The 41st Jerusalem Film Festival, which will open at the Sultan’s Pool amphitheater on July 18 and run at the Jerusalem Cinematheque and other venues until July 27, will celebrate movies – from Israel and abroad, new and classic – as it always has, even in the midst of the war.
It will screen hundreds of movies that will make audiences think and laugh, providing escapism and exploring the human condition deeply, just as its founder, the late Lia van Leer, would have wanted. Preparing for the film festival during the darkest days of the Second Intifada (2000-2005), she quoted Samuel Beckett to me, saying, “I can’t go on; I’ll go on.”
That festival did go on and was a resounding success, as were other wartime editions of the festival, such as the one in 2014. In light of the current war, a thousand tickets to the opening will be given to those who have been evacuated from the South and the North, soldiers and their families, and the families of those who were kidnapped and murdered.
What's being featured at the 41st Jerusalem Film Festival?
The festival often opens with comic films, and this year is no exception: Thelma, by Josh Margolin and starring June Squibb, the story of an elderly woman scammed out of her life savings who decides to take revenge, will be the opening-night movie.
Also featured on opening night will be an award for American-Jewish actress Jennifer Jason Leigh, who will be honored for her work. The festival will feature a tribute to her movies, consisting of several films that showcase her range and the top-tier directors she works with: Margot at the Wedding by Noah Baumbach; Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight, for which she was nominated for an Oscar; David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ; and Ulu Grosbard’s Georgia.
The festival will showcase the newest Israeli films, the program for which was previously announced, which will compete in the Haggiag Competition for Israeli feature films and the Diamond Competition for Israeli documentaries, as well as competitions for short films and student films.
THERE IS also an International Competition, which will show the best contemporary films from all over the world, some of which you can only see at this festival, with others being released in Israeli theaters over the course of the next year.
The films in this section include the Chinese film Black Dog, by Hu Guan, which won the Un Certain Regard Award at the Cannes Film Festival. It tells the story of a released convict tasked with clearing his hometown of stray dogs before the Olympic Games, who goes on a road trip with a canine companion.
The acclaimed Korean director Hong Songsoo’s latest, A Traveler’s Needs, which stars Isabelle Huppert as a financially strapped teacher in Korea, won the Silver Bear/Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Berlinale. Huppert, one of the world’s greatest actresses, stars in another film, Sidonie in Japan, by Elise Girard, in which she plays a widowed writer invited to the Asian country who finds herself drawn to her Japanese editor.
La Cocina by Alonso Ruiz Palacios, which generated a lot of positive buzz at the Berlinale, looks at life in a kitchen in a New York City restaurant where cultures from all over the world blend during the lunchtime rush.
The Story of Souleymane by Boris Lojkine tells the story of an African migrant who works in Paris delivering food and contemplates his upcoming asylum interview.
THE GALA section is especially rich this year, and features the return of Guy Nattiv, an acclaimed Israeli filmmaker who directed last year’s opening-night movie Golda. This year, his latest film, Tatami, which he co-directed with actress Zar Amir Ebrahami, will be shown. This fact-based drama tells the story of Leila, an Iranian female judoka, and her coach Maryam, who are taking part in the Judo World Championships when they receive an ultimatum from the Islamic Republic ordering Leila to fake an injury and lose, or else be branded an enemy of the regime. Tatami has won awards all over the world, including at film festivals in Tokyo, Venice, and Munich.
From Hilde with Love by Andreas Dresen and set in 1942 Berlin, looks at the life of a young woman in a resistance group who is captured by the Gestapo while she is pregnant. It follows her as she gives birth while in Nazi captivity, and stars Liv Lisa Fries of Babylon Berlin.
Megan Park’s My Old Ass is a dramedy about a young woman cautious about falling in love, starring Aubrey Plaza of The White Lotus.
Nikolaj Arcel’s The Promised Land is set in 1755, and tells the story of the impoverished Captain Ludvig Kahlen who sets out to conquer the harsh, uninhabitable Danish heath.
