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Opening in Beverly Hills on April 26 and continuing to May 3, the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival will showcase contemporary and classic films highlighting the best in Jewish Cinema.Of the 27 films showing, 14 are Los Angeles premieres. One World Premiere, one North American Premiere and one U.S. Premiere make for some great discoveries.

An opportunity for film lovers to celebrate the rich tapestry of Jewish history, Jewish heritage and Jewish characters, the Opening Night Red Carpet Reception at Laemmle’s Ahrya Fine Arts Theater in Beverly Hills evening will honor one of the entertainment industry’s most beloved figures, Ed Asner, with the Los Angeles premiere of the documentary “My Friend Ed”, directed by Sharon Baker and executive produced by Liza Asner.

For his distinguished body of work as an actor, and for his relentless commitment to activism and to preserving Jewish life.

Ed Asner

You know him best as Lou Grant,...

After losing 80 lbs., Heather Albert was thrilled to finally fit into Lululemon clothing.

The human resources manager from Las Vegas had dealt with polycystic ovarian syndrome for years, which made it difficult to lose weight — and postpartum depression following the birth of her son in 2011 made matters worse.

“Having been an athlete my entire life, it saddened me to think that I wasn’t able to do all of the things I wanted to do with and for my son and my family,” Albert, 35, tells People.

So Albert slimmed down with a gastric sleeve, and “over a year of hard work,...

Family feud. Jennifer Connell didn't leave a Connecticut bash with a goodie bag four years ago. Instead, she left with a broken wrist. The Manhattan resident is suing her nephew Sean Tarala for injuring her at his 8th birthday party, the Daily Mail reports. The human resources manager, 54, is reportedly asking for $127,000 because of the incident, which occurred back in March 2011. She claims that her nephew, now 12, hurt her when he jumped into her arms when she arrived for the festivities. "All of a [...]...

Locarno’s initiative dedicated to films in post-production to highlight five-seven projects.

Locarno has announced that the fifth edition of Carte Blanche will focus on Israel.

The festival’s initiative dedicated to films in post-production will select five-seven projects from the territory, in partnership with the Israeli Film Fund, whose producers will be invited to attend the festival to present their work to industry professionals in order to facilitate their completion and distribution.

Previous editions have focused on Colombia, Mexico, Chile and Brazil.

Nadia Dresti, delegate to the artistic direction and head of international at Locarno, commented: “From the success Eran Riklis had on the Piazza Grande with The Syrian Bride, The Human Resources Manager and Dancing Arabs, to the revelation of Nadav Lapid’s talent with the short film Kvish (2006) and then Hashoter selected for the 2010 Concorso internazionale, the relationship forged between the Festival del film Locarno and Israeli cinema has proved increasingly productive.

“With the next...

U.S. rights to Eran Riklis' "Zaytoun" have been picked up by Strand Releasing, the company announced yesterday. "Zaytoun" stars Stephen Dorff ("Somewhere") as an Israeli fighter pilot shot down over Beirut in 1982. After being shot down, he develops an unlikely bond with a 12-year-old Palestinian refugee, and as their initial wariness turns into friendship, they go together on a journey across Lebanon to return the lost pilot home. After screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, the film won the Runners-Up prize for the People's Choice Award, and had its U.S. premiere at last November's AFI Fest. Riklis' last film, 2010's "The Human Resources Manager," was selected as the Israeli entry for the 83rd Academy Awards. Rights for the film's U.S. distribution were negotiated by Strand Releasing from Pathe, who will handle the films international sales as well as its French distribution. Jon...

Zaytoun, directed by Eran Riklis, is a conceptually interesting film. Bringing to mind ‘buddy movie’ plotting the story focuses on an Israeli fighter pilot and a Palestinian boy who form a bond whilst on the run together across Lebanon.

I was lucky enough to speak to Eran Riklis at the London Film Festival and he was both candid and highly interesting to speak to. Read on to find out what he had to say about making the film for a wide audience, casting Stephen Dorff and shooting digitally.

