in various positions including as a lawyer for the German national film fund - Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA) in Berlin and then as the acting director of the FFA. She was also the German representative to Eurimages as well as its vice-president for two years.

She is a board member of various institutions, such as the ZDF-Fernsehrat, German Films, the Deutscher Filmförderfonds (DFFF) and the Kuratorium der Berliner Filmhochschule (dffb).

At the Medienboard Niehuus has been responsible for initiating various new programmes and policies such as „Leuchtstoff“ that supports newcomers and graduating students, artist-in-residence partnerships and co-production development funds with Poland, Turkey and Russia.

In 2013 she was honored with the French order “Chevalier of Arts and Literature” and in 2014 became honorary professor at the Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf where she teaches film funding and film policy.

kIrSTeNNIeHUUSThemedienboard Berlin-BrandenburgGermany

Since the beginning of her career as an independent sales agent in the early 80’s, Hengameh Panahi has been a major player in international world cinema.

Hengameh founded Celluloid Dreams in 1987, detecting and working with emerging (at the time) “auteur” directors such as François Ozon, Bruno Dumont, Laurent Cantet, Bertrand Bonello, Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, Jafar Panahi, Abbas Kiarostami, Kore-eda Hirokazu, Naomi Kawase, Gaspar Noe, Jia Zhang-ke, Abderrahmane Sissako, Tsai-Ming-Liang, but also in maintaining the careers of established directors such as Takeshi Kitano, Jacques Rivette, Otar Iosseliani, Marco Bellocchio, Alexandre Sokurov, Johnnie To, Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Todd Haynes, Michael Haneke and Jacques Audiard among others.

In 2015, Celluloid Dreams performed a historical hat-trick, winning the Golden Bear for Taxi by Jafar Panahi, the Palme d’Or for Dheepan by Jacques Audiard and the Golden Lion for Desde Alla by Lorenzo Vigas.

HeNGAmeH pANAHICelluloid Dreams France/Iran

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JUry 2016

Eric Lagesse started his career at Pyramide in 1992 as a sales agent. In 1994, he became Managing Director of Pyramide’s group, running both the French distribution branch and the world sales branch. Since May 2008 he is President of Pyramide’s group and main shareholder of the company.

From the very beginning, Pyramide dedicated itself to “auteurs” and released in France almost all the films by Aki Kaurismäki and films by Fatih Akin, Youssef Chahine, Claire Denis, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Catherine Breillat, Shohei Imamura, Patrice Chéreau, Tony Gatlif, Denys Arcand, Bruno Dumont, Manoel de Oliveira, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Kore-eda, Apichatpong Weerasetakhul, Christian Petzold (Barbara), Eran Riklis, Andrei Zviaguintsev and Patricio Guzman.

Pyramide released a lot of first films by young directors such as Mohamed Diab, Clio Barnard, Claudia Sainte-Luce, Alix Delaporte and won 4 Caméra d’Or at Cannes in 9 years.

In 2012, Eric created his own production company SAMPEK PRODUCTION.

erIC LAGeSSepyramide FilmsFrance

Katriel Schory is one of the leading architects of the renaissance of Israeli cinema.

He studied at the New York University Film School and returned to Israel in 1973 to join Kastel Films, at the time the leading production company in Israel.

In 1984, Schory formed his own company, Belfilms Ltd, and produced over 120 films including award winning feature films, documentaries, TV dramas and international co-productions.

In 1999 he assumed the role of the Executive Director of the Israel Film Fund, the leading fund in Israel, which supports and promotes Israeli feature films. In this position he authorized the support of more than 200 new Israeli feature films.

Schory was the chairman of Israel’s Film and Television Producers’ Association (1989 –1994) and lectures at the Tel Aviv University - Department of Film and Television since 1985.

kATrIeLSCHoryThe IsraelFilm FundIsrael

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Roberto Olla is the Executive Director of Eurimages, the Council of Europe’s film fund.  A lawyer by training, he holds a Ph.D. in entertainment law from the European University Institute of Florence.  Roberto joined Eurimages in 2002 as a project manager and in 2008 became its Executive Director. Before this, he was a researcher in media law, worked for the MEDIA Programme of the European Union and was a legal adviser on audio-visual matters to the European Commission in Brussels.

He contributes his specialised expertise in film production to many European training initiatives in this sector.

roBerTo oLLAeurimagesItaly

After graduating from Arizona State University, Carole Scotta foundedHaut et Court in 1992.

She first broke into the French distribution sector with the “Unreleased of America” which included among others AlisonAnder’s Gas, Food, Lodging and Alex Cox’s Highway Patrolman.

In 1997 Carole Scotta produced Ma Vie En Rose, her first feature film, which won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film.

Since then, her company, Haut et Court, produced and distributed over 200 films most of which have won several awards in international festivals including Cannes, Venice, Berlin and Toronto; among others the Palme d’Or in Cannes 2008 with The Class by Laurent Cantet.

Carole also produced Coco Before Chanel by Anne Fontaine with Audrey Tautou, which was the first French film on the international market in 2009.

Carole is also an exhibitor with the launch of the NOUVEL ODEON in 2010, a theater in the heart of the Quartier Latin in Paris and the recent reopening of LE LOUXOR, a renovated theater which first opened in 1921.

CAroLeSCoTTAHaut et CourtFrance

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SCrIpT eDITorS

Clare Downs began her career in the film business as co-director of the Association of Independent Producers (1978-1980), and Director of International Creative Affairs for the Ladd Company/Warner Bros (1981-1983).

She produced the BAFTA award winning short, The Dress (1985); the feature High Season (best screenplay at the San Sebastian Film Festival, 1987), and co-produced the Greek film Borderline (Best Director, Thessaloniki Film Festival) in 1993. Her other production work in this period was as associate producer on Richard Eyre’s Beggar’s Opera, and she developed the award winning screenplay A World Apart (BAFTA, Cannes).

In 1989 she set up, and was director of First Film Europe, which selects and funds first feature screenplays in each of the EU member countries. That year, she also joined the EU’s MEDIA producer training program, EAVE, as a founder member of the script analysis team.

Since then she has tutored and taught in top European and international script developing labs for producers and writers and in leading UK schools.

CLAreDowNSUK

After his studies at the NYU film school, Jacques Akchoti has worked in different areas of film production with directors such as R.Bresson, JJ. Beineix, L. Von Trier.

He then became a screenwriter, script consultant, and headed the development of many French and international films for cinema and television, which obtained selections and awards at major film festivals. Most recently, A Screaming Man by Haroun Mahamat Saleh, recipient of many awards, notably the Jury Prize at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.

He has directed a feature film for television and written several screenplays. His latestscript, Don’t Look Back, a film by Marina De Van featuring Sophie Marceau and Monica Bellucci, was part of the Official Selection of the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

Jacques has been teaching writing and directing at the Femis (National French Film School) since 1988 and has facilitated many international screenwriting and development workshops, including EAVE, Sud Ecriture, DV8 films, Vision Cinema, Ekran, Interchange, etc.

JACqUeS AkCHoTI France

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Eran Riklis is one of Israel’s internationally acclaimed filmmakers and has been working as a director, writer and producer for over thirty years. Riklis is a graduate of the National Film School in Beaconsfield, England.

