‘Intimate Grammar’ wins top Jerusalem Film Festival prize

Nir Bergman’s film won the Haggiag Award for Best Full-Length Feature Film.

By HANNAH BROWN
Intimate Grammar (photo credit: Courtesy)
Intimate Grammar
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Nir Bergman’s Intimate Grammar won the Haggiag Award for Best Full-Length Feature Film at the 27th Jerusalem Film Festival, which ended Saturday night. The prize carries a cash award of NIS 110,000. The film, based on a novel by David Grossman, tells the story of a Jerusalem boy ambivalent about growing up. Bergman’s first feature, Broken Wings, took the top prize at the Jerusalem Film Festival in 2002. This year’s award came as no surprise, as Bergman’s film quickly emerged as the clear frontrunner, a favorite with audiences and critics.
The Van Leer Award for Best First/Second Feature went to Avishai Sivan’s The Wanderer. The film, which was at the Cannes Film Festival, tells the story of an alienated ultra-Orthodox young man.
The JCC US Marketing and Distribution Award for Israeli Feature Films went to Dover Kosashvili’s Infiltration. This film tells the story of an army unit made up of recruits who don’t fit into Israeli society.
The Gottlieb Award for Best Screenplay in a Full-Length Feature Film went to Revolution 101, a semi-documentary look at changes in the Israel Broadcasting Authority, by Doron Tsabari, Ori Inbar, Yossi Madmoni and Ari Folman (who made Waltz with Bashir).
The Haggiag Family Awards for Acting went to the actresses in actor Moshe Ivgy’s first feature, And On The Third Day – Hila Fledman, Efrat Ben Zur, Alit Kreis and Gal Salomon – and to actor Assaf Ben Shimon for Infiltration.
Yael Hersonski’s A Film Unfinished, about a Nazi film on the Warsaw Ghetto, won the Van Leer Award for Best Documentary.
The Adelie Hoffenberg Award for Best Short Film went to Firas Khoury for the film Yellow Mums.
The Anat Pirchi Award for Best Drama went to Nina Menkes’s Dissolution.
Olivier Masser-Depasse’s Illegal won the In the Spirit of Freedom Award. The film looks at illegal immigrants. An honorable mention in this category went to Tony Gatlif’s Korkoro.
The Lia Award for a film dealing with Jewish identity and heritage, presented by the Joan Sourasky-Constantiner Holocaust Multimedia Research Center of the Jerusalem Cinematheque, went to Todd Solondz’s Life During Wartime. The Avner Shalev Yad Vashem Chairman’s Award went to Fabienne Rousso-Lenoir, for the film Cabaret Berlin.