News

Ayelet Menahemi’s family comedy Seven Blessings swept the board at Israel’s Ophir Awards on Sunday evening, triumphing in nine categories including in best film.

As the winner of the best film prize, the movie will automatically be put forward as Israel’s submission to the Best International Film category of the 2024 Academy Awards.

Set in Jerusalem in the early 1990s, the film revolves around an eventful Jewish Moroccan family wedding and the traditional blessings that are pronounced during the ceremony, again at the reception, and then on the next seven nights, with loved ones hosting special dinners in the couple’s honor.

Behind the facade of joie de vivre and togetherness, there are secrets, lies, and a painful old wound from the past that threatens to burst the bubble of their lives.

Added to the mix is a comedy of errors and misinterpretation from numerous members of the family speaking multiple languages,...

Countless films have been made around the premise of people making a decision that turns out to be wrong, which further triggers a chain reaction of events. But when the army, especially Israeli Defence Force (Idf) is involved, the usual Snafu (Situation Normal All F***ed Up) quickly goes to Fubar (F***ed Up Beyond All Repair). That would, in short, be the case with Dani Rosenberg's (of 2020 dramedy “The Death of Cinema and My Father Too” fame) “The Vanishing Soldier” that has just premiered at the main competition of Locarno.

The Vanishing Soldier is screening in Locarno Film Festival

Shlomi (Ido Tako) is an 18-year-old boy drafted in the army and stationed somewhere in the middle of combat zone. When the action comes too close for him, he uses his wits to lag behind and desert from the front line. Is it a conscious decision? An anti-war statement?...