The 2017 JFF Winners

SCAFFOLDING and ON THE BEACH AT NIGHT ALONE
Take 34th Jerusalem Film Festival’s Top Prizes

The Wilf Family Foundation Award (20,000 USD) for best International film was presented to ON THE BEACH AT NIGHT ALONE by Hong Sang-soo

The Robert Nissim Haggiag Award for best Israeli Feature Film (100,000 ILS) was presented to SCAFFOLDING by Matan Yair

The Van Leer award for Best Israeli Documentary Film (35,000 ILS) was presented to CONVENTIONAL SINS by Anat Yuta Zuria and Shira Clara Winther

Heading into its final weekend, the Jerusalem Film Festival held its awards ceremony Thursday night, announcing its usual wide array of distinctions for both Israeli and International films.  The Jerusalem Film Festival’s 34th edition continues to run through July 23rd.

Along with its Israeli competition line-up, this year's edition saw the return of Jerusalem's International Competition, which was held for the second year and continues to award a $20,000 USD cash prize supported by the Wilf Family Foundation.

ON THE BEACH AT NIGHT ALONE by Hong Sang-soo was declared this year’s winner by a jury gathering Israeli writer and director Nadav Lapid (THE KINDERGARTEN TEACHER), award winning actress Evgenia Dodina, and The Hollywood Reporter international editor Deborah Young. The jury awarded the film stating: "Using the simplest of cinematic tools, Hong Sang-soo creates a mysterious magic, rooted in the heart of daily life. Love, hatred, affection, rage, sexuality, loneliness and deep pain are reflected in the face and body of a young woman, the main character, one of the deepest descriptions of a human being we've seen in cinema in recent years."

A MAN OF INTEGRITY by Mohammad Rasoulof and WESTERN by Valeska Grisebach, two standout titles from Cannes, also were distinguished with honorable mentions from the international jury.

SCAFFOLDING by Matan Yair won the Robert Nissim Haggiag award for best Israeli Feature Film which comes with an award of 100,000 Israeli Shekels (approximately $ 28,000 USD) and also took the prize for Best Actor and garnered an honorable mention for Best Cinematography. Produced by Gal Greenspan, Roi Kurland, Stanisław Dziedzic, Moshe Edery, and Leon Edery, SCAFFOLDING world premiered in Cannes’ ACID Selection and is sold internationally by Jan Naszewski’s New Europe Film Sales.

The jury consisting of ELLE producer Saïd Ben Saïd, Yael Bartana, Agnès Godard and Cíntia Gíl said they distinguished SCAFFOLDING: "For a film that combines the reality of a group of teenagers and the will of questioning cinema and the role of filmmaking. For its capacity of capturing the tenderness sometimes behind these kids' violence, their capacity for love, their surprising imagination, in a society that places them in a marginal role forever."

The full list of awards and accompanying jury statements are included below.

International Competition

The Wilf Family Foundation Award, in the sum of 20,000 USD: On the Beach at Night Alone by Hong Sang-soo; Jury Motivation: "Using the simplest of cinematic tools, Hong Sang-soo creates a mysterious magic, rooted in the heart of daily life. Love, hatred, affection, rage, sexuality, loneliness and deep pain are reflected in the face and body of a young woman, the main character, one of the deepest descriptions of a human being we’ve seen in cinema in recent years."

Honorary Mentions: Western by Valeska Grisebach; A Man of Integrity by Mohammad Rasoulof

International First Features Competition

The FIPRESCI Award for Best International First Feature: Tehran Taboo by Ali Soozandeh; Jury Motivation: "Tehran Taboo is an important film while still remaining entertaining. It brings us into a corrupt and unequal society, and gives every character a chance to exist without judgement and in an uplifting tone."

In the Spirit of Freedom Competition in Memory of Wim van Leer

The Cummings Award for Best Feature Film: The Other Side of Hope by Aki Kaurismäki; Jury Motivation: "A film that masterfully uses humor to tackle a harsh reality, showing that one person’s act of kindness could make a difference."

The Ostrovsky Family Fund Award for Best Documentary: City of Ghosts by Matthew Heineman; Jury Motivation: "A harrowing film about a group of young Syrians struggling to shed light on the horrors happening in their home town at great personal risk."

 Honorary Mention: The Venerable W. by Barbet Schroeder

The Haggiag Competition for Full-Length Israeli Feature Films

The Robert Nissim Haggiag Award for Best Feature Film, in the sum of 100,000 ILS: Scaffolding directed by Matan Yair and produced by Gal Greenspan, Roi Kurland, Stanisław Dziedzic, Moshe Edery, Leon Edery; Jury Motivation: "For a film that combines the reality of a group of teenagers and the will of questioning cinema and the role of filmmaking. For its capacity of capturing the tenderness sometimes behind these kids' violence, their capacity for love, their surprising imagination, in a society that places them in a marginal role forever."

The Anat Pirchi Award for Best First Film: Doubtful by Eliran Elya

The Anat Pirchi Award for Best Script: Longing by Savi Gabizon

The Haggiag Award for Best Actor: Asher Lax for his performance in Scaffolding; Honorary Mention: Adar Hazazi for his performance in Doubtful

The Haggiag Award for Best Actress: Samira Saraya for her performance in Death of a Poetess

The Aaron Emanuel Award for Best Cinematography: Shai Goldman for Doubtful; Honorary Mention: Bartosz Bieniek for Scaffolding

The Jerusalem Foundation Award for Best Editing: Michal Openheim for The Cakemaker

The Jerusalem Foundation Award for Best Original Score: Daphna Keenan for Family

The Audience Favorite Award: Longing by Savi Gabizon

The FIPRESCI Award for Best Israeli First Feature:  Holy Air by Shady Srour; Jury Motivation: "Holy Air is a good crossover between comedy and drama about serious issues reflecting religious and political complexities in modern Israeli society."

 

The Van Leer Competition for Full-Length Israeli Documentary Films

The Van Leer Award for Best Documentary: Conventional Sins by Anat Yuta Zuria, Shira Clara Winther

Van Leer Award for Best Director of a Documentary: In Her Footsteps by Rana Abu Fraiha

Honorary Mentions: Born in Deir Yassin by Neta Shoshani; A13901 by Tal Haim Yofee

The Israeli Short Films Competition

The Van Leer Award for Best Live Action Film: Portrait of my Family in my Thirteenth Year by Omri Dekel-Kadosh

The Van Leer Award for Best Documentary Film: Keren Or (A Ray of Light) by Lihi Sabag; Honorary Mention: The Bride’s Tree by Shadi Habib Allah

The Jerusalem Development Authority Award for Best Animated Film: Hadarim by Shlomi Yosef

The Israeli Video Art and Experimental Film Competition

The Lia van Leer Award, courtesy of Rivka Saker: Sleepers by Ruth Patir

The Ostrovsky Family Fund Award: Sham (There) by Thalia Hoffman

The Jewish Experience Awards - Courtesy of Michaela and Leon Constantiner

The Lia Award in honor of Lia van Leer for films dealing with Jewish heritage: The Cakemaker by Ofir Raul Graizer

An original, beautifully acted story with a sensitive approach to mourning and loneliness, the complexities of love and family, religion and food traditions, and the sweetness that nourishes our souls. 

The Avner Shalev - Yad Vashem Chairman’s Award for Artistic Achievement in Holocaust-related Film: 1945 by Ferenc Török

This innovative mystery unravels amid a landscape of cataclysm. Its stunning cinematic vision exposes the corrosive power of anti-Semitism and collaboration during the Holocaust.