The 43rd Jerusalem Film Festival opened Thursday night at the Sultan’s Pool, with 6,000 spectators and guests attending the festive ceremony under the stars.
Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa, one of the most acclaimed filmmakers working today, was the festival’s guest of honor and received an award in recognition of his cinematic achievements.
Loznitsa, who will also serve as chairman of the jury for the Israeli competition, is one of the leading voices in contemporary European cinema and is known for both his documentary and narrative films.
Despite the complex period, the festival will host more than 30 international guests this year, including filmmakers who will serve as jurors in the various competitions and accompany screenings of their films.
The festival, which runs until July 19 at the Jerusalem Cinematheque and the Lev Smadar theater, features more than 100 of the best movies from around the world, as well as the latest in Israeli cinema. Israeli movies that have premiered at this festival have gone on to win awards around the world and to receive Oscar nominations.
Israeli premiere of Tell Me Everything by Moshe Rosenthal kicks off festival
This was the first year since 2023 that the festival has not taken place in the shadow of war, and while there is still the possibility of fighting on several fronts, movie lovers celebrated both local and foreign cinema at the opening. The festival reported that tickets were selling briskly.
The festival opened with the Israeli premiere of Tell Me Everything, the new film by Moshe Rosenthal, which had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. The film stars Assi Cohen in his first film role in 15 years, along with Keren Tzur, Yair Mazor, Ido Tako, Mor Dimri, and Neta Orbach, all of whom attended the opening event.
The ceremony was held in the presence of Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion and his wife, Stavite; Dani Mimran, chairman of the Jerusalem Cinematheque’s executive board; former president Reuven Rivlin; Roni Mahadav-Levin, CEO of the Jerusalem Cinematheque and director of the festival; Orr Sigoli, the festival’s artistic director; as well as film lovers, supporters, dignitaries, ambassadors, and diplomatic representatives from around the world.
Among them were North Macedonian Ambassador to Israel Shpend Sadiku, Acting German Ambassador to Israel Helena Marks, and Pavel Bobek, head of the Czech Embassy branch in Jerusalem.
Loznitsa, who was born in Belarus in 1964, has long been a fixture at the world’s leading film festivals. He has also spoken out strongly in favor of freedom of expression and against cultural boycotts, statements that have often come at a personal and professional cost.
Movies an attempt to understand ‘what happened to us throughout history’
Twelve of his films have been screened at the Jerusalem Film Festival, and he has won awards at the festival in the In the Spirit of Freedom competition for The Invasion and in the Chantal Akerman competition for Babi Yar.
Loznitsa opened his speech with the words, “Shalom Yerushalyim.” He thanked the festival for the award and spoke about the difficult times in Israel and in his native Ukraine. He said that all his movies are an attempt “to understand what has happened to us throughout history and what is happening now.”
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Mahadav-Levin said, “We are opening tonight the 43rd edition of the Jerusalem Film Festival. In recent years, we have opened too many festivals with the words, ‘This is not an ordinary year.’ And this year, too, is not an ordinary year.”
He said that a film festival is not an escape from reality, but a way to look at it more closely and imagine how it might be different.
“Over the next 10 days, we will encounter hundreds of stories here,” he said. “Some will be funny, some painful, some will offer answers, but in cinema, it is more important to ask questions than to ‘find answers,’ as Godard said. If we have learned anything in recent years, it is that even when there are no good answers, it is still important to ask the questions.”
Mahadav-Levin also said he hoped the films screened at this year’s festival would “ask, challenge, and refuse to accept easy answers.”
The founder of the festival and the cinematheque, the late Lia van Leer, established the festival to bring international attention to Israeli films, and to create a world-class festival in Israel’s capital. Guests at the festival have included Warren Beatty, Robert De Niro, Lillian Gish, Marcello Mastroianni, Kirk Douglas, Jane Fonda, Liv Ullmann, Wim Wenders, and hundreds of others.
Source:
www.jpost.com
