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Thousands of members of Israel’s entertainment industry convened in Tel Aviv Thursday night for a socially distanced protest calling on the government to provide desperately needed aid.

The event began with a laser light show depicting “150” in huge numbers inside a ticking clock, a reference to the 150,000 entertainment industry workers in the country. Tens of thousands have already lost their jobs, while many more are on unpaid leave. Following the light show, participants lined up to sign a wall-sized petition addressed to the prime minister.

While gatherings bans are in place in Israel, political protests are one of the exceptions to the rule providing protesters maintain distancing guidelines. Police were concerned, however, that some participants were not abiding to the restrictions Thursday night.

Singer Aviv Geffen, one of the protest organizers, called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet with him to discuss the crisis. “There is a disaster happening,...

Lavie is best known for her first feature, Tribeca prize winner Zero Motivation.

On the eve of the Efm, London-based WestEnd Films has snapped up worldwide rights to Honeymood, a romantic comedy from Talya Lavie. the director of Zero Motivation.

Honeymood is a romantic comedy set over the course of one night in Jerusalem. A bride and groom arrive at a lavish hotel suite after their wedding. Instead of relaxing and enjoying a romantic night, they get into a fight that soon develops into a dazed, urban odyssey, confronting them with past loves, repressed doubts, and the lives they have left behind.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today that 344 feature films are eligible for the 2019 Academy Awards.

To be eligible for the consideration, the films must open in a commercial motion picture theater in Los Angeles County by Dec. 31, and begin a minimum run of seven consecutive days. Academy rules also state that a feature-length motion picture must have a running time of more than 40 minutes and must have been exhibited theatrically on 35mm or 70mm film, or in a qualifying digital format.

Nominations for the 92nd Academy Awards will be announced on Monday, Jan. 13, 2020. The ceremony takes place on Sunday, Feb. 9, airing live from Hollywood on ABC.

“Abominable”

“Ad Astra”

“Adam”

“The Addams Family”

“The Aeronauts”

“After the Wedding”

“The Aftermath”

“Aga”

“Aladdin”

“Alita: Battle Angel”

“Always Be My Maybe”

“The Amazing Johnathan”

“American Factory”

“American Woman”

“Angel Has Fallen”

“The Angry Birds Movie 2”

“Anna”

“Annabelle Comes Home...

Festival favorite “Maiden” is the latest in documentary to buttress a weak summer at the specialty box office. “Maiden” opened in New York and Los Angeles at a level below some of the year’s top entries, but should build word of mouth with Sony Pictures Classics’ careful rollout, as initial audiences were enthusiastic. It’s slim pickings at the moment.

Multiple other films with solid reviews –“The Chambermaid” (Kino Lorber), “Ophelia” (IFC), “The Other Story” (Strand), and “The Plagiarists” (Kimstim) — also made limited debuts but didn’t report lesser grosses. This happens occasionally, but not reporting this many estimates is a sign of an overall problematic market.

A bigger problem is top titles that skip the normal specialized slow expansion route like “Booksmart” (United Artists) and “Late Night” (Amazon). Both have yielded disappointing wider performances, particularly the latter. Both continue at some key arthouse situations.

But the big success...

The increasing divide between the secular and ultra-religious in Israeli society would seem to provide the opportunity for compelling drama. Unfortunately, veteran director Avi Nesher (The Wonders, The Matchmaker) squanders that opportunity with his latest effort. Diluting its powerful themes with overcooked melodrama and unnecessarily distracting subplots, The Other Story would have benefited from a simpler, more direct approach. The film, a box office hit in its native country, is now receiving a theatrical release on our shores.

The central storyline involves the impending marriage between two young people in Jerusalem who have both abandoned their hedonistic lives to embrace Orthodox Judaism: Shahar ...

The increasing divide between the secular and ultra-religious in Israeli society would seem to provide the opportunity for compelling drama. Unfortunately, veteran director Avi Nesher (The Wonders, The Matchmaker) squanders that opportunity with his latest effort. Diluting its powerful themes with overcooked melodrama and unnecessarily distracting subplots, The Other Story would have benefited from a simpler, more direct approach. The film, a box office hit in its native country, is now receiving a theatrical release on our shores.

The central storyline involves the impending marriage between two young people in Jerusalem who have both abandoned their hedonistic lives to embrace Orthodox Judaism: Shahar ...

