AICE Israeli Film Festival 2012

Overview

What makes a nation? What makes a national identity? What makes a national cinema? Hopefully the AICE Israeli Film Festival will answer these questions and a few more and give us a chance to learn about this country and culture, which many of us mainly know through the news.

Returning for the ninth year, the festival is bigger than ever, with twice the number of films and reaching out beyond Sydney and Melbourne to take in Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth for the first time. The program will be showcasing the best in Israeli cinema over the last 12 months and a cinema industry which, whilst still somewhat in its infancy, finally has a chance to grow and compete on the world stage, thanks to substantial injection from the Israeli government.

There are feature films and documentaries covering topics as diverse as family, tradition, gender identity, the Middle East conflict, and religious life, and several of the films are prize winners from prestigious festivals including Sundance, Berlin, Karlovy Vary, Jerusalem, and San Sebastian, as well as winners from the 2011 Ophirs (Israeli 'Oscars').

A highlight of the festival is the provocative and touching family drama The Other Son (Le fils de l'autre) by French director Lorraine Levy. Two young men on the cusp of manhood — one Israeli, the other Palestinian — have their worlds turned upside down when they learn that they were accidently switched at birth. In the turmoil that follows, questions of identity and nationhood are raised, opening up a veritable can of worms, which Levy handles with thoughtfulness and sensitivity. It is a sentimental tale, which questions notions of identity against the volatile backdrop of the divided lands of Israel and Palestine.

The festival kicks off on August 15 at the Palace Verona with Restoration, a touching story about generational conflict and fatherhood.