The Jerusalem Cinematheque's Israel Film Archive has launched a new website that makes rare films available to the general public.

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The Israel Film Archive – a member of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) – holds over 32,000 titles, recorded on 2 million meters of film, representing some 4,500 hours of productions made in Israel. The archive's digital storage is currently at 6 petabytes.

Since 1960, the Israel Film Archive has been responsible for the safekeeping and preservation of original Israeli narrative and documentary film works dating from the late 19th century to the present day.

Noa Regev, Director of the Jerusalem Cinematheque- Israel Film Archive, said: "Seven years ago, we embarked on this project intending to transform the Archive into a digital cultural institution accessible to everyone everywhere. The new platform will no doubt serve researchers, filmmakers, culture and history buffs, students, and anyone looking to locate cinematic materials from their personal history."

The website project involved digitizing rare film and video footage, some of which had been stored cans on the archive's shelves for years, never seen by the public.

The films on the site have been translated into English and can be tagged and searched in either English or Hebrew.

Fans of Israeli film and history are offered two on-demand options: The Historical View offers a look at the history of the country through archival materials such as a home movie of Albert Einstein or footage of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem during World War I. These materials can be watched free of charge.

The Artistic View option features over 300 Israeli feature and documentary films, some of which have English subtitles for the first time. Some the films in this option, which include classics such as Avi Nesher's "Sing Your Heart Out," Boaz Davidson's "Alex is Lovesick," and "Halfon Hill Doesn't Answer," can be streamed for a small fee.

Partners in the digitization project include the Jaglom Family Foundation, the Beracha Foundation, the Matanel Foundation, Mifal HaPayis – Israel's National Lottery, the Culture and Sports Ministry, the Jerusalem Development Authority, and the Jerusalem and Heritage Ministry.

Dr. Tali Yariv Mash'al, Director of the Beracha Foundation, said, "The history of filmmaking in Israel is a treasure trove of images and moments that illustrate the historical processes of the entire region and Israel in particular. We're proud to be among the initiators and donors of this important project."

Click here to view the new site

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The dramatic film "Let It Be Morning" will be Israel's official submission to next year's Academy Awards after winning Best Picture at the Ophir Awards in Tel Aviv on Tuesday night.

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The winner of the Ophir Awards is automatically selected as Israel's entry for the Oscars in the international feature category.

"Let it Be Morning," directed by Eran Kolirin and based on an eponymous novel by Palestinian writer Sayed Kashua, won a total of seven awards, including best director and screenplay. Stars Alex Bakri and Juna Suleiman took home awards for best actor and actress, respectively.

Kolirin's 2007 film "The Band's Visit" also won best picture at the Ophir Awards, but was disqualified from competing in that year's Academy Awards because more than half of the dialogue was in English. Instead, the Academy chose Joseph Cedar's "Beaufort" to represent Israel that year and it received an Oscar nomination.

This year's ceremony marked the 30th anniversary of the Ophir Awards, named after the late Israeli actor Shaike Ophir.

This article was first published by i24NEWS.

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A new streaming service, Screen iL, targeting Israeli expatriates and consumers worldwide with an appetite for native Israeli film and TV content, has launched globally online.

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The new streaming service, built for Screen iL by SeaChange International, is the only legal platform to broadcast a wide variety of Israeli TV channels, films and other content outside the country. While the bilingual Hebrew and English content will be actively marketed to consumers in the US, it will also be open to Israeli film and TV lovers globally.

Screen iL says it offers the most comprehensive collection of Israeli films, pre-taped and live Israeli TV in the world, outside Israel.

The movie library contains nearly every Israeli movie ever produced, especially those which won awards in Israel, such as The Cakemaker, Fill the Void, Wedding Doll and Synonyms, as well as Oscar-nominated films including Footnote, Beaufort, Sallah and The Policeman.

"We founded the Screen iL service based on our own experience traveling abroad and feeling an emotional need for a window into Israel," said CEO Ben Berner.

"Whether it's news, comedy, humor, shows, movies or Hebrew; living abroad creates an emotional need to stay connected – we've all experienced it and that notion was the idea and the foundation for Screen iL," Berner added.

"Bringing the Screen iL service to life and the chance to serve the Israeli diaspora and lovers of Israeli culture around the world has been a labor of love for our team," said Robert Pons, executive chairman of SeaChange International. "Both project teams are fully aligned and committed to the long-term success of the business."

Israelis abroad, or fans of Israeli film and television, can opt for either a $19.99 monthly or a $219.99 all-inclusive subscription.

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Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid has been awarded the Jury Prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival for his film "Ha'Berech" (Ahed's Knee.)

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Lapid shared the honor with Thai auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul, director of "Memoria."

This year's top honor, the Palme d'Or, was claimed by France's Julia Ducournau for "Titane," and the Grand Prix went to Iranian Ashgar Farhadi's "A Hero" and Juho Kuosmanen's "Compartment No. 6," of Finland.

Lapid, 46, won the top prize at the Berlin film festival in 2019 for "Synonyms," a loosely autobiographical story about a young man trying to shed his Israeli identity when he moves to Paris.

His latest film is also based on a real-life event: A call Lapid received from an Israeli official, inviting him to present a film in a remote desert village, but asking him to sign a form promising to stick to certain approved subjects.

Speaking at Cannes, Lapid said that his biggest concern was how such moves forced artists to censor themselves.

"The sad thing in Israel is you don't have to put tanks in front of the Israeli Film Fund, you don't have to arrest a director and throw him in jail like in Russia. It's effective just to say 'enough politics, guys, let's talk about family.'

"What bothers me is not the censorship of the state, but when censorship becomes part of your soul, your mind. Censorship from within. It accompanies you like a shadow," he said.

This article was first published by i24NEWS.

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An Israeli short film about a pizza order that goes very, very wrong has been awarded a humanitarian prize.

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Oshri Cohen's NEW WORLD (pizza) ORDER, produced by Haven Originals, was named on Tuesday for the Award of Distinction Humanitarian Award at the Accolade Global Film Competition.

In the movie, the protagonist is an Average Joe who simply wants to order a pizza through his smart speaker. Hungry and in a hurry, he gives into the temptation to accept new terms and conditions that allow the use of his personal information in order to make the order process frictionless. This leads him to the terrifying realization that "they" know way too much, and the pizza lover finds himself being violently interrogated by government officials, in his own living room.

Cohen's short is part of Project Out, a series of short films that focus on the "little guy" versus the government or big tech. Each film tells the story of a different character in a different world of rules and a constant conflict and looks at the question of how far people should go to remain good, law-abiding citizens.

Haven Originals co-founder Ronen Menipaz said, "We're thrilled to receive this award. Haven Originals, our concept development production house, focuses on the production of content with the goal of encouraging critical thinking and breaking paradigms. We're very proud of this project and see this award as a testament that our efforts are echoing."

The goal of the Humanitarian Award is to honor filmmakers who bring awareness to ecological, political, social justice, health and wellness, animal welfare, and conservation issues, through excellence in filmmaking.

Thus far, the Project Out films have won 12 global awards. The Hollywood Just4Shorts film and screenplay competition picked one of its entries to honor with the best web series award, and another short was an official selection at the New York Liftoff Film Festival for 2020.

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