Earlier today, Hollywood’s phones were ringing off the hook as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominations for this year’s Oscars, which will take place February 26th. One of the filmmakers who got the coveted call this morning was Joseph Cedar, acclaimed Israeli director whose film “Footnote” was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. No Israeli film has ever won.

Could this be the year Israel takes home an Academy Award? Since 1964, when Israel first began submitting films for consideration, ten Israeli films have been nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. Even more impressive, for four of the last five years, an Israeli film has been nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. In 2008, it was Beuafort, also directed by Joseph Cedar, telling the story of some of the last IDF soldiers stationed in an outpost prior to the end of the Second Lebanon War. Beuafort‘s nomination in 2007 was the first for an Israeli film since 1984. In 2009, Waltz with Bashir won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film but not the Oscar. And in 2010, Ajami was also nominated for the Oscar.

And now, Footnote has the chance to win the Academy Award for Jospeh Cedar, and bring tremendous pride to Israel’s thriving film industry. As is always the case with the Oscars, nothing is a shoe-in, and this year, competition is extremely tight with wonderful films from Canada, Belgium, Poland, and Iran also nominated. The Iranian film, “A Separation” recently won the Golden Globe, which of course is often times a precursor to an Oscar. In addition to its nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, Iranian writer-director Ashghar Farhadi’s film also earned a nod for Best Original Screenplay.

Will Footnote be an Oscar surprise? We’ll be tuning in to watch when the Oscars air on Sunday, February 26th on ABC.

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Carefully picked singer-songwriters and musicians teamed up to showcase  their material in South Tel Aviv’s exquisite new jam venue ‘The Zone.’ Hundreds of music industry professionals, musicians and fans as well as gathered to discover and be awed by Israel’s most vibrant active artists.

The music that pored out crisp and lucid from the venue’s generous PA system can best be described as mature, energetic yet cleverly combining foreign styles with a distinctive local interpretation. Extremely talented performers belted out English lyrics and boasted a potentially massive international appeal.

The audience was chock full of players in the local, bustling music scene – potentially new partners to help launch a platform to support these artists on upcoming overseas tours. International presenters and bookers were directly invited to this exclusive, high-profile night.

“This has long been an aspiration of mine” said Einat Shaul, director of cultural affairs at the Consulate General of Israel in Atlanta and an avid music fan. “What we have launched here may ultimately be completed only by joining forces and working closely with available sources of support such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Musicians should be aware that Israel’s cultural attaches may serve as great connectors”.

The incredible lineup, combined with a one of a kind atmosphere, made energy bounce off the walls all night, making for a fantastic evening that offered surprising and memorable collaborations between the performers on the bill.

Mastering fingerstyle picking on an array of acoustic and slide guitars, Yair Yona tugs at the heartstrings with a rare interpretation of folk, rock, delta blues, country and jazz. He was later beautifully accompanied by Roy Rieck and his soulful harmonica for a first-ever public collaboration.

A band undoubtedly greater than the sum of all its parts, Acollective has long become a movement, stirring up stages around Israel and abroad. Seven young wonders crowded the floor led by Idan Rabinovici and Roy Rieck – bursting with energy and talent, forming a unique identity from the greatest sources of rock, blues, electro, jazz, new-folk, funk and Americana. Playing material off their recent release ‘Onwards’, they provided sheer bliss which has melancholy edges and is genuine the whole way through.

Brilliant guitarist Uzi ‘Bluesy’ Ramirez lit the room on fire with his folk/groove/funk/Americana & rockabilly that together create a first-rate new/old sound you can’t stay still too. Later on Uzi joined Yael Deckelbaum for a thrilling duet.

From the angelic voice through the fast guitar strumming, Yael Deckelbaum leads the audiences through pastures of folk & blues, using an immaculate operatic singing ability spiced with plenty of humor, emotion and audience engagement. With the support of Adam ben Ezra on the standup bass, Yael revealed material in English as well as new songs in Hebrew from her newly released album.

All photos courtesy of Naneen Baden

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What do you get when you combine Alvin Ailey, one of the most respected names in modern dance, with Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin? You get Minus 16, best described as breaking down the barrier between audience and performer. First performed in 1999, Ohad Naharin’s Minus 16 is unlike any other work in the Ailey repertory in the way it challenges the dancers to improvise and invite audience members to join them onstage.

The key to Minus 16 is “Gaga.” No, not the pop star, but the name for Naharin’s language of movement developed in Israel which helps dancers and non-dancers alike reconnect with movement by seeing the body as a source of power and energy.  The method is a unique form of dance where emphasis is placed on sensations rather than positions, providing a new way of gaining knowledge and self-awareness through the body.

In partnership with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, the Consulate General of Israel is giving away a pair of tickets for the December 11th performance, which features 4 pieces, the first being Minus 16. But that’s not all! Prior to the performance, you and a friend will be invited to a special reception beforehand honoring Ohad Naharin!

So how can you score this delicious holiday treat? Simply send us a tweet @israelconsulate with the hashtag #Minus16contest and a winner will be picked at random next week.

