Martin Landau, 84 Sherry Lansing, 68
by Alex Deleon Farba
For a small embattled country Israel has somehow managed to build up a sizeable film industry over the years in spite of constant military and terroristic pressures. Los Angeles has no dearth of ethnic film festivals but I was surprised to find that this one has been around this long --- officially launched here in 1982, not exactly born yesterday. Considering that Los Angeles has one of the largest Jewish populations in the country, second only to New York, plus a sizeable direct-from-Israel diaspora,
this city is a natural ecological niche for such a festival . It must be said, however, that Israeli films per se, which is to say Hebrew language films (as opposed to Jewish themed films in general) are not nearly as well known as those from other countries in the region such as Iran, Turkey and Egypt. Nevertheless they have been making their presence known little by little at major film festivals where one or two seem to turn up every year, and at least one director, Amos Gitai, has established an international reputation.
The current festival opens with a gala at the Screen Writers Guild theater in Beverly Hills on April 18 and will run until May 2. A total of twenty medium and full length features will be shown as well as a selection of student shorts. The opening night film is entitled "The Ballad of the Weepig Spring" (2012, 105 mins.) a multiple prize winner in Israel last year, directed by Benny Toraty with actor Uri Gavriel scheduled to appear for a Q and A. Gavriel born in 1955 has been around the block a few times, has appeared in some Hollywood films, and won a Best actor prize at Karlovy Vary in 2005 for his work in the Israeli film "Eize Makom Nifla" (What a Wondeful Place").
Half a dozen Israeli directors are also expected to accompany their films here. On the Honorary Film Committee list one finds such familiar names as Robert De Niro, Danny DiVito, Michael Douglas, Richard Dreyfuss, Goldie Hawn, Bette Middler, Dustin Hoffman and Zubin Mehta. No lack of big name backing, not all of whom are necessarily Jewish. Three Special Awards are to be proffered at the opening ceremony: Sherry Lansing, former CEO of paramount Pictures, will receive a Lifetime Achievement award (bet you didn't know SHE was Jewish!), veteran Hollywood character actor Martin Landau, a career achievement award -- Among many memorable roles he was James Mason's evil sidekick in Hitchcock's North by Northwest, (1959) but is perhaps best known for his role as Bela Lugosi in "Ed Wood", 1994, for which he picked up a supporting actor Oscar... Mr. Landau is now 84 and still plying his trade, and finally Iconic Israeli Actor, Uri Gavriel, the star of the opening film, will get the 2013 Cinematic Achievement Award. A number of the films on the agenda, not surprisingly, have military themes with titles such as "Ameer Got His Gun", "Halfon Hill doesn't answer", and "Rock The Casbah". All in all this looks like an unusual opportunity to come to grips with a little known but potent cinema industry from a small but potent country.
Israeli actor Uri Gavriel