“Valeria Gets Married”, Michal Vinik’s acclaimed film, won the best Israeli feature film award at the 38th Haifa International Film Festival this evening (Saturday). The film, which deals with Ukrainian women who marry Israeli men, won not only the best feature film award, but also the screenplay award.
The jury of the Israeli feature film competition, which included Carla Katani, Nana Giorgeza, Shmuel Al-Sheferi, Kays Nashef and Benny Barbash, stated that “Valeria Gets Married” is “an urgent and claustrophobic chamber film that encapsulates a great human and universal story – a choice. Sensitively, Punctuality and compassion, the film unfolds the story of four lost souls trying to survive in an oppressive and binding reality and it does so with great success.” On the script, which is also signed by Winnick, the judges wrote that it is tight, fluid, eloquent and surprising, and emphasized that “the screenwriter’s great achievement lies in her ability to take stereotypes embedded in our collective consciousness and turn them into living, breathing, painful, desperate, hopeful and empathetic human beings.”
Another film that was praised at the festival was Gudis Schneider’s “The Fat”, which follows a long-standing relationship between a man and a woman from the days when she was an officer and he is a simple soldier, and again when they meet again and fall in love after more than a decade. “Hashman” won both the award for the debut film, and the acting award, which was given to Tzachi Sadan for his performance in the film. “Director Gudis Schneider and screenwriter Liat Elkayam have created an entertaining, poignant, painful, contemporary and hopeful film, very Tel Avivian, very Israeli. The script, the direction, the fine acting and the artistic design combine wonderfully and create a soulful romantic comedy,” stated the judges. “Virgins”, the debut film of creator Maor Zagouri, won an award for artistic achievement in an Israeli feature film.
In the equivalent competition for documentary cinema, “Nietzsche’s Choice”, by director Uri Barbash, won the award for the best Israeli film. The judges in the documentary competition – Helen Shuman, Dror Mora, Galia Bador and Udi Nir – wrote about the film, which deals with a Holocaust survivor who traces her family history, that it “brings to the screen an extraordinary human story, a modern Solomon’s sentence”, and that the heroine at the center is “an exciting and touching character In her persistent search for her identity.” A commendation was given to the movie “Bronka!” Created by Tomer and Shlomo Slutsky, which follows the fight for the extradition and prosecution of an Argentine suspected of crimes against humanity who found refuge in Israel.
In the international competition, the Belgian “Kirba” by director Lucas Donut won, and a commendation was awarded to the French-Spanish film “Like Animals” by director Rodrigo Soroguin. In the competition for Israeli cinema, “Selma” by Sohila Ghatas was chosen as the best independent feature film; “Please be normal” by Gil Pharmon for the best student film; and “Regards!” of Sivan Alashvili for the best animated film. A commendation for a short animated film was given to the film “Trip with Father” by Israeli Moore. As part of the “Golden Anchor”, the festival’s international competition for debut films, the French film “The Mountain” by Thomas Salvador won, while the French “The Worst”, also by directors Liz Akoka and Roman Guerre, won a commendation.