There’s a balance in the film between entertainment and politics. And possibly more serious subjects that you might usually expect in ‘entertainment’ films.

I think that’s at the core of my filmmaking in general. I really think that once you’ve decided that you want to tackle these kind of issues – especially in the Middle East – because there’s many...

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Israeli filmmaker Eran Riklis’ (The Human Resources Manager) latest feature, Zaytoun, captures our attention right from its opening shots, undeniably striking from a visual perspective, with some scintillating, lengthy takes conveying the desolate, war-torn Beirut. This is a film primarily pre-occupied with families both present and past – particularly that of a precocious young refugee, Fahed (Abdallah El Akal), longing to return to his homestead – yet Riklis is also unafraid to brazenly depict the savagery leading up to Israel’s eventual invasion of Lebanon.

Fahed uneasily bonds with Yoni (Stephen Dorff), an Israeli fighter pilot who crash-lands in Beirut and is captured by the Palestine Liberation Organisation, to which Fahed tacitly belongs. While it’s unquestionably nice to see Dorff in something that’s not straight-to-video for the first time in a while, and he certainly does well enough as one half of the central odd couple,...

Each week within this column we strive to pair the latest in theatrical releases to worthwhile titles currently available on Netflix Instant Watch. This week we offer alternatives to John Carter, Friends With Kids and Footnote.

Friday theaters will determine the fate of Disney’s big budget epic John Carter, which faces off against the closest thing to a Bridesmaids sequel your likely to see and an Oscar contender that transcends the language barrier. But if these offerings pique your desire for adventure, rated-r romance and heralded Hebrew features, then we’ve got you covered with some of the best titles Now Streaming.

Director Andrew Stanton makes his live-action debut with this this Mars-set adventure about a Civil War veteran (Taylor Kitsch) who finds he has extraordinary powers on this extraterrestrial terrain that enables him to be a hero to a beautiful alien princess (Lynn Collins). Willem Dafoe co-stars.

More...

Reviewer: Craig Phillips

Rating (out of five): * * *

The Human Resources Manager, released on DVD by the reliably interesting Film Movement catalog, won five major Israeli Ophir Awards (Israel’s Oscars). Directed by Eran Riklis, Based on A.B. Yehoshua's book "A Woman in Jerusalem," the film is a worthy if occasionally sluggish follow-up to his previous feature, The Lemon Tree. The film starts off a bit slow, but stick with it; when the story leaves Israel it resonates.

The titular employee (Mark Ivanir) manages Jerusalem's largest bakery, and his life is on the skids. He hates his job, his wife's left him, and he struggles to maintain connection to his young daughter. Then a foreign-born female employee, Yulia (interestingly, the only character in the film who is given a name), is killed in a suicide bombing, and he has to help the company make amends after negative news coverage,...

Reviewed by Amanda Georges

(March 2011)

Directed by: Eran Riklis

Written by: Noah Stollman

Starring: Mark Ivanir, Gila Almagor, Guri Alfi, Noah Silver, Rozina Cambos and Reymond Amsalem

There are remarkable times when a single event causes a fundamental change in a person’s life and self-awareness. Israeli director Eran Riklis’ “The Human Resources Manager,” adapted from A.B. Yehoshua’s novel “A Woman in Jerusalem,” tells one such story but overreaches and is unable to deliver on its promises.

Riklis’ previous films “The Syrian Bride” and “Lemon Tree” earned him a reputation for compelling stories inspired by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Riklis departs from this theme in his latest project, and the majority of the story, in fact, takes place outside of Israel. What he maintains is a propensity for tales about everyday people thrust into extraordinary situations. His characters take life into their own hands and discover themselves as a result.

Reviewed by Amanda Georges

(March 2011)

Directed by: Eran Riklis

Written by: Noah Stollman

Starring: Mark Ivanir, Gila Almagor, Guri Alfi, Noah Silver, Rozina Cambos and Reymond Amsalem

There are remarkable times when a single event causes a fundamental change in a person’s life and self-awareness. Israeli director Eran Riklis’ “The Human Resources Manager,” adapted from A.B. Yehoshua’s novel “A Woman in Jerusalem,” tells one such story but overreaches and is unable to deliver on its promises.

