Two Israeli film directors competing at Cannes
New flicks from award-winning Nadav Lapid and Eran Kolirin will feature at renowned French event
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleJessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
Two Israeli filmmakers will compete at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival in France, July 6-17, and a third will screen his film, after last year’s event was held online due to the coronavirus.
Award-winning director Nadav Lapid will showcase his latest film, the semi-autobiographical “Ahed’s Knee,” competing in the festival’s main competition against 22 other films.
His short film, “Star,” will also be screened at Cannes, but not in any competition.
Lapid won the Golden Bear and Fipresci prize at the Berlinale in 2019, with “Synonyms,” his first film since his 2014 festival hit “The Kindergarten Teacher.”
Two other Israeli directors will be screening films at Cannes.
Eran Kolirin’s “Let It Be Morning,” based on Palestinian writer Sayed Kashua’s 2006 novel of the same name, about an Arab village under Israeli blockade, will compete in Cannes’s Un Certain Regard competition.
Kolirin, director of the award-winning, “The Band’s Visit,” tells the story of Sami, a Palestinian accountant and Israeli citizen, who is traveling home with his wife and son, having departed a family wedding in his childhood village.
He is stopped by soldiers and sent back to the village that comes under an unexplained lockdown, messing up their plans and forcing him to reassess his Palestinian identity.
“Let It Be Morning” is Kashua’s second novel to reach the big screen, after Eran Riklis adapted the 2002 “Dancing Arabs.”
Shlomi Elkabetz will also be screening his recent film, “Black Notebooks” at Cannes, but is not competing.
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