His most recent film, Dancing Arabs (2014), was released worldwide to critical acclaim after premiering at the Locarno and Telluride Film festivals.  Zaytoun (2012) premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and won the Runner’s Up People’s Choice Award. For  Playoff  (2011), lead actor Danny Huston received the Best Actor Award at the Montreal Film Festival. In 2010  The Human Resources Manager won five Israeli Academy Awards and the Audience Award in Locarno. Riklis enjoyed wide international critical and box office success with Lemon Tree  (2008), winner of the Audience Award at the Berlin and San Sebastian film festivals and with The Syrian Bride  (2004), winner of 18 international awards including the Audience Award in Locarno. Cup Final (1991), his international breakthrough, was presented at numerous festivals including Venice and Berlin.

Riklis is a recipient of the Jerusalem Film Festival Achievement Award, 2011 and the Ministry of Culture Film Award, 1993.

erANrIkLIS Israel

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Founder of NISI MASA, the European network of young cinema, Matthieu Darras created and managed dozens of international workshops related to scriptwriting, filmmaking, and film criticism from 2001 to date.

Critic for the film magazine Positif since 1999, Darras was a regular member of Cannes Critics’ Week selection committee from 2005 to 2011. He assumed the artistic direction of Alba Film Festival in Italy, and of the IFF Bratislava in Slovakia.

Darras has been working for the Torino Film Lab since its inception in 2008, currently as Head of Programs. He is also the delegate of the San Sebastian Film Festival, in charge of Central and Eastern Europe.

mATTHIeUDArrASFrance

After six years spent working at Flach Film where she co-produced several films, including Jean-Claude Lauzon’s Leolo (1992, Cannes Film Festival), Isabelle Fauvel founded Initiative Film in 1993.

Fauvel is the interlocutor of writers, directors and producers, French and international, working along with them on a short-term or long-term scale.

Furthermore, with the team she established, Fauvel often scouts subjects. Taking advantage of a large database (newspapers extracts, web research, books), she provides ideas and conducts tailored researches making her a key partner for literary adaptation.

Her activities also include lessons, tutoring, conferences and creating ties between cinema and literature. She has contributed to the programs of Thessaloniki’s Crossroad, Sofia’s Meeting, Istanbul’s Meetings on the Bridge, Namur Coproduction Forum.

She is a regular trainer at La Sorbonne and acted as a consultant for the French National Center of Cinema (CNC), the International Office of French Publishers (BIEF) and ACE. She is also a partner of the Torino Film Lab for the Adapt Film Lab, which she co-founded.

ISABeLLe FAUveLFrance

SCoUTS

21

mATTHIeUDArrASFrance

pArTICIpANTS & proJeCTS 2016

From left to right: Orit Fouks Rotem, Margarita Linton Blakalav, Noam Ellis, Bibhusan Basnet, Jow Zhi Wei, Serhat Karaaslan, Shai Carmeli Pollak, Asaf Asulin,

Mikko Myllylahti, Gonzalo Tobal, Niv Hachlili, Pooja Gurun, Yona Rozenkier

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DIreCTor’S NoTeTo whom does the story belong? To the one who lived the story or the one who recognizes its potential and strength?The inspiration for this film came after my mother was part of a mixed group of Jewish and Arab women who were taking a course in photography together - aimed at bringing these women together, as well as to empower them. I remember myself being quite skeptical, even cynical about the kind of change such an encounter could really bring about.

To prepare for the writing of the script, I initiated a similar course for women in Acre. I observed from up close what the camera enabled them to do; how deep within themselves they were able to look as they watched themselves from outside. And how much their feminine existence is always burdened by the fact that they are Arab as opposed to Jewish. I tried to convince them to let me film them for a documentary. Unfortunately, they refused on the grounds of their religious and conservative beliefs.

Every story has its own way to be told, and in this case I will use the narrative form- which appealed to me to begin with- in order to tell their story and mine. Rona, the main character in the film, is a fledgling film director. Like me, she wants to make a movie. But her ambition pushes her to cross the fine line between real life and movie life; in the name of filmmaking she lies, builds trust, does some good, and does some damage. She makes a film.

SyNopSISIn the mixed Muslim-Jewish ancient port city of Acre, Rona, a young Jewish filmmaker, unexpectedly lands herself a job teaching a filmmaking workshop to a group of Muslim and Jewish women.

During ten meetings, taking place inside a community bomb shelter, the participants are initially offered the opportunity to experience the power of filmmaking firsthand: to look within themselves, as they learn to compose the shots that reflect their external lives - all screened on an improvised white cloth. They grow more daring as they witness their secret lives and dreams unfolding up on screen – blissfully unaware that Rona has been using them all along as characters in her own film.

CINemA SABAyA

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Orit was born in Israel in 1983. She graduated from the Jerusalem Sam Spiegel School with honors in 2012, winning her class’ ‘Promising Director’ Award.

Her diploma film Staring Match was screened in festivals all over the world, including: San Sebastian, Montreal, Munich and won the Grand Prix award at the Hangzhao Festival in China, Best Screenplay Award at Tel Aviv Student Film Festival, and an Honorable Mention at the Jerusalem Film Festival.

In the last 2 years, Orit co-directed a documentary series for the Israeli Channel YES Doco; worked as a film facilitator and director for the Israeli nonprofit LAHAV, making movies with at-risk youth, and conducted research for a documentary by the Oscar-award-winning director Alex Gibney.

Cinema Sabaya will be Orit’s debut feature film.

Gal Greenspan was born in 1981 in Tel Aviv. He graduated the first class of the Entrepreneurial Production Track of the Jerusalem Sam Spiegel School.

After graduating, Greenspan joined forces with Roi Kurland, and the two opened Green Productions, a film and promotional production house in Tel Aviv.

Recent credits include Youth by Tom Shoval (2013 Berlin Film Festival,) Summer Vacation by Tal Granit and Sharon Maymon (Sundance 2013, shortlisted for the 2015 Oscars®), A Quiet Heart by Eitan Anner (First Look Award in Locarno 2015).

GALGreeNSpANproducerIsrael

orIT FoUkS roTem Director Israel

CINemA SABAyA

production Comapny

Green Productions 13 Sirkin St. Givatayim, 5325007, POB 10532T: +972-3-5166868www.greenproductions.co.il

production Budget

€ 950.000   

proDUCTIoN NoTeS

26

DIreCTor’S NoTeOne night my mother woke me up in a hurry shouting: “Come quick! Dad is in a hypoglycemic state!” Actually he was jumping on the sofa naked while miming his lips like a fish. I grabbed the honey jar and charged into battle. I managed to feed the old crazy bastard, not before he bit my leg. After he regained his wit, he calmly started lecturing me about how smart he was never to use hard drugs. “Imagine what I would do to you then”, he said.

My late brilliant father was born in a cold sepulture in occupied France, where he spent the first years of his life. This forever damaged his heart but gave him lust for life and an atheist, existential, humanist view of the world. The film’s tone is inspired from the perception and ideology he taught me: be nice to others, smile when happy, cry when sad and always remember: in the end, the most important thing in the world is to always know where the closest toilet is.

