The Jerusalem Sam Spiegel International Film Lab (JSFL) has just opened its 12th edition, which will include projects by filmmakers from Israel and around the world, and the first guest will be Academy-Award Winner Edward Berger, who directed All Quiet on the Western Front. Berger will give a masterclass to all the participants.
“We believe in the power of storytelling, freedom of speech, and creative expression, to be able to hold complex situations like the current war in Israel, and believe an international meeting point for young filmmakers is of major importance these days,” said Mor Eldar, the director of JSFL.
The projects during the war
In spite of the war, JSFL includes projects by writer/directors from Poland, the Netherlands, Croatia, Hungary, and France, as well as Israel.
Among these is a project by 2021 Berlinale Silver Bear-winner for direction Dénes Nagy from Hungary (Natural Light); Sarajevo CineLink award winners Olivér Rudolf and Zsigmond Kungl; Polish producer Maciej Sobieszczanski, whose previous shorts were screened in Berlin and Locarno; Israeli director Elinor Nechemya, whose shorts took part in Cannes’ Semaine de la Critique and the Toronto Film Festival, and Israeli Omer Sterenberg, whose short film had its world premiere at the Berlinale, the Berlin International Film Festival.
Dana Blankstein Cohen, Sam Spiegel’s executive director, said, “We continue to lead and forge real connections, through filmmaking. Filmmakers hold responsibility, through storytelling, to create and shape realities by choosing their gaze with the right angle, while bearing humanity and humanism in mind, all along.”
Director/writers selected for JSFL are at the beginning of their careers and are assigned veteran filmmakers who work with them as mentors on developing their screenplays.
Many JSFL projects have been produced and have received worldwide acclaim. These include László Nemes’s Academy-Award-winning Son of Saul; Antoneta Kusijanovic’s Murina, which won the Camera d’Or Prize at the Cannes Film Festival; Beginning by Dea Kulumbegashvili, which won four awards at the San Sebastián Film Festival, including Best Film and Best Director; and I Dream in Another Language by Ernesto Contreras, which won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival.
The Jerusalem Sam Spiegel International Film Lab is supported by the Beracha Foundation, the Rothschild Foundation, the Israeli Film Fund, the Israel Foreign Ministry, and the Sam Spiegel Foundation.