For everyone else, we encourage you to buy your tickets online now, and as a special bonus, you also get a chance to learn how to “Gaga” yourself! Alvin Ailey’s special promotion “Ticket to Dance” running through December 31st grants you a free dance class on “Gaga”-ism. It’s a lot of fun, and no previous dance experience is required! The show itself is great, and coupled with the free dance class, it’s a wonderful Chanukah/Christmas/Kwanza/DecembertoRemember present!

Get your “Ticket-to-Dance” today with a ticket purchase to the New York City Center Season (Now – January 1) – just in time for the holidays! Tickets starting at $25 are available at the New York City Center Box Office, through CityTix® at (212) 581-1212 or online at www.alvinailey.org or www.nycitycenter.org. Each “Ticket to Dance” is good for one year from the performance date for first time students, and when purchasing a 10-class card for classes at The Ailey Extension in New York City for returning students.

And remember, send us a tweet @israelconsulate with #Minus16contest and the Sunday, December 11th performance will be on the house!

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Roberto Cavalli's Spring/Summer 2012 collection

While most of us spent last week getting our pies and plane tickets ready for Thanksgiving, in Israel, the grand feast was taking place on the runway with Tel Aviv Fashion Week 2011. With two dozen shows over a 3-day span, the epic return of Fashion Week to Israel after a 30 year hiatus was kicked off with famed Italian designer Roberto Cavalli, who showed off his remixed Spring 2012 collection.

Beyond branding Tel Aviv as a new hub of international fashion, the big draw of TLVFW 2011 was to showcase Israel’s hottest young designers. Explaining Israel’s return to hosting an international fashion event, Ofir Lev, General Manager of the Israel Textile and Fashion Association, who also served as President of Tel Aviv Fashion Week, said in an interview with Bloomberg News, “We need to go back to the front stage. We are very creative in Israel, we’re an innovation country.” Already, Lev is looking to the next show, which he hopes will be in April 2012 and might book the all star cast of Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, and even Miuccia Prada.

The 3-day extravaganza ended on a high note, with a fashion show and fundraiser for the Israeli Gay Youth organization IGY, an LGBT organization which provides a wide array of positive support for teenagers and their families. Many designers donated some of their clothing to help raise funds. IGY has activities in 22 Israeli cities, and they partnered with several celebrities including Dana International, who gave an awesome performance to close out Tel Aviv’s return to fashion.

Check out the gallery

Video of Alon Livne’s Fashion Show

Alon Livne, Israel’s foremost young fashion designer, started his meteoric rise when he was just 17.

Just a few years later,  he was working for the Italian mega-designer Roberto Cavalli in Florence. Before that, he trained at Alexander McQueen’s House in London.

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The Israel Museum announced over the weekend that it will be auctioning off 39 pieces from world renowned artists such as Rene Magritte, Camille Pissarro and Georges Braque. In a statement from museum director James S. Snyder, the museum says they plan to “eliminate redundancies and generate funds for the targeted acquisition of works, which will amplify focal points in the collection and fill gaps where they exist.” Specifically, the museum is planning on using the funds for its modern art acquisition fund.

We don’t know about you, but we wouldn’t mind having some of those “redundancies” hanging in our houses! For would-be art collectors out there, expect some of these pieces to fetch a pretty penny when they are auctioned off by Southeby’s in New York and London starting on November 2nd. One of the most anticipated sales, Magritte’s “The Straight Road,” is estimated to pull in $3.5 million (pictured above). All told, this winter’s auctions are expected to pull in a cool $17 million, if not more.

One can never know what will happen once the bidding starts. In 2007, the Israel Museum was told a 1981  Jean Michel Basquiat painting should be valued $6-8 million. It sold for $14.6 million.

All this comes after a massive three-year period of restoration and expansion, which included new galleries and public spaces and a review of the institution’s 500,000-piece collection. The result of that review allowed experts to decide which pieces the museum could part with; and with a successful auction, there will be plenty of money in the piggy bank to go on a global shopping spree.

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On a makeshift runway in NYC, ancient Middle Eastern cultures combine into a singular, modern aesthetic. This is inSHALLOm, a project by fashion designers threeASFOUR meant to link Jewish and Arab aesthetics to demonstrate how the visual world binds these cultures to one another. Earlier today, threeASFOUR launched their Spring Summer 2012 collection as a part of New York’s Fashion Week. A big part of their new collection is the inSHALLOm project, which is a series of partnerships to bring both Arab and Jewish communities together through artistic collaboration. Both peoples are of course, intrinsically linked through shared cultural heritage in the Middle East, as both are born out of the Abrahamic faith and are cousins both linguistically and culturally.

threeASFOUR is working with local artisans and manufacturers to create a contemporary, affordable line of fashion and accessories influenced by both Middle East cultures. The goal is for the products to reflect their shared background, with elements of each culture molded into a  single representation of what the two peoples have in common.

