"Erev tov, Mr. Eran Riklis": “The words that come to mind when one sees “Lemon Tree”/”Etz Lemon”, which premiered this past week, and is currently playing at IFC, and “Syrian Bride”, are courage, resiliency, and loss. In “Lemon Tree”/”Etz Lemon”, the strong-willed Palestinian female lead, Salma Zidane, played by Hiam Abbass, from “The Visitor”, faces losing her inherited lemon orchard when an Israeli Defense Minister Navon and his wife, Mira Navon, played by Rona Lipa...

"Erev tov, Mr. Eran Riklis":   “The words that come to mind when one sees “Lemon Tree”/”Etz Lemon”, which premiered this past week, and is currently playing at IFC, and  “Syrian Bride”, are courage, resiliency, and loss.   In “Lemon Tree”/”Etz Lemon”, the strong-willed Palestinian female lead, Salma Zidane, played by Hiam Abbass, from “The Visitor”, faces losing her inherited lemon orchard when an Israeli Defense Minister Navon and his wife, Mira Navo...

The Scottish film director Gillies MacKinnon has had to cancel his jury appointment at Copenhagen International Film Festival in the last minute, and he will be replaced by the Palestinian actor Makram Khoury."Gillies was offered to make a film in the 11th hour, which is going into pre-production immediately", explains Jacob Neiiendam, the festival's head of programming. "We are asking professional filmmakers to give up their free time to judge films for us, so it's natural that this kind of thi...

The sixth annual Santa Fe Film Festival’s bowed this year with new partnerships, a new focus on international screenings with a decidedly American film as its centerpiece gala. 220 films screened out of 900 submissions from nearly 40 nations, including this years “Best of Fest” Award winner “The Syrian Bride,” by Eran Riklis.The five-day festival ran from Dec. 7-11, presenting films in 11 different venues and attracting 6,000-plus patrons.The festival partnered this year with the Natio...

NOBODY KNOWS wins the 31st Flanders International Film Festival - Ghent On Saturday October 16, 2004, the list of prizewinners for the 31st Flanders International Film Festival - Ghent was announced by Maurice Jarre, President of the Festival Jury. Once again, this 31st edition was an outstanding event, graced by the presence of Lord Richard Attenborough, Jonathan Pryce, David Carradine, Romain Duris and many other celebrities. On a sadder note, in a series of moving tributes, the Festival al...

NOBODY KNOWS wins the 31st Flanders International Film Festival - Ghent On Saturday October 16, 2004, the list of prizewinners for the 31st Flanders International Film Festival - Ghent was announced by Maurice Jarre, President of the Festival Jury. Once again, this 31st edition was an outstanding event, graced by the presence of Lord Richard Attenborough, Jonathan Pryce, David Carradine, Romain Duris and many other celebrities. On a sadder note, in a series of moving tributes, the Festival al...

JURYPresident : CLAUDE ZIDI, director (France)DIANA BRACHO, actress (Mexico)JAIME CAMINO, director (Spain)ANITA CAPRIOLI, actress (Italy)BRETISLAV POJAR, director (Czech Republic)DENISE ROBERT, producer (Canada)JERRY SCHATZBERG, director (United States)FEATURE FILMSGrand Prix of the Americas:THE SYRIAN BRIDE (HACALA HASURIT) by Eran Riklis (Israel/France/Germany)Jury Award :Ex-aequo :THE PARKING ATTENDANT IN JULY (KAN CHE REN DE QI YUE) by An Zhanjun (China) AROUND THE BEND by Jordan Roberts (Un...

Syrian Bride took best film at Montreal:Eran Riklis, its director talks about his film: "Weddings along Israel’s border with Syria involving Druze residents of the Golan Heights and their relatives in Syria are practically routine events in an area occupied by Israel since 1967. The drama is usually foreseeable: a young woman leaves her family knowing that once she crosses the border she can never return home to Majdal Shams, the largest Druze village in the Golan. But Mona's wedding day has ...