Mabool (Flood), a drama about a dysfunctional family complicated by the return home of their autistic son, came up tops at the Haifa film Festival which closed last night.
Guy Nativ first solo directing assignment took Best Israeli Film and Best Cinemtography ( Philippe Levant) awards. Stage icon Orna Porat was recognized as Best Actress for her performance in Noemi (Hitpartzut X) in which she plays the ultimate Jewish mother who sacrifices herself to clear her son’s reputation. Mark Iwanir was picked for Best Actor for his lead part in Eran Riklis Human Resources Manager. Producer Sharon Harel, director Avi Nesher and American journalist Alissa Simon were among the jurors responsible for the decisions.
In the parallel Golden Anchor competition for Mediterranean Films, the winner was Reha Erdem’s Kosmos with another Turkish entry, Semih Kaplanoglou’s Honey, the recipient of a 3,000 Euros to help the theatrical distribution of the picture in Israel. The jury for this competition included documentary filmmaker Dalia Karpel, producer Ziv Naveh and visiting Russian director Alexei Popogrebsky.
An additional award went to The Hangman, a documentary by Natalaie Braun and Avigail Sperber.
Producer Robert Lantos, a frequent visitor to this country, accompanied by his star, Paul Giamatti, provided one of the festival’s top attractions, when they attended the Israeli opening of Barney’s Version, Richard J. Lewis’ adaptation of the Mordecai Richler story. French director Julie Bertucelli and producer Yel Fogiel were on hand to introduce their Cannes closing-night attraction, The Tree.
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