03/07/2015 - The jury members for the pitching event, to be held during the 32nd Jerusalem Film Festival, have been selected, comprising seven major international names from the industry

Kirsten Niehuus will chair the jury (© Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg)

The Sam Spiegel International Film Lab is a project initiated by the Sam Spiegel Film & Television School in Jerusalem and has helped talented filmmakers worldwide in their quest to develop and produce full-length feature films.

One of its own alumni has been announced as part of this year’s jury for the closing pitching event: writer-director László Nemes (winner of the 2015 Grand Prix at Cannes), who developed his highly acclaimed and awarded film Son of Saul [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: László Nemes
interview: László Rajk
film profile] at the second edition of the lab in 2013. He will be joined by Kirsten Niehuus (general director, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg GmbH / Germany), who will serve as chair of the jury, as well as Olivier Père (general director, ARTE France Cinéma / France), Meinolf Zurhorst (director of the film department, ZDF/ Germany), Katriel Schory (director of the Israel Film Fund / Israel), Michèle Halberstadt (distributor and producer, ARP Selection / France) and Ewa Puszczynska (film producer, Opus Film/ Poland).

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Each year, several projects are selected, mentored by script editors from the industry, and ultimately pitched in front of a jury during the Jerusalem Film Festival. This year’s event will feature 11 projects, which have been tutored by mentors Clare Downs (the UK), Jacques Akchoti (France) and Avi Neshar (Israel) over the last seven months.

In addition to presenting their projects to the jury, the 11 participants in this year’s edition will also have the opportunity to pitch in the presence of 30 international decision makers (producers, sales agents, distributors and so on) and the local film industry. Additionally, they will vie for prizes totalling $70,000, donated by the Beracha Foundation and awarded by the jury.

The selections include an international range of talents: Banat [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Adriano Valerio (Italy/France), The Boyfriend by Ashim Ahluwalia (India), Candido by Paolo Marinou-Blanco (Portugal/Brazil), The Death of Black Horses by Ferit Karahan (Turkey/Kurdistan) and Never Let it Go by Paul Negoescu (Romania). The following Israeli participants will also have the chance to pitch their film projects: A Great Light by Idan Hubel, Aya by Mihal Brezis and Oded Binnun, Darkroom by Itamar Alcalay, Darwin by Oren Adaf, Virgins [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Keren Ben Rafael, and Zuzik by Shalom Hager.

The pitching event on 10 July 2015 will be the closing affair for the Lab’s fourth edition.