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The most commanding stories that easily capture audiences’ attention are not only those that are contemporary and focus on important issues, but also transcend barriers of family, religion, gender and culture. The new comedy, ‘Holy Air,’ does that naturally and intelligently, as it explores how conservative societal expectations on such important issues can powerfully influence […]

The post Interview: Shady Srour and Ilan Moskovitch Talk Holy Air (Exclusive) appeared first on Shockya.com.

Festival reveals the award winners from its 34th edition.

Scaffolding has won the best Israeli feature film prize at the 34th edition of the Jerusalem Film Festival.

The debut feature from director Matan Yair – produced by rising Israeli production outfit Green Productions – takes home a prize worth $28,000 (100,000 Ils).

Scaffolding also scooped the best actor prize for debutant Asher Lax and an honorary mention in the best cinematography category for DoP Bartosz Bieniek.

A jury consisting of Elle producer Saïd Ben Saïd, artist Yael Bartana, cinematographer Agnès Godard and Cíntia Gíl, director of film festival Doclisboa, said of the film: “For a film that combines the reality of a group of teenagers and the will of questioning cinema and the role of filmmaking. For its capacity of capturing the tenderness sometimes behind these kids’ violence, their capacity for love, their surprising imagination, in a society that places them in a marginal role forever.”

The festival...

Exclusive: House Of Cards and Sherlock actor leads Danish arthouse title.

New Europe Film Sales has taken worldwide rights for Winter Brothers (Vinterbrødre), a Danish arthouse drama starring Lars Mikkelsen (House Of Cards, Sherlock).

The film wrapped a six-week shoot in Faxe, Denmark in May 2016. Screen understands it is now set for a healthy festival run across the summer and autumn.

Hlynur Pálmason marks his directorial debut on the project and also wrote the screenplay. His 2014 short film Seven Boats premiered at Tiff.

Winter Brothers is a Danish-Icelandic co-production between Masterplan Pictures and Join Motion Pictures. Julie Waltersdorph Hansen was a producer on the project and Per Damgaard Hansen was an executive producer.

The film stars Mikkelsen alongside Elliott Crosset Hove and Simon Sears in the story of two brothers who enter a violent feud with another family.

New Europe’s recent acquisitions also include Cannes Acid selection Scaffolding, Tribeca title Holy Air and Berlinale title Summer...

Festival selects 12 titles for second edition of competitive strand.

Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled, the Safdie Brothers’ Good Time, and François Ozon’s Amant Double (The Double Lover) all of which played in competition at Cannes, have been selected for this year’s international competition at the Jerusalem Film Festival (July 13-17).

Returning for a second time after launching in 2016, the festival’s international competition has picked a total of 12 titles and will again award a prize of $20,000 to the winning film.

Joining the aforementioned are: Hong Sang-soo’s On The Beach At Night Alone, Cãlin Peter Netzer’s Ana, Mon Amour, Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Groß’s My Happy Family, Ferenc Török’s 1945, Valeska Grisebach’s Western, Fellipe Barbosa’s Gabriel And The Mountain, Mohammad Rasoulof’s A Man Of Integrity, Stéphane Brizé’s A Woman’s Life, and Lav Diaz’s The Woman Who Left.

As previously announced, the festival...

Tribeca premiere sells to North America.

Samuel Goldwyn Films has taken North American rights to Shady Srour’s Israeli comedy Holy Air.

The film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival in April. It was produced by Ilan Moscovitch.

Strour also stars, alongside Samuel Calderon, Tarik Copti, Dalia Okal and Bryan Anteer, in the story of a Christian Arab living in Nazareth who has the ingenious idea of bottling air from the Holy Land.

The deal was negotiated by Ben Feingold on behalf of Samuel Goldwyn Films and Jan Naszewski of New Europe Film Sales, on behalf of the filmmakers.

Ben Feingold of Samuel Goldwyn Films said, “Holy Air is a contemporary comedy that not only transcends barriers of religion, gender, and culture, but is also intelligent and funny. I was reminded of The Band’s Visit, which is one of my favourite films of all time. We look forward to working with Shady and releasing...

Adult growing pains, regional politics and the business of religion all figure in Holy Air, a winningly satiric comedy that’s as tenderhearted as it is sly. Writer-director Shady Srour has a soulful sad-sack quality as his film’s central character, Adam, a Christian Arab Israeli who’s not quite ready for fatherhood or for the painful fading of his ailing father. As he tries to find his entrepreneurial calling, he lights upon the idea to bottle the title item and hawk it to Israel’s tchotchke-collecting tourists. With its light dramatic touch and assured visual style, the feature should have a busy itinerary...

Balancing and preserving a budding progressive family within a framework of traditional spirituality is a difficult task in any city. One film premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival this month shows that going through that process in Nazareth brings with it a special set of challenges.

Read More: Tribeca 2017 Lineup: New Films From Alex Gibney, Azazel Jacobs and Laurie Simmons Lead the Eclectic Mix

Written, directed, and starring Shady Srour, “Holy Air” centers on the difficulties and small misfortunes of Adam, a Christian Arab living in Nazareth. Adam is a decent businessman and his pregnant wife, Lamia, is a strong advocate for women’s rights. Things take a turn for the worse for the couple when Adam’s father falls severely ill and Lamia’s pregnancy has complications. In need of money to assist his father and support his growing family, Adam turns to a crafty business venture: selling bottles...

Festival receives record number of submissions as top brass trim roster by 20%.

World premieres of Michael Winterbottom’s The Trip To Spain (pictured), Nick Broomfield and Rudi Dolezal’s Whitney. “can I be me,”, and Hell On Earth: The Fall Of Syria And The Rise Of Isis by Sebastian Junger and Nick Quested are among the line-up at the 16th annual Tribeca Film Festival (April 19-30).

Festival top brass led by new director of programming Cara Cusumano and artistic director Frédéric Boyer unveiled on Thursday 82 of the 98 features that will screen at this year’s edition.

Trimmed down by 20%, the festival received a record number 8,700 submissions, of which 3,362 were features – and includes 32 films in competition comprising 12 documentaries, 10 Us narratives and 10 international narratives. Films in competition will compete for cash prizes totalling $160,000.

Spotlight Narrative section features 15 fiction films, while Spotlight Documentary includes 16 non-fiction films. Five fiction and one documentary film play in Midnight.

The 2017 roster...