Code 81 Films in Jewish Times

When in Rome
Date: Wednesday, August 31 @ 09:46:07 EDT
Topic: Community

Georgia festival will include a slew of Israeli films

By Ann Marie Quill
The Jewish Times

Several Israeli films will be among the offerings when the Rome International Film Festival hits North Georgia Sept. 8 through 11.

But how does an international film festival find a home in Rome, Ga.?

“I made two films that saw a decent festival life,” said Barry Norman, founder and executive director of the festival, now in its second year. “I was at a festival in Portugal in a quaint, seaside town. Everything was in walking distance and the town became a nice little film community — which is the best atmosphere for a festival. Then I spent a weekend in Dahlonega, Ga., which is also small and quaint. I decided to start a film festival and it was there for three years. But the town was too small to sustain a festival; there were not enough sponsors.”

But Norman says he wanted to continue holding a film festival. “I called the arts council in Rome, and found out they had been thinking of starting a film festival. We set up a meeting, and I thought, ‘This is perfect.’ Broad Street looks like a European city, and it has a fantastic theater, the DeSoto, built in 1939.”

Norman says that another advantage of holding a film festival in Rome is its strategic location between Atlanta, Chattanooga, Tenn., and Birmingham, Ala.

“Last year attendance was very good — about 5,000 people came,” Norman said. “The only negative thing is that we maybe didn’t have enough manpower for that size audience.”

A documentary and five short films from Israel are among the 153 documentaries, narrative features and shorts and animated and experimental films from 27 countries that will be shown this year.

The five short films come from the Sam Spiegel School of Film in Israel. “We have always received films from them,” Norman said. “They are always wonderful — there’s a great independent filmmaking scene in Israel.”

These Israeli films will be shown at the festival:

• “Meadowlands to Holy Land” (5 p.m.; Sept. 9; Riverwalk Ballroom; 29 minutes) Harry Musselwhite, creative and programming director for the festival, says that he is especially excited about “Meadowlands.”
“It’s worth seeing because it’s about a South African music group who visit Israel and perform with local musicians,” he said. “The musicians are victims of apartheid, and bringing their experience to Israel makes for a compelling subject.”
Narrative shorts from the Spiegel School of Film will be shown Sept. 10, 5 p.m., in the DeSoto Theatre:
• “Draft (Leil Giyas)” The story of a father who must reconcile his feelings for his son and his pacifist’s ideals on the eve of his son’s enlistment in the Israeli army.
• “Everyone Knows (Kulam Yodeim)” The story of a young woman who, with her parents’ marriage as an example, is not interested in her mother’s plans to introduce her to a prospective groom.
• “Pleading (Henna)” The story of a woman who denied her Moroccan roots on the way to success, but must now embrace them to save her strained relationship with her daughter who is getting ready to marry.
• “The Red Toy (Hateip Haadom)” follows a child’s music machine discovered in a trash pile by a Palestinian boy as it travels through Jerusalem.
• “Invisible (Shkufa)” follows a woman working as a security guard in a mall while she is pretending to be away at college. As she becomes more lonely, she reaches out to her brother who feels like a prisoner in their parents’ house.
Also on the docket are two British documentaries:
• “Replay Revenge” (11 a.m.; Sept. 11; DeSoto Theatre; 3 minutes) and “Replay Revenge” (1 p.m.; Sept. 9; DeSoto Theatre; 63 minutes) from director Basil Khalil who says the films offer fresh takes on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “Ping Pong” tells the story through a simple game of table tennis. “Revenge” tells its story using music, sketches and animation.

Musselwhite says the biggest challenges he and his committee of five faced while choosing the films were narrowing them down from 500 to 153.

“Our original intent was to have 100,” he said. “The films started coming in at a trickle in January, but we were deluged by May. The Sam Spiegel film school does an outstanding job of contacting film festivals and sending films in. Israeli films tend to be highly passionate works of art.”

Musselwhite, who is a screenwriter and singer and also a music professor at Berry College in Rome, said the selection committee consisted of people “who all have an intense interest in film, with degrees in film, literature and history.”

He adds that one non-Israeli film he’s excited about is the festival’s opening movie, “Bright Leaves,” which is a documentary about the North Carolina tobacco industry by Ross McElwee, director of film at Harvard University.

“We even have a film from Katmandu in Nepal,” Musselwhite said of the diversity of films.

Other events during the festival include screenwriting and acting workshops led by guests such as John Hancock, who directed “Bang the Drum Slowly,” Robert DeNiro’s first film. “Bang the Drum” and Hancock’s “Pieces of Eden” will close the festival.

Musselwhite says last year the audience included film buffs from throughout the Southeast and students and academics who were able to take advantage of the “wide, historic Broad Street full of restaurants and galleries all within walking distance of each other.”

That’s why he expects most screenings to sell out.

“As a general rule, independent filmmakers are a highly passionate lot,” Musselwhite said of the festival’s appeal. “It’s not the usual bang-bang, shoot-’em up fare one generally sees at the local cineplex.”

This article comes from atlanta.jewish.com
http://atlanta.jewish.com

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