Family disputes and conspiracies take center stage in “The Other Story,” veteran helmer Avi Nesher’s lively drama exploring a hot button issue: the divide between Israel’s secular Jews and the ultra-Orthodox. The fluid narrative plays out against the backdrop of a Jerusalem riven by multiple conflicts as two dysfunctional families separately arrive at an understanding of what is important in life and are ultimately able to dial back their desire to deal in inflexible absolutes. Like Nesher’s other features of the past decade this smartly cast and smoothly directed drama involves an investigation. It’s a neat script ploy that allows loyalties to shift, revelations to surface and hidden agendas to appear, while keeping the action pacey and the audience guessing. After breaking box office records in Israel, Nesher’s entertaining 18th film will start its theatrical rollout on both coasts through Strand Releasing.

Actually, “The Other Story” boasts multiple investigations.

The Other Story Strand Releasing Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.net linked from Rotten Tomatoes by: Harvey Karten Director: Avi Nesher Screenwriter: Avi Nesher, Noam Shpancer Cast: Maayan Blum, Maya Dagan, Sasson Gabai, Nathan Goshen, Avigail Harari, Sean Mongoza Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 5/3/19 Opens: June 28, 2019 When Israel was born in 1948, there […]

The post The Other Story Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

"Why are we interfering in her life?" Strand Releasing has debuted an official trailer for an Israeli familial drama titled The Other Story, the latest from veteran Israeli filmmaker Avi Nesher. Strand describes it: "Strong female protagonists have been the mainstay of many Avi Nesher films. In The Other Story, two rebellious young women – one fleeing the chaos of secular hedonism for the disciplined comforts of faith; the other desperate to transcend her oppressive religious upbringing for sexual and spiritual freedom – cross paths unexpectedly in Jerusalem, to startling consequences." The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last year. Starring Sasson Gabai, Joy Rieger, Yuval Segal, Maya Dagan, & Maayan Bloom. View below. Here's the official Us trailer (+ poster) for Avi Nesher's The Other Story, direct from Strand's YouTube: Two rebellious young Israeli women – one who is fleeing the chaos of secular hedonism ...

In today’s film news roundup, Focus gives a release date to Matthias Schoenaerts’ “The Mustang,” Stuart Ford’s Agc Studios will finance and produce the comedy “Action,” and Strand buys Israeli hit “The Other Story.”

Release Date

Focus Features has given a March 15, 2019, release date to the Matthias Schoenaerts drama “The Mustang.”

Schoenaerts portrays a convict in a rural Nevada prison who struggles to escape his violent past and is required to participate in an “outdoor maintenance” program as part of his state-mandated social rehabilitation. He’s spotted by a no-nonsense veteran trainer (Bruce Dern) and helped by an outgoing fellow inmate and trick rider (Jason Mitchell), and accepted into the selective wild horse training section of the program, where he finds his own humanity in dealing with an especially unbreakable mustang.

Connie Britton, Gideon Adlon, and Josh Stewart also star. Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre makes her feature directing debut with “The Mustang,...

Avi Nesher’s drama premiered in Toronto.

Strand Releasing has acquired all North American rights to Avi Nesher’s Israeli hit The Other Story from Mark Damon’s Foresight Unlimited.

The Other Story is enjoying an extraordinary run in Israel, where it is approaching $7m at the box office, and recently won the Audience Choice Award for Best Feature Film at the Israeli Film Festival, where Nesher received the 2018 Iff Cinematic Achievement Award.

The film premiere in Toronto and stars Yuval Segal as a man who connects with his ex-wife to investigate why his formerly fun-loving daughter has enrolled in an ultra-orthodox seminary.

In today’s film news roundup, free screenings of “The Hate U Give” are announced, the Napa Valley Film Festival is opening with “The Green Book,” and Jason Blum receives an award from the Israel Film Festival.

Free Screenings

Twentieth Century Fox Film and AMC Theatres are offering free screenings of “The Hate U Give” for young people in nine metro areas on Oct. 6.

The screenings will take place at 11 a.m. local time in Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. Students and youth-serving organizations are encouraged to register for the free screenings.

Fox said it kicks off a campaign to bring up to 50 showings to communities and invited schools, community groups, and nonprofit organizations. Individuals interested in supporting screenings for classrooms around the country can contribute, with 21st Century Fox matching donations up to $25,000.

