Montreal Israel Film Festival

Montreal, May 4, 2011 – Eran Bester, Director and Founder of the Montreal Israel Film Festival is proud to announce the programming for the 7th edition, taking place from May 14 to 23. 

The films to be screened this year offer a glimpse into the reality of Israel and its people, as well as complex questions that will captivate Montreal audiences.

This year’s program consists of an exceptional assortment of carefully selected documentaries, as well as a wide variety of acclaimed full-length feature films. Just like its feature film counterpart over the last decade, the Israeli documentary industry is just now reaching great new heights, illustrating wide-ranging angles of life in Israel; a fascinating mosaic to be discovered during the festival!

In addition to evening screenings, the festival is pleased to present, for the first time this year, a host of afternoon screenings, a Sunday morning documentary series, an opening night celebration, and presentations from guest speakers.

RENOWNED GUESTS TO SPEAK

The 7th annual Montreal Israel Film Festival will play host to a series of renowned guests: two leading Israeli filmmakers will discuss their films and two principle figures featured in award-winning documentaries at this year’s fest will recount their tales.

For its opening night feature, the festival will present Shlomi Eldar’s Precious Life, one of the most emotionally thrilling films seen in recent times. Precious Life tells the story of a young Gazan woman whose infant son is dying of a hereditary disease, a respected Israeli physician, and an accomplished Israeli journalist who struggle together to save the baby. This struggle for life takes place against the backdrop of the war between Israel and the Hamas in Gaza. Israeli pediatric immunologist Dr. Raz Somech, of Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer and Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, will be present to elaborate on the overwhelming feat chronicled in the documentary.

Eran Riklis, the acclaimed director of Lemon Tree and The Syrian Bride, will reflect on his 2010 film, The Human Resources Manager, selected as Israel’s entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2011 Academy Awards. Witty and full of character, this touching tragicomedy based on a novel by Abraham B. Jehoshua, tells the tale of a corporate HR manager’s mission to honour the death of a woman he didn’t even know. He encounters many unanticipated obstacles in attempting to fulfill his mission, through which he ultimately rediscovers his own humanity. 

Tomer Heymann, one of Israel’s most renowned documentary directors, will present his recent work I Shot My Love (in the presence of Andreas Merk, featured in the film) which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in 2010 and was awarded Best Mid-Length Documentary Award at last year’s Hot Docs Film Festival in Toronto. In I Shot My Love, Tomer Heymann returns to the country of his ancestors to present his film Paper Dolls in Berlin. Within 48 hours, a love affair develops into a significant relationship between the filmmaker, his German boyfriend (Andreas Merk) and his fiercely Israeli mother. Heymann will also present Bridge over the Wadi (2006) which won the Israeli Documentary Film Competition and many other awards at film festivals around the world.

MORE FILMS TO DISCOVER

Among the highlights of the 2011 feature film program are The Matchmaker, last year’s most successful Israeli film, and The Intimate Grammar, based on David Grossman’s acclaimed novel.

This year’s Festival equally showcases a number of exceptional and diverse documentaries, including A Film Unfinished, recounting the production story of a Nazi propaganda film made in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942; Land of Genesis, introducing viewers to Israel’s amazing landscapes, plants and wildlife; and The Worst Company in the World, chronicling the attempts to survive the economic crisis of 2008 by three awkward men in their late fifties.

FESTIVAL INFO

The 7th annual Montreal Israel Film Festival takes place at the Corona Theatre, at Concordia University and at the Guzzo Spheretech Mega-Plex 14 in Ville St-Laurent, where all films will be screened in Hebrew with English sub-titles.

Tickets cost 14$ per film and admission is free for students with valid ID. A special 10-bill ticket is also available.

For additional information about all 18 films, the program schedule, and tickets, please visit:

http://www.israelfilmfestival.ca

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