Green with the award
Photo: Eilon Rachkovsky
Eitan Green wins prize in Montreal Film Festival
Israeli director's film 'It All Begins at Sea' receives Innovation Award from jury chaired by American director Mark Rydell
Israeli director Eitan Green's film "It All Begins at Sea" won the Innovation Award at the Montreal World Film Festival on Tuesday evening.
Yochanan Kardo of the Israeli film's production company, who was present at the award ceremony, said that "it was very exciting. The truth is we didn’t think we would win. There were other films people spoke about as nominees, and this is definitely a pleasant surprise.
The jury which gave Green the prize was chaired by American director Mark Rydell, whose films include "Intersection," "For the Boys," "The River" and "On Golden Pond," which won three Academy Awards.
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"It was an experience travelling to Montreal with the film. The screenings were packed, and the film received a wonderful welcome and a very impressive review in the film industry's Variety newspaper, which serves as another positive reinforcement."
The Variety review praised the Israeli director's "fine eye for multi-character blocking," the "multi-layered narrative which flows effortlessly" and the "simple yet expressive camera placement."
The reviewer compared between Green's film and Eran Kolirin's "The Band's Visit," also produced by the Tel Aviv-based July August company. According to the critic, the movie's "daring score" by Israeli composer Josef Bardanshvily’s "strays dangerously close to 'Twin Peaks' territory, yet somehow never intrudes."
The film, a drama with comic elements based on events that occurred during the Green's adolescence, was filmed and edited almost a year ago, but the creator and producers decided to postpone its release for technical reasons.
The film's plot tells of the maturation and disillusionment of an Israeli family dealing with daily life experiences and dreaming of expanding itself. The cast includes Yuval Segal, Dorit Lev-Ari, Ron Jaegermann, Tzahi Grad, Asher Tsarfati, Danny Steg, Arie Moskona and Roberto Polak. Shai Goldman is responsible for the cinematography.
"It All Begins at Sea" will make its Israeli debut at the Haifa International Film Festival, which will open on October 14. The film will be screened as part of a retrospective in honor of Green, which will also include the screening of his movies "Zolgot Hadma'ot Me'atmam," (as tears go by), "Henry's Dream," "Lena," "Ad Sof Halayla" (all night long) and "Ezrah Amerikai" (American citizen).
The Haifa festival will also host a panel which will discuss Green's cinematic oeuvre.
