Dead Language, a new film by the Israeli directing duo of Mihal Brezis and Oded Binnun, has been chosen to compete in the Viewpoints section of the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, which opens June 4.
The movie is an expanded version of their Oscar-nominated short film, Aya, which received its nod a decade ago. It has also reunited the acclaimed cast of that film: Israeli-French actress Sarah Adler (Jellyfish, The Cakemaker) and Danish actor Ulrich Thomsen (The Celebration, The World is Not Enough).
The two will be joined by Yehezkel Lazarov (The Kindergarten Teacher, Charlie Golf One), Gal Malka (Dismissed, A Body That Works), and Lars Eidinger (Babylon Berlin, Persian Lessons).
Aya tells the story of a woman (Adler) who goes to the airport to pick someone up and impulsively pretends to be the driver for Mr. Overby (Thomsen), a complete stranger and Finnish music professor who is coming to Jerusalem to judge a competition.
During their drive, the chilly and forbidding Overby and his chauffeur tentatively let down their defenses. When the film was released in theaters 10 years ago, which is unusual for a short film, I reviewed it and called it “A rich story that unfolds in just 39 minutes with charm, suspense, and humor.”
From short film to feature film
In an interview after Aya received its Oscar nomination, Brezis and Binnun, who are a couple and have a son together, said they were hoping to turn it into a feature film. They have since directed the movie The Etruscan Smile, starring Brian Cox and Rosanna Arquette.
Dead Language’s plot summary on the Internet Movie Database states that following Aya’s chance encounter with the music professor, she feels “a gnawing hunger – one which perhaps only a complete stranger can fulfill.” Both Aya and Dead Language were co-written by the directors with Tom Shoval, who wrote Youth and whose documentary Letter to David, about hostage David Cunio, is currently playing throughout Israel.
Dead Language will be screened at the festival on June 9. It was produced by Green Productions and United King Films and is an Israeli-Czech-Polish co-production, made with support from the Rabinovich Foundation for the Arts, the New Fund for Cinema and Television, the Czech Film Fund, and the Polish Film Institute, in partnership with Keshet Films and Armoza Productions.
It’s interesting that the sole Israeli feature film at Tribeca was announced after the rest of the lineup, just like Tom Nesher’s Come Closer last year. That film went on to win the Viewpoints competition as well as four Ophir Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Director. It is scheduled to be released in the US later this year.