Israeli student film wins award
Matan Guggenheim wins prize for film about terrorism's impact at Brooklyn International Film Festival
“It’s a wonderful feeling, to win first prize,” said Guggenheim, a 28-year-old film student at Tel Aviv University.
"Crickets" is a 16-minute film that tells about Ido, a young man whose parents were killed in a terrorist attack. To deal with the trauma, Ido gets involved with an underground movement in which people place bets on terrorist attacks.
In the beginning he thinks this practice is insane, but soon gets immersed in it and finds it to be the only solution to his “cricket” problem; since his parents’ death Ido hears the bugs’ noises in his head. Once the attacks are over, though, Ido faces a gambling problem as well.
'Film comes from reality of Israeli life’
He said he shot part of the movie during a real terrorist attack.
“This movie comes from the reality of life in Israel,” Guggenheim told Ynetnews.
"Crickets" is the first movie Guggenheim made as part of his film studies at the university, which did not stop it from winning praise.
Guggenheim said he sent the short feature to festivals in Europe, the U.S., and Canada. It received an honorable mention in the DaKino International Film Festival in Romania and was shown at the Clemont Ferand festival in France, a festival specializing in short films. The film has been shown at other festivals, as well.
The USD 7,000 prize was accepted by Ofra Ben Yaakov, culture consul of the Israeli Embassy in New York.
“I did not go because there was no one to sponsor my trip,” Guggenheim said.
Guggenheim, who is graduating this year, plans to film a new movie with the prize money.
His new film is about a man who tries to find his identity through his memories. Guggenheim said he has finished the script and hopes to start filming soon.
