Cinephiles in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth will get to enjoy the latest cinema from Israel this year, with news that the Israeli Film Festival is expanding its scope beyond Sydney and Melbourne.
Produced by Palace Cinemas and the Australia Israel Cultural Exchange, the ninth AICE Israeli Film Festival will screen more films over more days than even before, with an expanded program of contemporary Israeli films from the past 12 months.
The 2012 AICE Israeli Film Festival features prizewinners from prestigious festivals including Sundance, Berlin, Karlovy Vary, Jerusalem and San Sebastian, as well as winners from the 2011 Ophirs (Israeli 'Oscars').
Highlights of the festival include opening night film Restoration, a drama about fatherhood and learning to let go (pictured); My Lovely Sister, based on a Jewish-Moroccan legend; Off White Lies, a comedy-drama about a homeless eccentric and his strained relationship with his daughter; and Dusk, a debut feature about the four lives that intersect as the result of a car accident.
The documentary program includes the multi award-winning Dolphin Boy, about a boy undergoing rehabilitation following a traumatic attack; The Love Lost Diaries, about a woman reading her WW2 lover's diary ; and When Israel Went Out, retracing the trek undertaking by thousands of Falasha Jews who walked from Ethiopia to Israel in the 1980s.
The Israeli Film Festival will open in Sydney in August 15, and travel to other states as follows:
SYDNEY: 15 – 26 August, Palace Verona
MELBOURNE: 28 Aug – 9 Sept, Palace Como and Brighton Bay
BRISBANE: 29 Aug – 5 Sept, Palace Centro
ADELAIDE : 5 – 9 Sept, Palace Nova Eastend
PERTH: 4 – 12 Sept, Cinema Paradiso
