Next week will see the first ever Israeli Film Festival come to Yangon, hosted by the Israeli Embassy in Yangon.
Taking place at Yangon’s Nay Pyi Taw Cinema on Sule Pagoda road from November 24 to 27, themes will include friendship, social and family life, love, careers and action and will “expose the Myanmar audience to routine life in Israel, our dilemmas and the diversity in Israeli society,” an Israel Embassy statement said.
The festival will open with a viewing of the movie Aviva My Love, which tells the story of an Israeli woman who works as a cook in a hotel, but dreams of becoming a writer. One day, she is introduced to a novelist who immediately recognises her talent and takes her under his wing. But success isn’t as straightforward as she thought it might be and is left to pay a huge price to her family.
Desperado Square is a romantic drama and won the Israeli Film Academy award for best director and best supporting actor. In an old neighbourhood, the first anniversary of Morris Mandabon’s death is approaching and his youngest son, Nissam, has had a dream that his father has ordered him to open the old theatre, thus breaking a vow old Morris had to never screen movies again.
Operation Thunderbolt tells the true story of Air France Flight 139 from Tel Aviv to Paris, which was hijacked by four terrorists. After landing in Uganda, the Jewish passengers are held hostage and the terrorists demanded the release of many terrorists held in Israeli jails. After much debate, the Israeli government sent an elite commando unit to raid the hostage site and free the hostages.
By Summer’s End is a drama and a coming-of-age story, which follows the story of a young girl, as well as the rest of her family. It won the Rehovot Women’s International Film Festival 2011, Israeli Film Centre in New York and Haifa International Film Festival 2011.Footnote is a father and son drama, who are rival professors who are both hoping to win an prestigious prize. The festival ends with the Syrian Bride, which tells the dramatic story of a young Israeli woman who is due to marry a successful Syrian actor. Following hostilities between the lovers’ two countries, a special UN-observed zone is set up between the two towns, putting their plans for wedding into turmoil.