SyNopSISBen, 35 years old, depressed and unemployed, arrives from the U.S. for a short visit to his native Kibbutz in the north of Israel, accompanied by his wife and newborn son. He plans to ask his old, ill, drunken father, Albert, who he barely has contact with, to help him claim a lost family apartment in Warsaw. But Albert has other plans, he has just bet in front of half of the kibbutz that he could drive on a tractor all the way south- to Eilat, within a week.

Albert leaves with dawn. Ben, who must get his father’s signature, reluctantly joins him, and so, the two embark on a slow, odd and unexpected journey through rural and forgotten Israel. During the journey Ben will discover his fascinating, complex father, the real reason behind the bet and that he resembles him much more than he thought. This is a sad, late coming of age comedy, about a father who never knew how to be one and a son who fled his shadow.

Nowhere man

DeCompreSSIoN

27

yoNA rozeNkIerDirectorIsrael

Yona was born and raised in Kibbutz Yehiam in 1981. He graduated the Tel Aviv University, Film and TV Department.

During his studies he wrote and directed the short Raz and Radja, which was part of Water, an Israeli-Palestinian film project, which opened the Venice’ Critics’ Week. It was also screened in Busan, Sao Paulo, Clermont Ferrand and many more.

His other short as a writer and director was Bugs on a Helmet, which was screened in festivals such as Shanghai, Rome and more.

Decompression will be Yona’s debut feature film.

Kobi was born in Israel in 1985. He graduated the Tel Aviv University, Film and TV Department.

He produced Israeli-Palestinian film projects: Sport (2015, Rome Film Festival, Mostra Sao Paulo), Water (2012, Opened Venice’ Critics’ Week and won Amnesty International award 2013) and Jerusalem Moments 2012 (Jerusalem Film Festival).

In addition he produced 13 award winning short films which have been screened in numerous international film festivals.

Kobi also produced the TV series 24 Hours With... based on the ITV British format for Keshet Broadcasting (Israel Channel 2).

koBI mIzrAHI producer Israel

production Comapny

Kobi Mizrahi Productions1 Simta Almonit St.Tel Aviv 6326637, IsraelT: +972 525785388kobmiz@walla.com

production Budget

€ 635.000  

proDUCTIoN NoTeS

28

DIreCTor’S NoTeDesert’s End tells the story of young people’s search for meaning, while dealing with society’s expectations of having a family, a career and being functional adults.

As I try to portray my characters realistically, going through the most banal situations of life, I wish to give their journey a thin dreamy tone that will reflect their alienation from society, but also the deep connection they have with each other.

The film takes place in a variety of sceneries from desert and beaches to apartments and underground parties, but it will not lend the film a sense of freedom, since the characters are trapped in the paradox of their ambition to live life fully by escaping it.

It’s a sad and comic journey that values beauty, connection and youth.

SyNopSISRoee and his pregnant girlfriend, Joanna, are both young actors living in Tel-Aviv, and like most adults, are pretending to be happy about their lives.

Roee is rushed to assist his younger sister, Reut, who’s left her university studies and locked herself in her parents’ empty house.

Deeply depressed and in an utterly dysfunctional state, Reut shares with him her heartbreaking secret love affair with a girl from her class.

Trying to do his best to help Reut, Roee is gradually drowned into her unique love story and its authenticity. Desert’s End is a coming-of-age story that explorers both rebellious and conservative natures of love.

DeSerT'S eND

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Asaf Asulin was born in 1984 in Raa’nana, Israel. He graduated The Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School in 2010.

During his studies he wrote and directed Sea Hedgehog (2008) and Partying Apart (2010).

Asaf has directed music videos for major Israeli musicians such as Shlomi Shaban and Daniella Spector. One of his latest music video’s, Eviatar Banai’s Before the Rain, will screen at the 2016 Berlin Music Video Awards.

In 2010 Asaf published his first poetry book What Was Lost Ahead. The book was highly acclaimed in Israel and won a broad distribution.

Desert’s end will be Asaf’s debut feature film.

Prolific producers, Estee and Haim focus on cross-over films – films with both highly artistic content and outstanding audience appeal. Their films participate in all major international film festivals including Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Toronto and Sundance, and are distributed worldwide by the most reputable companies.

Recent productions include Elite Zexer’s Sand Storm (Sundance World Cinema Grand Jury Prize; Berlinale, 2016), Tal Granit & Sharon Maymon’s The Farewell Party (Venice Audience Choice Award, 2014) and Asaf Korman’s Next to Her (Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, 2014).

eSTee yACov-meCkLBerGproducerIsrael

HAImmeCkLBerG producerIsrael

ASAFASULINDirectorIsrael

production Comapny

2-Team Productions Ltd.2 Rival St. Tel Aviv 6777847, IsraelT: +972 3 687 5111M: +972 50 640 2693office@2teamproductions.comwww.2teamproductions.com

production Budget

€ 900.000   

proDUCTIoN NoTeS

30

DIreCTor’S NoTeI see Dolores as an exercise of imagination rather than a suspense driven plot based on real facts: I seek to explore the internal and external process of a girl who faces prosecution and social judgement, as well as the impact these have on a personal level (family, sex, affections).

The film sets out as a journey into the life of a character who is illegible by definition. The weight of the doubt that shadows this intriguing, naive-looking young girl is the core of my work in this project. Even if the viewer can choose to occupy the shoes of a detective or member of the jury in an attempt to discover the truth about the character and the event, I’m more seduced by the gestures and the intimacy of the protagonist whose inner being is sealed up. Isn’t cinematography capable of unveiling an ultimate truth that hides both from the logic of justice and plot twists?

As in my previous works, I believe genre elements can serve a personal treatment. Dolores moves between a crime story, a legal drama, a family drama. My intention is to raise questions about a very contemporary subject, explored in a film that’s rich in both dramatic density and narrative vertigo.

SyNopSISDolores lived the life of a beautiful young student until her best friend was brutally murdered. Everything went rapidly downhill then: being the last person to see her friend, Dolores is a sole suspect and finds herself charged in a case that gets a lot of media exposure.

For the past two years, this process has drained her. Dolores spends her time secluded in the family house, isolated and overprotected by her parents and a chorus of experts who work full time to prove her innocent. She has become a puppet subject to their instructions, building a character that leaves no trace of her old self.

As the trial moves forward and the jury comes closer to a verdict, an uncertain energy awakens inside Dolores that fractures the family unity and puts the strategy at risk just when any mistake can be critical.

DoLoreS

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GoNzALoToBAL DirectorArgentina

Gonzalo Tobal was born in 1981 in Argentina, a graduate of Universidad del Cine, Buenos Aires.

During and following his studies he directed a series of short films that were screened in Cannes between 2007 and 2010. His short film Now Everybody Seems to Be Happy received the Cinéfondation Award for Best Film.

His debut feature film, Villegas (2012), premiered in Cannes as a part of the Official Selection and was distributed worldwide. In Argentina, the film received the Critics’ Best Film award at BAFICI.

Dolores, Gonzalo’s second feature length film is supported by INCAA, Miami Film Fund, IFP, Binger Filmlab, Fundacion Carolina and EAVE/Puentes.

Co-Writer: Ulises Porra Guardiola

BeNJAmINDomeNeCHproducerArgentina

Benjamin Domenech was born in 1986 in Buenos Aires.In 2010 he established his production company Rei Cine.

