07/07/2016 - For the first time since its inauguration, the festival features an international competition; A War and Last Days of Louis XIV are among the European productions competing for Best International Film

The 33^rd edition of the Jerusalem Film Festival will take place from 7-17 June. The festival will be opened by Julieta [+see also:
film review
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Q&A: Pedro Almodóvar
film profile], written and directed by Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar, based on three short stories by Alice Munro. This year, seven features, seven documentaries and 21 shorts have been selected for the main Israeli competition in their respective categories. Among the feature films selected is Beyond the Mountains and Hills [+see also:
trailer
film profile], written and directed by Eran Kolirin, a co-production between Israel, Germany and Belgium that was screened at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section. In the documentary section, there are also two European co-productions: Ben-Gurion, Epilogue, directed by Yariv Mozar, is an Israeli-French collaboration, while Maya Zinshtein’s Forever Pure is co-produced with the UK.

This year, a new international competition is included, and nine feature films have been selected to compete for the Wilf Family Foundation Award for Best International Film. More than half of the nominations go to European productions, which include: A War [+see also:
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interview: Tobias Lindholm
film profile] by Tobias Lindholm, a Danish production that received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Foreign-language Film, Death in Sarajevo [+see also:
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interview: Danis Tanovic
film profile] by Danis Tanović, a co-production between France and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cristi Puiu’s Sieranevada [+see also:
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Q&A: Cristi Puiu
film profile], a collaboration between Romania, France, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Croatia, Spanish director Albert Serra’s French production Last Days of Louis XIV [+see also:
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interview: Albert Serra
film profile], French-German co-production Things to Come [+see also:
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Q&A: Mia Hansen-Løve
film profile], directed by Mia Hansen-Løve, and Rúnar Rúnarsson’s San Sebastián winner Sparrows [+see also:
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interview: Atli Óskar Fjalarsson
interview: Rúnar Rúnarsson
film profile], a co-production between Iceland, Denmark and Croatia. The international competition line-up is completed with US documentary Weiner, directed by Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg, The Handmaiden by South Korean auteur Park Chan-Wook, and US director Kelly Reichardt’s cinematic triptych, Certain Women.

In addition to the competitions mentioned above, a FIPRESCI Award for Best First Film will also be handed out at the festival. Again, European (co-)productions dominate the nomination list, with Turkish filmmaker Mehmet Can Mertoğlu’s Albüm [+see also:
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interview: Mehmet Can Mertoglu
film profile], a collaboration with France and Romania, French production Bang Gang (A Modern Love Story) [+see also:
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interview: Eva Husson
film profile] by Eva Husson, Brady Corbet’s The Childhood of a Leader [+see also:
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film profile], which has already picked up awards at Venice, Slovenian director Olmo Omerzu’s Family Film [+see also:
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interview: Olmo Omerzu
film profile] and French-Polish-Swedish co-production The Here After [+see also:
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interview: Magnus von Horn
film profile] by Magnus von Horn, both of which were screened at Cannes and San Sebastián last year, Afghan director Shahrbanoo Sadat’s Wolf and Sheep [+see also:
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interview: Shahrbanoo Sadat
film profile], a co-production with Denmark, France and Sweden, and Oscuro Animal [+see also:
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film profile] by Felipe Guerrero, a collaboration between Germany, Argentina, the Netherlands, Greece and Colombia.

The festival also features the Spirit of Freedom and Jewish Experience sections, in which the best feature and documentary films on these topics will be awarded. In the Masters sidebar, the festival pays tribute to great filmmakers, including several European directors such as Jerzy Skolimowski, Werner Horzog, Chantal Akerman, Sergei Loznitsa, Terence Davies and Bruno Dumont, among others. Highlights of the Panorama sections include Michael Dudok de Wit’s dialogue-free animation The Red Turtle [+see also:
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film profile] and The Stopover [+see also:
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interview: Delphine and Muriel Coulin
film profile] directed by Delphine and Muriel Coulin, both screened in Un Certain Regard at Cannes, where the latter won Best Screenplay, Notes on Blindness [+see also:
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interview: James Spinney, Peter Middle…
film profile] by Pete Middleton and James Spinney, Lucile Hadžihalilović’s Evolution [+see also:
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film profile], screened in competition at San Sebastián, Alain Guiraudie’s Staying Vertical [+see also:
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interview: Alain Guiraudie
film profile], and many others.