Feature Jerusalem International Film Lab
The 2014 participants, back row from left: Nora Martirosyan (Armenia), Martin Repka (Slovakia), Gregory Rentis (Greece), Sanjeewa Pushpakumara (Sri Lanka), Amikam Kovner (Israel), Asa Hjorleifsdottir (Iceland), Ivan Marinovic (Montenegro). Front row from left: Assaf Snir (Israel), Talya Lavie (Israel), Aygul Bakanova (Kyrgyzstan), Gaëlle Denis (France), Ritesh Batra (India), Alamork Marsha (Israel)
the lab’s first prize in 2012, premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard this year and Nadav Lapid’s The Kindergarten Teacher, the 2012 runner-up, was given a special screening in Critics’ Week at Cannes in May. Lapid says: “I arrived at the lab with a script that was in a fairly advanced stage of development. I was fearful the advisors might try to put their stamp on the work but instead they gave sensitive advice and intelligent analysis… the latter also really helped when it came to actually making the film.”
Beyond blue sky The 13 film-makers due to pitch their Jerusalem International Film Lab projects today include Ritesh Batra, Talya Lavie and Nora Martirosyan. Melanie Goodfellow reports on the lab’s focus on real-world projects
W
hen Indian director Ritesh Batra learned he had been accepted as a participant on the third edition of Jerusalem International Film Lab, he was taking part in a world tour promoting his international arthouse hit, The Lunchbox. Bad timing? Not at all, says Batra, who seized the opportunity to develop Photograph, the tale of an unlikely romance between a poor photographer and a young girl from a wealthy Mumbai family. “For me, it was gift. After The Lunchbox premiered in Cannes [in 2013] it was a busy time as I accompanied the film to festivals all over the world,” says Batra. “The Jerusalem set-up was great for me. They’re wonderful with deadlines and feedback. In the middle of all The Lunchbox craziness, I’ve been able to generate a screenplay thanks to the lab.” Photograph is among 13 projects due to be presented today at the lab’s pitching event, offering some $80,000 in production prizes. Jerusalem International Film Lab is an initiative of Israel’s respected Sam Spiegel Film & Television School. It launched in December 2011, with its first edition running through 2012. “It’s a chutzpah project,” says Renen Schorr, founding director of the school, who was the driving force behind the lab’s creation. “We’re the only film school in the world
www.screendaily.com
‘The end game is to develop real projects that get made’ Renen Schorr, Sam Spiegel Film and Television School
(Right) jury chair Paulo Branco presents Veronica Kedar with the Beracha Foundation Award of $530,000 for Family, at last year’s Jerusalem International Film Lab
to have initiated a lab, in the full sense of the word, like Sundance and Torino. The aim was to support script development as well as help the projects go into production.” Schorr notes that he expects a high level of commitment from the lab participants. “We are highly demanding. We ask our mentors to be tough with the participants, not deal in platitudes if they think the work’s not there yet. We want them to get the shit out of the participants, and you can quote me on that,” he says. “The end game is to develop real projects that get made. The world is full of projects that never take off.” The initiative is already yielding results. Out of the 12 projects in the 2012 selection, six are finished films and three are in preproduction. Its influence is also being seen on the festival circuit. Ivory Coast filmmaker Philippe Lacote’s Run, which took
This year’s slate Aside from Photograph, other projects due to be unveiled in today’s pitching event include Territoria from Armenia’s Nora Martirosyan, The Swan from Iceland’s Asa Hjorleifsdottir, The Current Love Of My Life from Israel’s Talya Lavie, and Fig Tree from Israel’s Alamork Marsha. Martirosyan’s Territoria won the ARTE International Prize at Cannes’ l’Atelier this year. Set in a remote region in the lower Caucasus mountains, it revolves around three characters connected by a desire to either remain in or flee the area. Hjorleifsdottir’s The Swan, which won the VFF Talent Highlight Pitch at this year’s Berlinale, follows a neglected nine-year-old who is sent to the remote farm of distant relatives for the summer. The Current Love Of My Life is the second feature from Lavie after Zero Motivation, which won the top prize at Tribeca this year. Her new project revolves around a young Israeli musician in New York who hides in the ultra-orthodox community after he is pursued by the immigration authorities. Ethiopia-born Israeli Marsha’s Fig Tree gives a rare insight into the modern-day exodus of Ethiopian Jews to Israel through the tale of a teenager from Addis Ababa whose family decides to take up the right of return in the early 1990s. This year’s jury is presided over by Michele Halberstadt of French distribution and production company ARP and also features Cannes Critics’ Week artistic director Charles Tesson, Berlinale Co-production Market director Sonja Heinen and Berlin-based South African-Swedish director Pia Marais. Other professionals attending include Titus Kreyenberg of German production company Unafilm, Caroline Benjo and Carole Scotta of France’s Haut et Court and Riina Sporring Zachariassen of Denmark’s Winds elov/Lassen. n
July 11-12, 2014 Screen International at Jerusalem 3