His credits as producer include: History of Fear (2014), Sand Dollars (2014), Leones (2012), Thursday Till Sunday (2012), Villegas (2012) and most recently Kill Me Please (2015). All distributed worldwide and premiered at festivals such as Cannes, Berlin or Venice, amongst others.

His current slate includes films by Lucrecia Martel, Natalia Garagiola and Gael Garcia Bernal.

Benjamin is a member of EAVE and the National Film Academy. 

production Comapny

Rei Cine (Argentina)A: Av Dorrego 1940, 2M, CP1414, Buenos Aires, ArgentinaT: +54 11 45 55 10 77www.eicine.comProducer: Benjamin Domenech (bd@reicine.com.ar)

Co-producers

Petit Film (France)Producer: Jean des Forêts

Avalon Producciones(Spain)Producer: María Zamora

production Budget

€ 630,000   

proDUCTIoN NoTeS

32

DIreCTor’S NoTeMy friend Amilie is capable of teasingly locking her four years old son, Clovis, in the basement and shut the light; and when he cries for help – she bursts out laughing. He is so used to her playfulness that he doesn’t even scare. What fascinates me was that above all there is something so pure between them.

I made a short film, starring Amilie and Clovis, who improvised their way through fictional moments in which I explored the beauty and the horror in a relationship between an extremely childlike mom and her son. In some of the scenes I left the two alone with a camera in the forest only to see what came out weeks later.

Out of that “experiment” this woman’s character slowly formed, and in Girl and Child I wanted to investigate deeper into her life to understand her behavior. I realized that sometimes a traumatic event can make you grow up, but it can keep you a little child just as well.

SyNopSISNoa’s life stands still ever since her mom died when she was young. She is thirty two and still lives with her dad, Rafi, in extreme dependency and instability. When Rafi has to leave their house in Northern Israel for a few days, her world is shaken. It’s only when she meets Yanna (6), the son of Alex (42) who works with her, that she manages to find some comfort. Noa is drawn to Yanna and develops a relationship with him behind Alex’s back. Her need to care for Yanna helps Noa bring some balance to her volatile life. But when Noa crosses the line, Alex catches her and distances her from his son.

Noa’s heart is broken and her life swirls out of control as she slowly loses sight of right and wrong. Noa takes Yanna in mid-day from kindergarten for a “day of fun” at the river. Yanna feels that something is wrong and things get out of hand when Noa reenacts traumatic memories that overwhelm her with him.

GIrL AND CHILD

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Born in Tel-Aviv, Mika graduated from the Mark Rich Arts & Humanities program at Tel-Aviv University.

Timor is CEO and partner at EGG Productions. Among her productions: the acclaimed documentary TV series Shadow of Truth and dozens of world accomplished shorts.

His production filmography includes: 13 Tzameti by Gela Babluani (Best First Film in Venice, Sundance Jury Award), The Legacy by Temour and Gela Babluani (Sundance Jury award), Under the Starry Sky by Dyana Gaye, Children of Don Quixote (Cannes Critics’ Week, 2008) and Honk by Florent Vassault and Arnaud Gaillard.

mIkATImorproducerIsrael

JeAN-BApTISTe LeGrANDCo-producer France

production Comapny

EGG Productions28 Baalei Hamelach St.Tel Aviv,6382415, ISRAELmikatimor@gmail.comT: +972544841221, +97235228616

Production Budget

€ 850.000   

proDUCTIoN NoTeS

NoAmeLLIS DirectorIsrael

Noam Ellis was born in 1983 in Kfar-Saba, Israel. He studied at Tel Aviv University’s Film Department where he directed three short films and operated as a DoP in many others.

His first short film, Narkis, was screened at Palm Springs and Chicago Film Festival, and his diploma film, Dead Leaves, which he shot in France, was screened at San Sebastian Film Festival.

Girl and Child will be Noam’s debut feature film.

Co-Producer

Andolfi9, rue des Cascades75020 ParisTel : 09 50 65 23 05jiblegrand@gmail.com

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DIreCTor’S NoTeI grew up on strange Russian folk tales imported from the Ukraine in a box full of vinyl records. These bittersweet tales dealt with a hero’s quest for an unreachable cause, promising a deeper meaning. Years passed, and the records evolved from memory to inspiration.

This tale is based on my experience growing up in a gated suburb, surrounding a Palestinian enclave. Unlike religious settlement’s, “Shefa Tal” is not ideological. It’s an attempt to create a bourgeoisie island in the midst of Palestinian poverty, with escapism as its main virtue.

Goldie’s escape attempts symbolize her enrooted problem - she doesn’t feel comfortable in her own skin. When she realizes jumping the fence will not free her of her conflicted identity, the comfort of escapism begins to seem attractive.Unlike Goldie, I’ve managed to escape. And I’m using my newly found freedom to create a film about this unique experience.

SyNopSISTime after time, 16 years old Goldie tries to escape Shefa Tal - a picturesque village on the outskirts of Jerusalem that just happens to be a settlement.

The guard waving at the gate, settlers jogging around the parameter fence, and everyone tries to ignore the Palestinian enclave within the borders of the Jewish settlement.

This gated community is Goldie’s mother’s chance to marry well and free herself from financial concerns, but Goldie has a different take on freedom. She will do whatever it takes to leave her Russian identity behind, escape the village and go after her dreams.

A contemporary Russian folk tale, telling the story of a girl’s darkly comic relationship with a bourgeoisie suburb, planted in the Israeli occupied territories. And, as in many good tales, the ‘village’ seems to have a will of its own. It keeps dragging Goldie back into a life which can offer her something to hold onto – solid suburban comfort.

LIFe IS ANywHere eLSe

35

Margarita Linton-Balaklav was born in Kiev, Ukraine in 1984, and moved to Israel in 1989. She studied stills photography, and wrote and published poetry.

She graduated from the Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School in 2012. During her studies, she won the Galit Rosen Directing Award, and 2012 Promising Director Award.

Her short film The Tale of Yona and the Sad Tree was screened in festivals worldwide and won Best Short Narrative at the 2012 Haifa Film Festival. Her diploma film Ketupa won Best Cinematography Award at the Tel Aviv Students Film Festival.

Margarita works as an editor for documentary and fiction films.

Life is Anywhere Else will be her debut feature film.

mArGArITA LINToN - BALAkLAv DirectorIsrael

LIFe IS ANywHere eLSe

Prolific producers, Estee and Haim focus on cross-over films – films with both highly artistic content and outstanding audience appeal. Their films participate in all major international film festivals including Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Toronto and Sundance, and are distributed worldwide by the most reputable companies.

