This year's prestigious film festival in French resort city of Cannes will feature three Israeli filmmakers after years with no blue and white representation.
The 74th Cannes Film Festival is set to take place between July 6 and July 17.
Among the three films which are set to screen at the festival is Nadav Lapid’s latest movie “Ahed's Knee”, which focuses on filmmaker’s struggle with the loss of his mother and his country’s creative freedom. The film will compete for the festival’s "Palme d'Or" prize, alongside some of the most well regarded independent films of 2020-2021.
Lapid’s short film “The Star” will also be screened at the festival, but will not compete for the main prize.
The filmmaker's work first featured at the festival in 2014 with the movie “The Kindergarten Teacher,” which was screened at the festival’s Parallel section, dedicated to discovering other aspects of cinema.
“To present two films at the Cannes Film Festival is like digging, finding the treasure and then finding another one," said Lapid.
"I am of course beyond thrilled. Ahed's Knee is a a film that I feel I have carved from the depths of my soul, head and body. When I look at it, I see the years of my life scattered on the screen,” added the filmmaker. “I am no less happy about ‘The Star’, a film made at the height of the COVID pandemic, with a sense of happiness and lust for life.”
Another Israeli filmmaker who will make his way to the French film festival is Eran Kolirin. He will present his latest film “Let there be light”, which tells the story of an Israeli Arab who is forced to deal with his identity and national affiliation, when he finds the village where he grew up surrounded by a wall.
The film will be screened in the “Un Certain Regard” category of the festival, which focuses on films with an unusual style.
Kolirin's work first featured in Cannes in 2008, when his film “The Band's Visit” debuted in the exact same category. Kolirin returned to the festival in 2016, with his film “Beyond the Mountains and Hills.”
“I'm happy to be back in Cannes and especially for Un Certain Regard," Kolirin said. “I'm especially glad it's happening with this movie, which is all about the most beautiful journeys I've made in my life, alongside the most beautiful people, within our broken and wounded reality in Israel.”
Another filmmaker is Shlomi Elkabetz, whose movie “Black Notebooks” will be screened at the festival, but will not compete.
Another Israeli representation at the festival is Assaf and Eyal Geva virtual reality game, "The Secret of Ratropolis". The game is nominated at the festival in the virtual reality category.
The Cannes Film Festival, which will take place after a forced pandemic-induced hiatus in 2020, will feature some of the world's greatest filmmakers and will open with French creator Leo Carax’s newest film "Annette".
Other big names include Wes Anderson with his new film “The French Dispatch”, Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi with “The Hero”, and Dutch filmmaker Paul Verhoeven with “Benedetta”.