US indie film festival coming to Israel

States of Minds festival, which opens August 22, aims to expose Israeli audience to some of America's independent filmmakers

Amir Bogen|Published: 08.17.13 , 07:41

VIDEO - The Israeli audience's encounter with American cinema is usually mediated through Hollywood and the blockbusters it brings to our cinemas in commercial screenings. But the United States has many active independent filmmakers whose movies do not enjoy mass distribution around the world.

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For these filmmakers, Robert Redford founded the successful Sundance Festival which is held every year in the state of Utah. In addition, starting this summer, some of them will be exposed to the Israeli audience as part of a new festival for American independent films.

Trailer of 'What Maisie Knew'

The States of Minds festival will open in Israel on August 22 with family drama "What Maisie Knew," which was directed by Scott McGhee and David Siegel and stars Julianne Moore, Steve Coogan and Alexander Skarsgard. The film will also be screened commercially in Israel.

The festival will run through August 28 and will also include workshops and different activities. The event will be held simultaneously in Tel Aviv (Lev Cinema), Jerusalem (Cinematheque), Haifa (Beit Hagefen), Holon (Cinematheque) and Carmiel (Park Galil), and is sponsored by the US Embassy in Israel and the Motion Picture Association of America.

Trailer of 'Emperor'

Additional feature films which will be screened during the festival include Henry Alex Rubin's "Disconnect," starring Jason Bateman and Hope Davis; Peter Webber's "Emperor," starring Matthew Fox and Tommy Lee Jones;

Jaffe Zin's "Magic Valley," starring Scott Glenn; Ligiah Villalobos' "Under the Same Moon"; Matt Creed's "Lily"; and Matthew Porterfield's "Putty Hill."

The documentary part will include Tiffany Shlain's "Connected," Katie Dellamaggiore's "Brooklyn Castle," Barak Goodman's "Makers: Women Who Make America" and Susan Rockefeller's short film, "Mission of Mermaids."