Recent productions include Elite Zexer’s Sand Storm (Sundance World Cinema Grand Jury Prize; Berlinale, 2016), Tal Granit & Sharon Maymon’s The Farewell Party (Venice Audience Choice Award, 2014) and Asaf Korman’s Next to Her (Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, 2014).

eSTee yACov-meCkLBerGproducerIsrael

HAImmeCkLBerG producerIsrael

production Comapny

2-Team Productions Ltd.2 Rival St. Tel Aviv 6777847, IsraelT: +972 3 687 5111M: +972 50 640 2693office@2teamproductions.comwww.2teamproductions.com

production Budget

€ 875.000   

proDUCTIoN NoTeS

36

DIreCTor’S NoTeJune 2013 was a political milestone in Turkey’s social history. Thousands of people demanding democracy and freedom flocked to Gezi Park in Taksim Square to raise their voices against the urban transformation policies of the government. During the protests, among many political slogans of the protesters, one in particular caught my attention: “Respect my privacy!” Telephone bugging,email surveillance,blocking websites and heavy media censorship are becoming common practices of our daily life. In such a society,where people are closely monitored and controlled, there are naturally some people who are reading,watching and listening to “others” to collect and process all of that data. Passed by Censor is a social drama containing elements of dark comedy. I would like to tell this unusual love story using elements of dark humor and a natural style akin to that of a documentary. Absurdities arising from surveillance, perplexing bureaucratic obstacles and narrow mindedness comprise ironic and comical moments of the film. With a small personal story about censored letters we can illustrate this global problem. I want the audience to feel the absurdities of a surveillance society as they play out in a Turkish context.In a surveillance society, nobody including the ones who are monitoring people, can be free.

SyNopSISZAKİR (30) works as a letter-reading officer in a prison in Istanbul. His job is to read the inmates’ letters one by one, censor any objectionable parts, and gives the letters a “Passed” stamp. His monotone life changes when he comes across the photograph of SELMA (31), a woman of remarkable beauty, in one of the inmate’s letters. Selma is the wife of RECEP (45), a troublesome inmate at the prison. Zakir can’t help but steal the photo accompanying the letter. In an effort to get closer to Selma, Zakir begins carefully reading all of the couple’s correspondence, eavesdropping on their conversations during visits, and listening in on their telephone conversations. Zakir’s love for Selma turns into an obsession. She creates a breaking point in his life and at the end Zakir becomes aware of his own reality. Will Zakir be able to pick up his life and get out of his inner and outer prisons?

pASSeD By CeNSor

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SerHATkArAASLANDirector Turkey

Serhat Karaaslan was born in 1984 in Varto, Turkey.

He moved to Istanbul to study at the Faculty of Pharmacology at Istanbul University. After his graduation, he started to make short films and was accepted to the Master’s program for Directors of Film & Drama at Kadir Has University in Istanbul, making the shorts Bicycle and Musa. His most recent short Ice Cream premiered at the Toronto Film Festival Short Cuts Competition in 2014.

His numerous short films have won more than 50 awards and screened in major film festivals including Toronto, Locarno, Thessaloniki, Montpellier, Sarajevo and Istanbul.

Passed by Censor, which has been selected for Cannes Cinefondation Residence 2015 and Berlinale Talent Project Market 2015, will be Serhat’s debut feature film.

production Comapny

+90 Film ProductionNecatibey Cd. Dericiler Sk. No:10/3, Istanbul - TurkeyT: +90 2499100M: +90 5334758667email: scakarer@gmail.comweb: www.plus90film.comContact: Serkan Cakarer

Co-Producer

Silex Films8, impasse Druinot75012 Paris, Franceemail: contact@silexfilms.comContact: Judith NoraDepartures FilmEndersstr. 62D-04177 Leipzig, Germanyemail: info@departuresfilm.deweb: www.departuresfilm.de

production Budget

€ 700,000   

proDUCTIoN NoTeS

SerkAN CAkArerproducer Turkey

Serkan Cakarer started his career as a producer in 2004. Between 2004-2014, he produced feature films, which were awarded in national and international film festivals.

His credits include: Boats Out of Watermelon Rinds (2004), Killing the Shadows (2006), Adam and the Devil (2007), Pandora’s Box (2008), Broken Mussels (2011) and Araf (2012).

38

DIreCTor’S NoTeWhen it had withered and died in the rest of the world, communism flourished in Nepal for a full decade (1996-2006). To record their advent in the most remote parts of the country, the Maoists had designated documentarians in every paltoon to report and film their various agendas. One can still find today a large volume of documented attacks, lectures, cultural demonstrations and journeys that span the growth and struggle of thousands of people. As young directors who have found our calling while ‘toying’ with the camera, we find it fascinating to explore the idea of the first person perspective of a documentarian witnessing war first hand. Thus, our film, a coming of age story about the adventures of young Kuprey in the midst of the revolution, will be shot by three consecutive documentarians, Kuprey himself being the third one. Hyper realistic yet poetic (use of personal letters, poems and songs) and surreal at times, we want to openly blur the rigid conventions between documentary and fiction in order to heighten the realness of the war that surrounded them.

SyNopSISNepal, 2003. The Communist revolution in the mid-western hills is in full bloom. Kuprey, a 15 years old runaway willfully gets inducted in the Maoist platoon to wield a gun and avenge the loss of his missing father. To his horror, an angsty Kuprey a.k.a comrade Gurans quickly realizes that he cannot kill. Instead, he befriends the documetarian of his platoon and is drawn towards another weapon, a video camera. When Kuprey will eventually manage to exchange his AK-47 for the camera, the world seen through it will slowly make him understand the nature of life and death in the line of duty, love and friendship. The Whole-Timers is an account of the final three years of the civil war in Nepal seen through the eyes of Kuprey and his group of young guerrillas as the country overthrows the monarch and becomes a Republic. It is also the realization of a common dream becoming true, blurry, but true.

THe wHoLe-TImerS

39

BIBHUSANBASNeT & pooJAGUrUNGDirectorsNepal

Based in Kathmandu, Bibhusan Basnet and Pooja Gurung are co-directors who have been working together for the past six years.

Their short-film The Contagious Apparitions of Dambarey Dendrite (2013) was screened at several international film festivals including Abu Dhabi Film Festival and Tampere Film Festival. The film won the ‘Golden Comma’ for Fiction at the Alpavirama South Asian Short Film Festival in India.

Bibhusan and Pooja are currently in post-production of a new short-film, Dadyaa.

The Whole-Timers, their debut feature film was selected for the Cinefondation – L’Atelier at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.

Les Films du Tambour is a production company based in Paris created in 2014 by Marie Legrand.

The company produced Dégradé, the first feature-film by twin brother directors Arab and Tarzan Nasser, a dark comedy set in Gaza, which premiered at Cannes’ Critics’ Week in 2015.

production Comapny

Les Films du Tambour102 quai Louis Blériot75016 Paris - FranceT: +33 1 44 61 77 94email: marie@filmsdutambour.comwebsite: http://on.fb.me/1FZVZy1

mArIeLeGrANDproducerFrance

production Budget

€ 850.000

proDUCTIoN NoTeS

40

DIreCTor’S NoTeI once encountered a peculiar woodcutter from the North, not far from my hometown. He told me about his life, how he was forced to leave the village and his family, how he lost everything. It was a sad story, but he seemed to be fine with it. He accepted his fate without any single bitterness.I felt strongly that I wanted to test him, see if I can crush the faith of this benevolent man. Where does this integrity come from? This lead me to writing. I sank into the darkness inside me, searching for the possibility of hope. I found it in the character of Pepe, a modern version of Job. Like Buñuel’s Nazarin, or De Sica’s Miracle in Milan, The Woodcutter’s Story, an existential dark comedy, raises the question: is goodness impossible in our modern world?I want to make a film that is both comical and entertaining, yet mythical and ambiguously gruesome at the same time.

