it’s 27th year, festival organizers selected Israeli-made Sumo dramedy A Matter of Size to kick off the proceedings at the coveted Sultan’s Pool
opening screening. Size makes for a curious selection, since this spot featured Pixar animated
movies for the past two years, but it doesn’t really matter what film
opens the festival. Even Waterworld would seem like Citizen Kane against
the backdrop of the Old City walls. The Jerusalem Film Festival runs
through July 18th, with showings at cinemas across the city including
international feature films, documentaries and shorts, with a
strong focus on Jewish and Israeli films.
A welcome addition
to this year’s festival is the MGM Nights series, featuring free,
open-air
screenings of musicals in the center of town, preceded by live music
concerts. A full schedule can be found here. Also new this year
is Cinemania, a collaboration with the activist organization Wake Up
Jerusalem!, which showcases screenings by young Israeli filmmakers
in local bars. A full schedule can be found here.
Apropos to a
film festival taking place in Jerusalem,
unique programs that highlight Jerusalem’s history will once again be on offer as well. This year, at the
amphitheater in the Mamilla Alrov Avenue will be a free screening of
Days of Mamilla, which includes amazing archival footage of Mamilla of
yesteryear.
There are also many other sub-festivals and
series, the Conference of The Forum for the Preservation of
Audio-Visual Memory in Israel, a Combatant for Peace Reconciliation event,
and several exhibits at the Cinematheque itself. The festival might not
be as important as its planners tout it as being, but this year, many
movies are set to screen here as a stop in-between Cannes and Toronto,
a not unimpressive coup.
And
there’s still a downright staggering array of movies of all genres from
all around the world, reaffirming the festival’s place as one of the
premiere brand names on Jerusalem’s cultural calendar.
