The Wedding Plan[/caption]
The Wedding Plan, an Israeli romantic comedy about a jilted Orthodox bride who embarks on an elaborate search for Mr. Right, will screen as the first film of the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival Selects series on Thursday, May 11.
The AJFF Selects series is designed to bring the same type of world-class films from the annual festival to audiences year-round. AJFF Selects will feature a series of special screening events outside of the annual festival. These programs will feature outstanding new foreign and independent films, as well as expert speakers and guest filmmakers.
Says AJFF Executive Director Kenny Blank, “With programming initiatives like the AJFF Selects, we have the opportunity to continue our conversation with the community and expand our artistic footprint all year long. We’re excited to unveil more films in the Selects series soon. This is just the beginning of new program offerings from AJFF.”
From acclaimed writer-director Rama Burshtein (Fill the Void) comes the surprisingly gentle and sweet new Israeli romantic comedy, The Wedding Plan.
After her fiancé calls off their wedding a month before the ceremony, an ultra-Orthodox woman (Noa Koler) decides to keep the wedding date, leaving it to fate to provide a suitable groom. Unwilling to return to lonely single life, Michal embarks on an exhaustive search for a spouse, enlisting different matchmakers and enduring a series of horrible blind dates. As the day of her wedding grows closer and without the presence of Mr. Right, the jilted bride-to-be puts everything on the line to find happiness.
Nominated for nine Israeli Academy Awards, The Wedding Plan is winner of Best Actress and Best Screenplay honors, and claimed Best Actress prize at the Haifa International Film Festival. A nominee for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival, the film is also an Official Selection of the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival.
Atlanta Jewish Film Festival
Atlanta Jewish Film Festival
SINCE: 2000
WHERE: Atlanta, GA, USA
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival (AJFF) is a showcase of international cinema that broadly explores themes of identity, history and culture. The annual festival was founded in the year 2000 by the Atlanta Regional Office of American Jewish Committee (AJC), a global advocacy organization that enhances the wellbeing of the Jewish people and Israel through education, outreach and diplomacy. Through the power and shared experience of cinematic storytelling, AJC and AJFF foster stronger bonds within the Jewish community, and intergroup relations with Atlanta’s diverse cultural, ethnic and religious communities. Already Atlanta’s single largest film festival, AJFF made history in 2015 by becoming the largest Jewish film festival in the world, attracting more than 38,600 moviegoers. Today, AJFF is an independent non-profit arts organization that continues an active partnership with its founding agency, American Jewish Committee.
Atlanta Jewish Film Festival
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Atlanta Jewish Film Festival Selects Series Launches with Israeli Romantic Comedy THE WEDDING PLAN
[caption id="attachment_22117" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] The Wedding Plan[/caption]
The Wedding Plan, an Israeli romantic comedy about a jilted Orthodox bride who embarks on an elaborate search for Mr. Right, will screen as the first film of the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival Selects series on Thursday, May 11.
The AJFF Selects series is designed to bring the same type of world-class films from the annual festival to audiences year-round. AJFF Selects will feature a series of special screening events outside of the annual festival. These programs will feature outstanding new foreign and independent films, as well as expert speakers and guest filmmakers.
Says AJFF Executive Director Kenny Blank, “With programming initiatives like the AJFF Selects, we have the opportunity to continue our conversation with the community and expand our artistic footprint all year long. We’re excited to unveil more films in the Selects series soon. This is just the beginning of new program offerings from AJFF.”
From acclaimed writer-director Rama Burshtein (Fill the Void) comes the surprisingly gentle and sweet new Israeli romantic comedy, The Wedding Plan.
After her fiancé calls off their wedding a month before the ceremony, an ultra-Orthodox woman (Noa Koler) decides to keep the wedding date, leaving it to fate to provide a suitable groom. Unwilling to return to lonely single life, Michal embarks on an exhaustive search for a spouse, enlisting different matchmakers and enduring a series of horrible blind dates. As the day of her wedding grows closer and without the presence of Mr. Right, the jilted bride-to-be puts everything on the line to find happiness.
Nominated for nine Israeli Academy Awards, The Wedding Plan is winner of Best Actress and Best Screenplay honors, and claimed Best Actress prize at the Haifa International Film Festival. A nominee for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival, the film is also an Official Selection of the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival.
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FANNY’S JOURNEY, THE FREEDOM TO MARRY, AIDA’S SECRETS Among Winners of 2017 Atlanta Jewish Film Festival
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FANNY’S JOURNEY[/caption]
The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival (AJFF) wrapped the 17th edition of the festival and handed out its first-ever Jury Prizes along with its annual Audience Awards.
Fanny’s Journey, the story of a brave, resourceful young girl who leads a small band of orphans through Nazi-occupied France, won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature, while The Freedom to Marry, a thrilling and inspiring insiders’ look at the greatest civil rights movement of today, nabbed Best Documentary Feature. Winning the Audience Award for Best Short Film is Oscar®-nominated Joe’s Violin, the story of how a musical instrument unites a Holocaust survivor and a Bronx schoolgirl.
The complete list of the 2017 AJFF Jury Prize Winners.
Narrative Feature Jury Prize Winner: FANNY’S JOURNEY
The moving, beautifully realized story of a young Jewish girl, who led a group of children to safety during the Holocaust. Compellingly acted by young leads and elegantly directed by Lola Doillon, Fanny’s Journey adeptly balances the brightness of the human spirit with the darkness of its depravity.
Documentary Feature Jury Prize Winner: AIDA’S SECRETS
The affecting account of two long-lost brothers, one raised in Canada and the other in Israel, who discover each other and attempt to uncover the story behind their separation after the Holocaust. Both historical and deeply personal, Aida’s Secrets is a powerful human tale about the meaning of family.
EMERGING FILMMAKERS
Winner: Eran Kolirin for BEYOND THE MOUNTAINS AND HILLS
Beyond the Mountains and Hills shows an Israeli family in the throes of various crises that intersect in surprising and illuminating ways, giving us new insights into the contemporary Israeli landscape. The director seamlessly interweaves realistic and poetic imagery to create a cinematic picture of life at the edge of change.
BUILDING BRIDGES
Winner: THE 90 MINUTE WAR
When all else fails, the unthinkable becomes plausible. The 90 Minute War depicts, in small and large ways, the realities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Through its realistic characters and complex parallel narratives, the film illustrates — with occasional humor and nuanced wit — that anything besides compromise in this conflict would be absurd
HUMAN RIGHTS
Winner: THE FREEDOM TO MARRY
This film is an insightful examination into the history behind the struggle for marriage equality. Even though viewers may well and probably do know the outcome, it keeps them engaged and invested in learning the critical journey and the key players in the extra-legal battle. The film helps the viewer understand both the legal process in taking a human rights case to the Supreme Court and the need to galvanize public opinion.
SHORTS
Winner: THE LAST BLINTZ
It is no easy feat to juggle themes such as gentrification, Jewish history, community activism and personal loss within the confines of a half hour. But that’s exactly what this film does, using the setting of an old New York establishment to explore the way memories come to define iconic locations to the point where change seems unthinkable — and then arrives, no matter how much resistance there is to stop it. For its ability to present a powerful ode to nostalgia and a wistful portrait of the march of time, we award our top prize to The Last Blintz.