SyNopSISA strange chain of dreadful events affect the life of Pepe, a kind and optimistic woodcutter from Northern Finland. Everything disappears around him - he loses his job, his best friend commits suicide, his beloved mother dies and even his house burns down. The only thing he has left is his unshakable positive attitude - and the address of his presumed father in Helsinki. Pepe leaves the North to look for his father, Jaakko. He is a psychic singer who is said to be able to contact the deceased. The old man also has a horrifying past: he has committed irreconcilable crimes. He also hates Pepe’s naivety and denies his paternity. But Pepe is persistent and slowly the relationship between the two men starts to evolve, until the darkness already surrounding Pepe finds new ways to oppress him and what is left of Pepe’s life, his trust in himself, is in danger.

THe wooDCUTTer’S STory

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mIkkomyLLyLAHTIDirectorFinland

Mikko Myllylahti was born in 1980 and raised in Tornio, Lapland. He graduated from ELO Film School Helsinki in 2012.

His short films have screened at several major festivals. The Pyramid (Student Prize in Tampere, 2012), The Handbag (Best Nordic Short Film Nominee, 2013) and Love in Vain (Locarno, 2009).

Mikko is also the screenwriter of The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki, a feature wich won Cannes’ Un Certain Regard Prize, 2016.

He is an alumnus of Torino Film Lab and Berlinale Talents Script Station.

Besides filmmaking, Mikko is also a published poet whose books have gained critical acclaim and awards in Finland.

The Woodcutter’s Story will be Mikko’s debut feature as a director.

Born in 1980, Jussi Rantamäki has produced both fiction and documentaries in various lengths.

Jussi’s previous works include The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki (Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, 2016), The Painting Sellers (1st prize, Cinéfondation, 2010) and Whispering in a Friends Mouth (Berlinale Generation, 2009).

JUSSI rANTAmÄkIproducerFinland

production Comapny

Aamu Film Company LtdHiihtomäentie 3400800 Helsinki, FinlandT: +358 40 7355977www.aamufilmcompany.firantamaki@aamufilmcompany.fi

production Budget

€ 930.000   

proDUCTIoN NoTeS

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DIreCTor’S NoTeWhen I was a young boy growing up in Singapore, my father performed a ‘mercy release’. That there was an indelible, almost metaphysical link between parent and child, is a belief that is deeply ingrained in the Asian family. The actions of one intrinsically determining the fate of the other. It was a fascinating, intimate starting point for me to put up against Singapore, the city state, and today the most expensive city to live in the world.Chua and Meng exist in a social context where dynamic, prosperous images of luxury and wealth are underpinned by very fragile lives. Much like the captured animals released into the wild, Chua is struggling on the margins, and Meng is a callow youth very much searching for his place. This is a personal portrait of the massive dichotomy of economic progress and the people who maintain it, a working class lost in the wilderness of survival in the modern world.

SyNopSISChua, a middle-aged widower, does not seem to have much of a connection with anyone, except for his teenage son, Meng, to whom he returns home every morning after his night shift at the shipyard. The long hours meld into an endless draining cycle of labour and overwork, just to survive. Chua hides his increasing vulnerabilities beneath his powerful appearance, while Meng, a deeply sensitive boy, and unable to measure up to his father, acutely feels their difference in stature. In the dense, confined spaces of contemporary Singapore, this relationship between father and son - created by a sense of dependency and tension from the outside world - becomes slowly unbearable... Chua, in a bid to free themselves from this vicious cycle, performs a ‘mercy release’, freeing a captive animal into the wild. Believing this ritual will create good karma for the person and their child, in this life and the next, Chua lays down an unexpected path for his son.

Tomorrow IS A LoNG TIme

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Born in Singapore in 1983, JOW Zhi Wei studied at Lasalle College of the Arts, the Puttnam School of Film in Singapore and Le Fresnoy in France. He was also accepted into the Golden Horse Film Academy in Taiwan, under the mentorship of Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien.

He has made 3 short films: Outing (San Sebastián 2010), Waiting (Busan 2010) and After The Winter (Cannes Cinéfondation 2013).

He worked as a film programmer for the Singapore International Film Festival 2014 and was awarded the Young Artist Award 2014 by the government of Singapore.

Tomorrow is a Long Time will be Zhi Wei’s debut feature film.

Fran Borgia was born in southern Spain and is based in Singapore.

Borgia productions include Ho Tzu Nyen’s first feature film Here (Cannes Directors’ Fortnight 2009) and medium-length film, Earth (Venice 2009); Boo Junfeng’s first feature film Sandcastle (Cannes Critics’ Week 2010); Vladimir Todorovic’s Disappearing Landscape (Rotterdam 2013).He co-produced Lav Diaz’s A Lullaby To The Sorrowful Mystery (Berlinale 2016) winning the Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize.

Recently he also produced Boo Junfeng’s Apprentice (Cannes Un Certain Regard 2016) and K Rajagopal’s A Yellow Bird (Cannes Critics’ Week 2016).

FrANBorGIAproducerSingapore

JowzHI weI DirectorSingapore

Tomorrow IS A LoNG TIme

production Comapny

Akanga Film Asia35 Kelantan Lane #02-02Singapore 208652T: +65 6299 4068F: +65 6299 4069E-mail: franborgia@akangafilm.com

production Budget

€ 500.000   

proDUCTIoN NoTeS

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DIreCTor’S NoTeIn my early days as a filmmaker I most liked making comedies. I thought it would always be this way. But in 2000, as the second intifada broke out, I went to the occupied territories for the first time and everything changed. The gap between what I had been taught and the reality was shocking. I began to take part in protests against the occupation, trying to convince everyone that the oppression and injustice must be stopped. I was frustrated. The average Israeli saw me as delusional. As the political reality deteriorated, I was building friendships with those that were supposed to be my enemies. I began making dozens of activist shorts, and eventually a documentary - Bil’in Habibti about the struggle against the separation wall. I approach this new film with a sense of responsibility yet with hope, that the humanity of the characters could penetrate the walls of suspicion.

SyNopSISFor the first time in his life, 11 year old Khaled is about to fulfill his dream of going to the sea. However, upon reach-ing the Israeli checkpoint with his class, he is taken off the bus as the soldiers claim his permit is invalid, and is sent back to his village in the occupied territories. His grand-mother, who has raised him since his mother died, fails to comfort him. Rabhi, his father, working illegally in Israel, is too distant to comprehend his son’s frustration. That night, Khaled secretly leaves home. Not knowing the way, nor speaking Hebrew, he passes into Israel through a gap in the fence, and heads for the sea. Once Rabhi learns of this, he leaves his workplace and heads out to look for his son, risking capture, punishment and the loss of his job. This journey of father and son, in a foreign and hostile land, enables the two to rediscover the warmth and intimacy-which they had lost since the death of Khaled’s mother.

THe voICe oF THe SeA

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Since graduating his film studies at Tel Aviv University, Shai has gained experience in a wide range of filmmaking – fiction, documentary and animation.

Shai created and directed Zbang, a TV series for youth based on a popular comic book. He also wrote and directed several shorts and a TV dramas for Israeli channel 2; two animation series for kids, and a feature length animation film The Journey To The Minimiks’ Planet.

He directed two documentary films: Bil’in Habibti (Bil’in My Love), and Refugees, both were aired on TV channels worldwide, and won awards in many festivals, including the Jerusalem and Rotterdam Film Festivals.

The Voice of The Sea will be Shai’s second feature film.

