Shira Geffen (R) with partner Etgar Keret at Cannes in 2007
Photo: AFP
After gaining commercial success with his first film, "Policeman," in Paris' cinemas, Israeli director Nadav Lapid is set for a debut screening of his new film, "The Kindergarten Teacher," as part of the Cannes Film Festival's
Critics Week sidebar next month.
"Self Made" follows two women on both sides of the Green Line – an Israeli woman (portrayed by actress Sarah Adler) and a Palestinian woman (Samira Saraya). A human error cases the two women to switch places and touch what they really long for on the other side of the border. They are required to adjust to a new reality, discovering an important thing about their existence.
The program, selected by the event's artistic director Charles Tesson, also includes a screening of Israeli filmmaker Shira Geffen's new film, "Self Made." Geffen won the Camera d’Or award at Cannes in 2007 for her first film "Jellyfish."
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Tesson described "Self Made" as a film with a burlesque touch and a mixture of a soft tone alongside the seriousness of the issue, presenting a portrait of parallel fates of an Israeli woman and a Palestinian woman.
"The Kindergarten Teacher" is an Israeli-French co-production produced as part of the Jerusalem International Film Lab.
The film focuses on an educator (played by Sarit Larry) who discovers a gifted child poet (Avi Schnaidman) in her kindergarten and decides to rescue his poems from the vulgar and ignorant world around him, and on a boy who has no interest in being rescued.
"This intelligent film presents an uncompromising portrait of Israel," Tesson said when announcing the movie's inclusion in the program.
"The Kindergarten Teacher" will be one of two films (alongside Mélanie Laurent's "Respire") the organizers plan to highlight during Critics Week, which will be led by British director Andrea Arnold who will preside over the jury for the sidebar competition.
Other Israeli filmmakers who have made it to Cannes this year are director Keren Yedaya, whose film " Harcheck mi Headro" will be screened as part of the Un Certain Regard (a particular outlook) section, and Inbar Horesh, whose film "The Visit" will be presented as part of the Short Films section.