Riklis’ previous films “The Syrian Bride” and “Lemon Tree” earned him a reputation for compelling stories inspired by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Riklis departs from this theme in his latest project, and the majority of the story, in fact, takes place outside of Israel. What he maintains is a propensity for tales about everyday people thrust into extraordinary situations. His characters take life into their own hands and discover themselves as a result.

Eran Riklis's new film, "The Human Resources Manager," follows a man who is stuck in a particularly uncomfortable time in his life. Unhappy at home and disgruntled with his job, the Hr Manager of Jerusalem's largest bakery gets more than what he bargained for when one of his company's foreign workers is killed in a suicide bombing. The company is suddenly accused of indifference and it is up to the ...

Eran Riklis's new film, "The Human Resources Manager," follows a man who is stuck in a particularly uncomfortable time in his life. Unhappy at home and disgruntled with his job, the Hr Manager of Jerusalem's largest bakery gets more than what he bargained for when one of his company's foreign workers is killed in a suicide bombing. The company is suddenly accused of indifference and it is up to the ...

The shortlist for this year's foreign language Oscar category is out and down to nine entries:

"Outside the Law" (Algeria, my interview with director Rachid Bouchareb is here.)

"Incendies" (Canada, my review is here.)

"In a Better World" (Denmark, my review is here.)

"Dogtooth" (Greece, Alison Willmore's review is here.)

"Confessions" (Japan, Alison Willmore's review is here.)

"Biutiful" (Mexico, Anthony Kaufman's review is here.)

"Life, Above All" (South Africa)

"Tambien la Lluvia (Even the Rain)" (Spain)

"Simple Simon" (Sweden)

The finalists will be announced next week along with all of the other Oscar nominations on January 25th. There are a few surprises even within this group - Cannes winners "Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives" from Thailand and Xavier Beauvois' "Of Gods and Men" from France, Germany's entry "When We Leave" and Eran Riklis' "The Human Resources Manager" all would've seemed to have a shot. (A...

Director: Eran Riklis Writer: Noah Stollman (screenplay, Abraham B. Jehoshua (novel) Starring: Mark Ivanir, Guri Alfi, Noah Silver, Rozina Cambos, Julian Negulesco The Human Resources Manager (Mark Ivanir) is a man with very little authority -- certainly less than his role warrants at a prominent bakery in Jerusalem. When a young Romanian immigrant woman is killed in a suicide bombing, a paycheck from the bakery is discovered on her body by the police. When the police approach the bakery for more details about the victim -- and inquire about why the bakery did not report the employee missing when she stopped showing up at work -- the Hr Manager is unable to answer their questions. The deceased woman’s employment status at the time of her death was murky at best, so the Hr Manager commences an investigation to unravel the truth. When it is revealed that the deceased woman...

Arte France, a broadcaster who's been behind quite a few Israeli successes throughout the last decade (they were co-financiers of movies such as Late Marriage, Waltz with Bashir, Lebanon, and Jellyfish – just to name a few) have announced over the weekend they are putting their support of Israeli cinema on "hold". The reason being that they want to broadcast all of their films they helped produce. As it turns out, they have too many films, and too few slots. Arte France officials added that once they run out of movies to show on TV premieres (in a year or two), they might re-establish producing connections with Israeli producers. This comes as a major blow for Israeli cinema, as Arte France is the foreign producing body who was the most supportive of Israeli movies. Plans for alternative ways of financing projects have already put into motion: an agreement signed between both...

