Nony Geffen drama adds cast, European producers

Dudu Tassa, Sasson Gabai and Gaya Traub are attached to star alongside Nony Geffen in the actor-writer-director’s upcoming drama Why Elephant.

The Hebrew-language drama, aiming for a November 2014 shoot, will see Geffen play a man who reinvents himself as 80s rock star Yossi Elephant after he is left traumatised by the Third Lebanon War.

Supporting cast is due to include Julia Levy Boeken, Kabi Farag, Yossi Marshak, Sandra Sade and Tzahi Grad.

The production reunites Geffen with Laila Films producer Itai Tamir who also produced Geffen’s 2012 debut Not in Tel Aviv, which won the Special Jury Prize at Locarno.

European co-producers on the project will include Frédéric Niedermayer of Moby Dick films (France), Philipp Homberg and Hans Eddy Schreiber of KaribuFilm (Germany) and Keren Cogan Galjé (Holland).

$100,000 of the $600,000 budget has been secured from the Israel Film Fund.

Producer Tamir told Screen: “This film is more about identity than war. It is in part an autobiographical film with Nony having been personally touched by elements of the story.”

Geffen stated: “The winter shoot will be a visual representation of the character’s state of mind. The urban landscapes and the vistas of the Golan Heights will testify to the confusion and non-military preparedness set against Israeli macho male desire. There will also be a strong sense of rock’n’roll and an alternative picture of reality in Israel in the 2000s.

Laila Films’ credits also include Nadav Lapid’s Policeman and Ami Livne’s Sharqiya.