Two movies will be shown that are adaptations of The Three Musketeers, directed by Martin Bourboulon – Part 1: D’Artagnon and Part II: Milady. The films feature top stars Eva Green, Vicky Krieps, Romain Duris, Vincent Cassel, Lyna Khoudri, and Louis Garrel.
THERE IS a lot to look forward to in the JFF Classics section. One of the films you’ll want to see is Sugarland Express, a 1974 crime drama starring Goldie Hawn as a woman who breaks her husband out of prison and kidnaps their son, hoping they can all stay together. You may recall that it happened to be the debut film of an aspiring, twenty-something director named Steven Spielberg.
Roger Corman, the so-called King of the B’s – B-movies that is – passed away recently, and the festival is honoring him by showing his film The Fall of the House of Usher, based on Edgar Allan Poe’s classic tale and starring Vincent Price.
Law and Order, the iconic look at the criminal justice system by Frederick Wiseman, has inspired so many filmmakers to forget the clichés and look more deeply into this world.
The Israel Film Archive is presenting a newly restored print of Shimon Dotan’s 1986 film The Smile of the Lamb, an adaptation of a David Grossman novel that tells the story of an Arab whose adopted son turns to terrorism and is subsequently shot by Israeli security forces, and who takes a friend hostage, threatening to execute him unless Israel withdraws from the West Bank. It stars some of Israel’s most acclaimed actors, including Makram Khoury, Tuncel Kurtiz, and Rami Danon.
Movies about movies are an important part of the Panorama section. Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger, directed by David Hinton and co-produced by Martin Scorsese, looks at the collaboration of the quintessentially British duo of Michael Powell, who was born in England, and Hungarian Jewish Emeric Pressburger, who willed himself to become a proper Englishman out of love for his adopted country. The two made such films as The Red Shoes and Tales of Hoffmann. This documentary is highly recommended.
Daphne Baiwir’s Hitchcock’s Pro-Nazi Film examines whether Alfred Hitchcock’s 1944 Lifeboat, meant as pro-war propaganda, is actually pro-German.
THE MASTERS section features Marcello Mio by Christophe Honore, a look at Marcello Mastroianni and Catherine Deneuve through the eyes of their daughter, actress Chiara Mastroianni.
The Shrouds by David Cronenberg is a typically off-kilter story of a widowed investor who invents technology that takes mourners inside the grave, with Vincent Cassel and Diane Kruger.
In Green Border, Agnieszka Holland, known for In Darkness, Spoor, and Mr. Jones, tells the story of a family of refugees from Syria, an English teacher from Afghanistan, and a border guard who meet on the Polish-Belarusian border during the most recent humanitarian crisis in Belarus.
The Spirit of Freedom Section, featuring movies concerned with human rights, was created to honor the work of van Leer’s husband, Wim van Leer.
This year it includes Flavors of Iraq by Leonard Cohen (not the singer), a look at French-Iraqi journalist Feurat Alani, who reflects on his father’s journey from Iraq to France and examines his own feelings about recent history.
Sergei Loznitsa’s The Invasion, shot over a two-year period, portrays civilian life all over Ukraine and highlights Ukrainian resilience in the face of a barbaric invasion.
Small Things Like These by Tim Mielants, which opened the Berlinale, stars Best Actor Oscar winner Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer) as a coal merchant in rural Ireland in 1985 who makes a discovery about corruption in the Catholic Church that illuminates his own past.
This is just a taste of what you’ll find on offer this year; the full program is available on the festival’s website.
The Jerusalem Film Festival is run by Jerusalem Cinematheque CEO Roni Mahadav-Levin, newly appointed artistic director Orr Sigoli, and outgoing artistic director Elad Samorzik. JFF is held with the support of the Culture and Sport Ministry, the Jerusalem Foundation, and the Van Leer Foundation. The full program and tickets are available at https://jff.org.il/en .