Film Movement have picked up their third Foreign Oscar hopeful by adding Eran Riklis' The Human Resources Manager to their list of two comprised of Olivier Masset-Depasse's Illegal (Belgium) and Florin Serban's If I Want to Whistle…I Whistle (Romania). Riklis' film which preemed at Locarno, played at Tiff and was just shown at the AFI Fest, should manage to sway some first round voters his way -- the director of The Syrian Bride and Lemon Tree is perhaps one of the more internationally known filmmakers out of Israel. Film Movement have tagged an unconfirmed March release date for the tragi-comedy. Gist: An Israel, Germany, France and Romania co-production, this is about the Human Resources Manager of Jerusalem’s largest bakery is in trouble. He is separated from his wife, distanced from his daughter, and stuck in a job he hates. When one of his employees, a foreign worker,...

Film Movement has acquired U.S. distribution rights to Israel's Academy Award submission, Eran Riklis's "The Human Resources Manager," winner of the Audience Award at this year's Locarno International Film Festival. The company has plans to theatrically release the film across North America in March of 2011, and release it on Cable VOD next summer. The Hebrew, Romanian and English language film follows the travails of the Human Resources Manager of ...

Reviewed at the 2010 AFI Fest.

Something tells me Eran Riklis would take it as a compliment to call his a career full of minor works. While many Israeli filmmakers have concentrated on making the big statement about their fractured cultural landscape of their homeland, Riklis has focused on making the small one in recent years, whether it's the legal battle over a lemon grove between a Palestinian woman and the Israeli defense minister in his last drama "Lemon Tree" or the uneasy union of Syrian and Israeli families in his 2004 breakthrough "The Syrian Bride."

As Riklis said in his introduction to the AFI Fest crowd over the weekend, his latest film, "The Human Resources Manager" is "similar, but different" - a nod to the fact that while the titular character travels thousands of miles from Jerusalem to an unnamed Eastern European country to return the corpse of one of his...

Bran Nue Dae and Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole have been nominated for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards in the Best Children’s Film and Best Animated Film categories respectively.

New Zealand’s Boy was also nominated for Best Children’s Film, and Australian actor Tony Barry has been recognised for his performance in that country’s feature Home by Christmas.

The Jury is headed by producer Lord David Puttnam, and winners will be announced on the Gold Coast on December 2.

The nominees are:

Best Feature Film

Tangshan dadizheng (Aftershock)

People’s Republic of China (Mainland China / Hong Kong)

Produced by Guo Yanhong, Han Sanping, Wang Zhonjun, Peter Lam Kin Ngok, Wang Tonguan and Albert Yeung.

Bal (Honey)

Turkey / Germany

Produced by Semih Kaplanoðlu.

Co-Produced by Johannes Rexin, Bettina Brokemper.

Mengjia (Monga)

Taiwan

Produced by Lee Lieh and Doze Niu Chen-zer.

Paju

Republic of Korea

Produced...

While I do not think that something as edgy or unusual as Giorgos Lanthimos' Dogtooth (pictured above) will make the 'final five' short list, but kudos to Greece for throwing it out there.  Perhaps something like Tetsuya Nakashima's Confessions will make the cut despite its similarly unsettling subject matter.  Either way, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences did put out a big release yesterday with all of their Foreign Language film submissions, 65 of them in total even Greenland, from various countries.  Many of these films have reviews in our archives.

Albania, East West East, Gjergj Xhuvani

Algeria, Hors la Loi ("Outside the Law"), Rachid Bouchareb

Argentina, Carancho, Pablo Trapero

Austria, La Pivellina, Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel

Azerbaijan, The Precinct, Ilgar Safat

Bangladesh, Third Person Singular Number, Mostofa Sarwar Farooki

Belgium, Illegal, Olivier Masset-Depasse

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Circus Columbia, Danis Tanovic

Brazil, Lula the Son of Brazil,...

I have been keeping track of all of the Foreign Language Oscar submissions in my "The Contenders" section of the site and today the official list of sixty-five films from sixty-five countries was unveiled by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for consideration for the 83rd Academy Awards. On January 20, 2011 a shortlist of nine contenders will be announced prior to the naming of the nominees on January 25, 2011.

I have included the complete list directly below, which includes first-time entrants Ethiopia and Greenland. The only film that was originally thought to be under consideration, but didn't show up on the Academy's final list was Afghanistan's entry, Black Tulip, directed by Sonia Nassery Cole. IMDb doesn't list a release date for the film, which means it may not have met the release requirements in time.