Co- Writer: Niv Hachlili

Tony Copti and his brother Jiries joined forces and created FRESCO, a fresh and dynamic company that provides hands-on production services and finance structuring to films with the highest line production standards.

FRESCO was the executive production company of the feature film The Attack by Ziad Doueiri and Girrafada by Rani Massalha.

ToNy CopTI producerIsrael

JIrIeS CopTIproducerIsrael

SHAI CAemeLIpoLLAkDirectorIsrael

THe voICe oF THe SeA

production Comapny

FrescofilmsKedem 127, 68051 JafffaIsrael T: +972544822255 +972544426725tony@frescofilms.comjiries@frescofilms.com

production Budget

€ 850.000   

proDUCTIoN NoTeS

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pITCHING 2016

Having worked as a journalist and film critic, Gabriele Brunnenmeyer has acted as an artistic adviser for the Edinburgh based training for writers and directors Moonstone International.

She has developed the East-West-Coproduction Market Connecting Cottbus at the FilmFestival Cottbus, which she was running as Artistic Director utill 2010.

Since 2005 she has worked for the Kuratorium Junger Deutscher Film, a funding body for first and second films by German young talents as a script advisor.

Furthermore, she works as a consultant for script development, packaging and project presentation for Berlinale andSarajevo Talents, Robert Bosch Coproduction Prize and others.

Currently, she is managing the BLS Südtirol Alto Adige Coproduction event.

Since May 2013, she is the Head of Studies for the MEDIA supported training program for emerging producers, the Italy based Maia workshops.

Naama Preis was raised in Moshav Yodfat in the Galilee.

She studied in New York at the Dance New Amsterdam – modern dancing and performance.

Back in Israel, she participated in various fringe theatre performances, TV series, and full length fiction films such as: A.K.A Nadia (Tova Asher), The Kindergarten Teacher (Nadav Lapid) and Beyond the Mountains and Hills (Eran Kolirin).

She played the leading role in Nadav Lapid’s From the Diary of Wedding Photographer (2016 Cannes Critics’ Week).

GABrIeLeBrUNNeNmeyerPitching Trainer& Moderator

Germany

NAAmApreISClosing Ceremony MC

Israel

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Friday, July 8, Mishkenot Sha’ananim

Moderator Gabriele Brunnenmeyer

10:00-10:30 Greetings Noa Regev Director, Jerusalem Film Festival Ibtisam Mara’ana Menuhin Council for Arts and Culture, Israel National Lottery Fund Renen Schorr Founding Director, Sam Spiegel School

Announcement of the 2016 Sam Spiegel Fund for First Features Winner

10:30-13:00 Project Presentations – Part 1

13:00-14:00 Lunch Break

14:00-14:45 Slawomir Idziak Chair of the Jury - Shooting A Tale of Love and Darkness in Jerusalem Yoram Honig Director of the Jerusalem Film and Television Fund

14:45-15:30 Project Presentations – Part 2

15:30-17:30 Guided tour to the Old City of Jerusalem

19:30 Friday Night Dinner (by invitation only)

Saturday, July 9, Mishkenot Sha’ananim

9:00-15:00 Speed Dating in Mishkenot Sha’ananim for the Lab participants and Decision Makers

16:00 Conclusive Discussion participants and producers

19:30 Closing Ceremony St. Andrews Scottish Guesthouse (by invitation only)

proGrAm

48

DeCISIoN mAkerS

Marc BachetASAP Films, Francembaschet@noos.frwww.asapfilm.com

Zsuzsi BánkutiMatch Factory, Germanyzsuzsi.bankuti@matchfactory.dewww.the-match-factory.de

Caroline Benjo Haut et Court, Francecaroline.benjo@hautetcourt.comwww.hautetcourt.com

Sandrine BrauerElzévir Films, Francesbrauer@lamasfilms.comwww.elzevirfilms.fr

Sata CissokhoMemento, UKsata@memento-films.comwww.memento-films.com

François D’ArtemareLes Films de l’Après-Midi, Francef.artemare@films-am.comwww.films-am.com

Inge De LeeuwStray Dog, France/ The Netherlandsinge@stray-dogs.comwww.straydogsfilms.net

Guillaume de SeilleArizona Films, Franceguillaume@arizonafilms.netwww.arizonafilms.fr

Yael FogielFilms du Poisson, Franceyael@filmsdupoisson.comwww.filmsdupoisson.com

Adeline Fontan TessaurELLE DRIVER, Franceadeline@elledriver.eu www.elledriver.fr

Fabian GasmiaDETAiLFILM, Germanyfabian.gasmia@zentropahamburg.com

www.detailfilm.de

Gabor GreinerFilms Boutique, France/Germanygabor@filmsboutique.comfilmsboutique.com

Florencia GilLoco Films, Franceflorencia.gil@loco-films.comwww.loco-films.com

Dany GoldbergEZ Films, France/Israeldanny@ez-films.comwww.ez-films.com

Lionel Ariel GuedjTo Be Continued, Francelionel@tbcprod.comwww.tbcprod.com

Charlotte HenskensFortissimo Films, The Netherlandscharlotte@fortissimo.nlwww.fortissimofilms.com

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Alexis HofmannBac Films, Francedavid@bacfilms.frwww.bacfilms.com

Anna KatchkoTandem, Russia/Germanyakatchko@gmail.comwww.tandempro.tv

Cedomir KolarASAP Films, Franceckolar@noos.frwww.asapfilm.com

Aranka MatitsFeaturette, Germanyaranka@featurette.netfeaturette.net

Jan NaszewskiNew Europe Film Sales, Poland jan@neweuropefilmsales.com www.neweuropefilmsales.com

Oliver NeumannFreibeuterFilm, Austriaoliver@freibeuterfilm.atwww.freibeuterfilm.com

Ewa PuszczynskaOpus Film, Polandewa@opusfilm.comwww.opusfilm.com Sophie SchoukensSOPHIMAGES, Belgium sophie.schoukens@skynet.bewww.sophimages.be

Dominique Welinski DW Films, Francedwelinski@gmail.com

Michel ZanaSophie Dulac Distribution, France mzana@wanadoo.fr www.sddistribution.fr

Special Guests Robert BalinskiPolish Film Institute, Poland robert.balinski@pisf.plwww.pisf.pl

Dominique HoffGan Foundation, France dominique.hoff@gan.frwww.fondation-gan.com

Elsa KeslassyForeign Correspondent, Varietyelsa.keslassy@gmail.comwww.variety.com

Manfred Schmidt MDM, Germanymanfred.schmidt@mdm-online.dewww.mdm-online.de

Dany de SeillePress Agent, Cannes Critics’ Weekand Cinemed Montpellierdany@deseille.info

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THe LAB’S pITCHING eveNT

Participant Adriano Valerio and producerEmanuele Nespeca (Italy), 2015

Participant Aygul Bakanova and producer Altynai Koichumanova (Kyrgyzstan), 2014

Participant Keren Ben Refael (Israel), 2015

Jury member Laszlo Nemes (Hungary), 2015

Participant Asa Hjorleifsdottir(Iceland), 2014

Jury member Meinolf Zurhost (Germany), 2015

Participant Morgan Simon (France), 2013

Participants Mihal Brezis and Oded Binnun (Israel), 2015

Participant Idan Hubel (Israel), 2015

Jury member Christian Jeune (2013)