The movie stars Amandla Stenberg as a...

Producer Jason Blum and Israeli director/screenwriter Avi Nesher will be honored at the 32nd Israel Film Festival’s opening night gala on Nov. 6 at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills when Nesher’s The Other Story will screen as the fest’s opening night film, it was announced today by the festival’s founder and executive director Meir Fenigstein and Arnon Milchan, honorary chairman of the festival.

Blum, a two-time best picture Oscar nominee for Whiplash and Get Out and the founder of Blumhouse Productions, will be presented with the 2018 Iff Achievement in Film and TV Award....

Producer Jason Blum and Israeli director/screenwriter Avi Nesher will be honored at the 32nd Israel Film Festival’s opening night gala on Nov. 6 at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills when Nesher’s The Other Story will screen as the fest’s opening night film, it was announced today by the festival’s founder and executive director Meir Fenigstein and Arnon Milchan, honorary chairman of the festival.

Blum, a two-time best picture Oscar nominee for Whiplash and Get Out and the founder of Blumhouse Productions, will be presented with the 2018 Iff Achievement in Film and TV Award....

The Haifa Script Distillery will support Israeli writers.

Israel’s Haifa International Film Festival (September 22 - October 1) has launched a script development programme called the Haifa Script Distillery to support Israeli writers to develop English-language film and TV scripts.

The initiative has been unveiled during this year’s festival where 20 projects chosen from 400 entries are being presented (See full list below). Six to eight works will be shortlisted and will each receive a development grant of 50,000 Nis. Each writer will be mentored and receive training from tutors and supporting partners.

Once fully developed, the selected works will be presented to...

Controversial right-wing politician Miri Regev calls for state funding to be axed over its programming choices.

Israeli Culture Minister Miri Regev is calling for state funding of the Haifa International Film Festival (Haiff) to be re-appraised, raising objections about films in its upcoming 34th edition that she considers could “harm Israel”.

According to a letter obtained by Israeli media, Regev wrote to Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, demanding his ministry re-examine state funding for Haifa, saying it had broken the law by programming films that undermined “Israeli values and symbols”.

The festival, which opens on September 22 with Avi Nesher’s...

The festival programme includes a tribute to director Agnès Varda.

Haifa International Film Festival has unveiled the opening and closing night films, as well as a series of other additions to the programme, for its 34th edition (September 22 - October 1).

The festival will open with The Other Story, directed by Ari Nesher and starring Sasson Gabai, Joy Rieger, Yuval Segal, Maya Dagan and Nathan Goshen.

Co-written by Nesher and psychologist Noam Shpancer, the film follows a young secular woman who decides to get engaged to a hedonistic musician now living as an ultra-Orthodox Jew. This causes her divorced parents and...

Israeli auteur Avi Nesher’s last four films have screened in Toronto.

Mark Damon’s Foresight Unlimited has picked up worldwide sales on Israeli auteur Avi Nesher’s Toronto selection The Other Story (Sipur Acher) and will introduce to buyers this week.

The drama will premiere in Contemporary World Cinema and starts with a P+I screening on Friday (September 7) followed by the first public screening a day later. Sasson Gabai from The Band’s Visit, Joy Rieger, the breakout star of Nesher’s Past Life, Yuval Segal, Maya Dagan, Avigial Harari, and Maayan Bloom.

Nesher and Noam Shpancer wrote...

Brady Corbet’s “Vox Lux,” with Natalie Portman and Jude Law, and Neil Jordan’s “Greta,” with Chloe Grace Moretz and Isabelle Huppert, are among almost 50 films that have been added to the lineup of the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival, Tiff organizers announced on Tuesday.

The two films have been added to the Special Presentations program, with “Greta” having its world premiere at Tiff and “Vox Lux” its Canadian premiere.

“Greta” features Moretz as a young woman in New York who befriends a widow who turns out to have sinister intentions; “Vox Lux” is a musical drama that encompasses the life of a woman who achieves success after a tragic childhood.

Also Read: Natalie Portman Is an Aspiring Pop Star in First-Look at Brady Corbet's 'Vox Lux' (Photo)

Toronto also announced its Discovery program, which is devoted to up-and-coming filmmakers. The 46 films in the lineup come from 37 different countries,...