I have linked each film to their corresponding IMDb page for those films not included...

I'm not sure what the cutoff date is for from the individual countries for the Foreign Language Film nominations, but Sony Pictures Classics are glad to see Canada select Denis Villeneuve's Incendies. The company now has three horses in the race and once again, places the distributor in a pretty good position to grab the most of the spots in the final five nominations. Their solid trio so far includes: the Villeneuve film that played at Venice, Telluride and Tiff with Cannes items Xavier Beauvois' Of Gods and Men and Olivier Schmitz's Life, Above All. Having seen all three mentioned titles, I can say that this will please Academy voters. Cross your fingers for Dogtooth folks. Algeria: Outside the Law, Rachid Bouchareb Austria: La Pivellina, Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel Azerbaijan: The Precinct, Ilgar Safat Belgium: Illègal, Olivier Masset-Depasse Bosnia and Herzegovina: Circus Columbia, Danis Tanovic Bulgaria: Eastern Plays,...

Wow, that's a lot of flicks. Everything from Peter Mullan's Neds to Benedek Fliegauf's Womb (that's right, it's a trailer!) to more Greek weirdness in Athena Tsangari's Attenberg. I wish I was going.

It's late so I'm not writing much of a post here.. Maybe I'll update tomorrow.

Full list after the break via Variety.

Contemporary World Cinema

(World preems)

* "Home for Christmas," Bent Hamer (Norway/Germany/Sweden)

* "Behind Blue Skies," Hannes Holm (Sweden)

* "Even The Rain," Iciar Bollain (Spain/France/Mexico)

* "The First Grader," Justin Chadwick (I.K.)

* "Neds," Peter Mullan (U.K./France/Italy)

* "White Irish Drinkers," John Gray (U.S.)

* "22nd of May," Koen Mortier (Belgium)

* "African United," Deb Gardner-Paterson (U.K.)

* "Blessed Events," Isabelle Stever (Germany)

* "The Edge," Alexey Uchitel (Russia)

* "Jucy," Louise Alston (Australia)

* "Lapland Odyssey," Dome Karukoski (Finland)

* "Late Autumn," Kim Teo-Yong (South Korea)

* "Matariki" Michael Bennet (New Zealand)

* "Tracker" Ian Sharp (U.

Rachel Weisz in The Whistleblower The Toronto International Film Festival has added even more films to their line-up today as the complete line-up was announced, which ended up causing the festival's server to crash, but I was lucky enough to get in and get out before missing out on the information.

First off, the festival's Mavericks line-up is quite interesting, which includes a series of guest presentations and this year will see Edward Norton interview Bruce Springsteen, NBA All-Star and native Canadian Steve Nash will present his hour-long film Into the Wind, Apichatpong Weerasethakul will talk with the audience as his Cannes Palm d'Or-winning film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall his Past Lives was just added to the Masters programme, Ken Loach and Paul Laverty will be interviewed by Michael Moore on politics and cinema and Philip Seymour Hoffman will have his own panel. Also on hand will be Bill Gates,...

The sophomore film from the director of Ex Drummer, Swedish thriller Bad Faith, Pablo Trapero's Carancho (my personal favorite film from Cannes 2010), Tsui Hark's Detective Dee, Tom Tykwer's Three and a host of others populate one of the more exciting lineups for the Tiff Contemporary World Cinema Program in recent years. Here's the complete lineup:

22nd of May Koen Mortier, Belgium World Premiere

The director of Ex-Drummer returns with an artful meditation on political violence. A security guard fails to prevent a horrific explosion in a shopping mall, then lives through the aftermath as a series of overlapping what-ifs.

Africa United Debs Gardner-Paterson, United Kingdom World Premiere

Africa United tells the extraordinary story of three Rwandan children and their bid to achieve their lifelong dream - to take part in the opening ceremony of the 2010 Football World Cup in Johannesburg.

Aftershock Feng Xiaogang, China North American Premiere...