Jury members Rémi Burah (France), Pia Marais (Germany) and chairwoman

Michèle Halberstadt (France), 2015

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Producer Eitan Mansuri and participant Talya Lavie (Israel), 2014

Producer Mina Đuki and participant Ivan Marinović (Montenegro), 2014

Director Ritesh Batra and producer Seher Latif (India), 2014

2014 Jury members: Rémi Burah, Charles Tesson, Michèle Halberstadt, Pia Marais,

Katriel Schory and Manfred Schmidt

Producer Raymond Phathanavirangoon and participant Boo Junfeng (Singapore), 2013

Participant Alamork Davidian Marsha and producers Naomi Levari and Saar Yogev (Israel), 2014

Participant Michal Vinik and producer Amir Harel (Israel), 2012

Jury members Rémi Burah (France), Pia Marais (Germany) and chairwoman

Michèle Halberstadt (France), 2015

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THe LAB’S AwArD CeremoNy

Winners of the “Digital District” Post Production Award, Mihal Brezis and Oded Binnun (Israel), 2015

Class of 2012- participants of the Lab’s 1st edition

Chair of the 2015 jury Kirsten Niehuus with winner of the Beracha Foundation Awrad of $50,000 Itamar

Alcalay and producer Amir Harel (Israel)

Jury chairwoman Michele Halberstadt (France) awarding Amikam Kovner & Assaf Snir (Israel) with

the 2014 Beracha Foundation Award of $10,000

Nadav Lapid and producers Talia Kleinhendler and Osnat Handelsman-Keren (Israel) recieve the Beracha Foundation Award of $30,000

Alamork Davidian Marsha and producers Saar Yogev & Naomi Levari (Israel) receive the 2014

Beracha Foundation Award of $50,000

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Members of the 2015 jury: Olivier Pere, Meinolf Zurhost, Ewa Puszczyñska, Kirsten Niehuus, Katriel Schory,

Michèle Halberstadt and Laszlo Nemes

Ivan Marinović and producer Mina Dukic (Montenegro)- receive the 2014 Beracha Foundation

Award of $20,000

Nadav Lapid and producers Talia Kleinhendler and Osnat Handelsman-Keren (Israel) recieve the Beracha Foundation Award of $30,000

Alamork Davidian Marsha and producers Saar Yogev & Naomi Levari (Israel) receive the 2014

Beracha Foundation Award of $50,000

Philippe Lacôte (Ivory Coast) and producer Claire Gadea (France) receive the 2012

Beracha Foundation Award of $50,000,

Participant Malik Vitthal speaks on behalf of the 2012 edition participants

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Renen Schorr has been a key figure in the Israeli film arena since the late 70’s as an Israeli film activist, film director and educator.

Schorr is a director-producer whose critically acclaimed full-length feature Late Summer Blues (1987), won the Israeli Academy Award for Best Film of the Year and became one of the most successful Israeli cult movies of all times. His second feature-length film as a director, The Loners (2007) was nominated for 11 Israeli academy awards. The Loners won the Best Actor Award.

In late 1989, Schorr created The Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School, Israel’s national film school, and has been its director ever since. Under his leadership, the school has become a major catalyst in the renaissance of Israeli cinema.

Schorr was chosen by his colleagues as President of GEECT, the association of 70 European film schools (2000-2004) and led to the entry of Israel to the European Film Academy. He initiated the successful conferences “School’s Best Kept Secrets” in Paris, Bratislava, Helsinki, Amsterdam, Lisbon and Jerusalem.

He pioneered major platforms and developments in the Israeli public film funds as one of the three initiators and founders of The Israel Film Fund (1978) and the initiator of The New Fund for Cinema & Television (NFCT, 1993).

reNeN SCHorrFounding Director

In 2007 Schorr founded two cinematheques north and south of Tel Aviv- in Herzelia and Holon.

In 2008, Schorr created The Jerusalem Film and Television Fund, Israel’s first regional fund, serving as its first chairman.

In 2011 he founded the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab. In 2015, celebrating 25 years to the school, he fulfilled another dream and established the Sam Spiegel Alumni Fund for First Features.

DIreCTorS

55

Born in 1974, Ifat Tubi is a graduate of the Tel Aviv University, where she majored in Social Science and Communication Studies.

Between 2004 and 2011, Tubi was the director of the International Relations & Resource Development Department at the Cameri Theatre, the municipal theatre of Tel Aviv and the biggest theatre in Israel, with an overall responsibility for the theatre’s foreign relations, including company touring and guest performances.

During her work at the Cameri, Tubi produced the Tel Aviv International Theatre Festival, the first international theatre festival in the country, hosting major theatre companies from all around the world.

Together with her work at the theatre, she produced the annual event organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Hanoch Levin Institute of Israeli Drama, IsraDrama 2007 and IsraDrama 2008 – which brought Israeli drama to hundreds major theatres and festival directors.

Since November 2011, she has been the Associate Director of the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab.

IFAT TUBIAssociate Director

56

Jerusalem Municipality | Mayor Nir Barkat, Nava Disenchik, Michal Shalem

Jerusalem Development Authority | Eyal Haimovsky, Udi Ben Dror

The Jerusalem Film & Television Fund | Yoram Honig, Galia Altaratz

The Beracha Foundation | Dr. Tali Yariv Mashal, Nomi Dror

Mifal HaPayis Council for Arts and Culture | Chairman Uzi Dayan, Dolin Melnik, Ronit Weiss-Berkowitz, Housni Alkhateeb Shehada, Ibtisam Mara’ana, Hilla Shitrit, Silas Lebilya, Sonia Soudry

The Sam Spiegel Foundation | Adam Spiegel, Judge Raya S. Dreben, David Bottoms, Michael Freedman

The Israel Film Fund | Katriel Schory, David Lipkind

Ministry of Foreign Affairs | Rafi Gamzou, Ofra Ben Yaakov, Vered Heler, Uri Amitai

Jerusalem Film Festival | Noa Regev, Elad Samorzik, Eti Tsicko

The Polish Institute in Tel Aviv | Krzysztof Kopytko, Anna Kardaszewska

The Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School | Chair Asaf VitmanFirst Year Production Track Students

Mishkenot Sha’ananim | Rita Kramer, Orit Sirkin Silverman

Mona Restaurant | Moshe Gamlieli

Colony Restaurant | Rizi Noam

The Sam Spiegel International Film Lab thanks the following organizations and individuals for their generosity and support

oUr THANkS

57

July’s eventsJury and Guest’s Liaison Gal Rosenbluth Performance Gaya Feldheim Schorr Quintet

The Jerusalem Lab’s BookEditors Renen Schorr, Ifat TubiGraphic Design Adraba (Sivan Oppenheim & Shiraz Wolman)Photography Yossi ZweckerProofreading Ariel Richter

Lab’s StaffProducer Uri SmolyWebmaster Yotam Shazar

The Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film SchoolHead of Finance Rami Shemesh

,NUBv

58

NoTeS

59

25th Anniversary Celebration of the Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School, March 2015 at YMCA

The Sam

Spiegel In

ternation

al Film Lab, 20

16

5th Edition

The Sam Spiegel International Film Lab

Class of 2016

The Sam Spiegel International Film Lab