Nadav Lapid's 'Synonyms' wins top prize at Berlin Film Fest
BERLIN -- Israeli director Nadav Lapid's "Synonyms," a movie about a young Israeli man who uproots himself to France and is determined to put his homeland behind him, won the Berlin International Film Festival's top Golden Bear award on Saturday.
A jury headed by French actress Juliette Binoche chose the movie from a field of 16 competing at the first of the year's major European film festivals. Set in Paris, it stars Tom Mercier in the role of Yoav, who refuses to speak Hebrew and is accompanied by an ever-present French dictionary as he tries to put down roots and create a new identity for himself.
Lapid said as he accepted the award that some in Israel might be "scandalized" by the movie "but for me, the film is also a big celebration -- a celebration, I hope, also of cinema."