More than just a series of hybrid designs for the fashion industry, threeASFOUR hopes that this will spark a new beginning of cross-cultural exchange. A quick look at the backgrounds of the designers and you can see that threeASFOUR  embraces diversity as it stems from their very origins. Adi Gil was born and raised in Israel; Gabi Asfour is of Palestinian descent born and raised in Beirut and Angela Donhauser is of Russian and German descent, born in Tajikistan and later raised in Germany. Fusion is a central tenet behind the work of threeASFOUR, and through design, they seek to create unity. More than just unity of form and function, any time you have three people in a room, as the saying goes, you get four opinions. But having designed together for over a decade, Adi, Gabi and Angela are able to reflect off the same sense of unity they seek to find in their work.

Coming up for the inSHALLOm project in November 2011 is a huge opening event at Tel Aviv’s Beit Ha’ir museum, complete with music, photography, architecture and more to, as threeASFOUR put it “promote cultural understanding through aesthetic unity.”

Yoko Ono who is going to contribute to the Beit Ha’ir Tel Aviv show, was in attendance today, along with her son, Sean Lennon (pictured above).

We’ll have more for you ahead of the Beit Ha’ir exhibit, so stay tuned!

Photos copyrighted by Elion Paz

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Nili Lotan is an Israeli-American fashion designer and founder of Nili Lotan Design Studio. Lotan’s work has been featured in outlets ranging from Time Out to Vogue, and her designs are frequently worn by celebrities, including Demi Moore and Reese Witherspoon. We recently had the chance to sit down with her to talk about her new collection as well as her plans for this year’s Fashion’s Night Out, which will take place Thursday, September 8th. Check out the interactive map of FNO’s events around NYC by clicking here.

Q: What are your plans for Fashion’s Night Out this year?

Nili Lotan: On September 8th we will be celebrating Fashion Night Out . Tomorrow night, designers and fashion stores are putting  after hours shopping extravaganza events. This year we are celebrating Fashion’s Night Out with a huge sample sale! Lots of cashmere sweaters ,shirts,coats etc. While the sale is going on the guests and shoppers can enjoy cocktails courtesy of Buldog Gin and wine courtesy of Tishbi (Editor’s note: said Tishbi wine comes straight from Israel’s Galilee region). There will also be DJ’s and plenty of gifts. gifts

Q: What is the inspiration for your new collection?

Nili: My new collection, for Spring 2012 consists of 2 stories. An American, Western inspired story and a nautical  inspired story. For this, I looked at elements from Navy uniforms as well as the nautical French Rivera in the 1930′s.

Q: Does your Israeli heritage have a big impact in your work?

Nili: Of course! I draw my inspiration from my life references . I was born and raised in Israel, so my sense of aesthetics  was developed through my childhood in Israel. It was polished and fined tuned in my 30 years working and living in NYC but the Israeli references always there.

Q: Tell us a little about your work environment and your design process.

Nili: I create at my design studio in TriBeca where I have a complete sample room that I call my “lab” where I develop all my creative ideas and create  the collections. The process of creating a collection takes about three months, and at that point the collection  is presented in two showrooms NYC and Milan to buyers from all over the world. They place their orders and then the production process starts through two distribution centers so the collection can be shipped all over the world. My flagship store is right above my studio – there I get to meet private customers, shoppers  and present the collection within the frame of my aesthetics and  my vision.

Q: Thank you for taking the time to speak with us today! And good luck at tomorrow night’s event!

Nili: Bevakasha!

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Half-man. Half-god. But only half a meter tall? An extremely rare statue of the Greco-Roman legend Hercules was recently uncovered during a dig at Horvat Tarbenet in the Jezreel Valley.

According to Dr. Walid Atrash of the Israel Antiquities Authority, “This is a rare discovery. The statue, which probably stood in a niche, was part of the decoration of a bathhouse pool that was exposed during the course of the excavations. It is c. 0.5 m tall, is made of smoothed white marble and is of exceptional artistic quality. Hercules is depicted in three dimension, as a naked figure standing on a base. His bulging muscles stand out prominently, he is leaning on a club to his left, on the upper part of which hangs the skin of the Nemean lion, which according to Greek mythology Hercules slew as the first of his twelve labors”.

The statue is just shy of two thousand years old, having been sculpted in the 2nd century C.E. The site in which it was found, Horvat Tarbenet, was actually a Jewish settlement in the third century C.E. Along with the Roman bathhouse that was discovered included some residential dwellings, and a large pool that was probably used to funnel water into the area where the statue was adorned. All of these goodies were found during a renovation of Israel’s Valley Railway by the Israel National Roads Company.

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Next Thursday, July 28th, Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra will be holding a special concert featuring two of the world’s greatest singers in soprano Renée Fleming and tenor Joseph Calleja to honor the legacy of the great American tenor Richard Tucker.

The best part about “Live From Jerusalem” is that you don’t need to be in Israel to see this amazing one-night event! It will be broadcast to 475 movie theatres around the U.S. at 7:00 pm local time.

To find theatres in your area, head on over to FathomEvents.com, enter your Zip code at the bottom. The Manhattan movie theatres include Union Square’s Regal, AMC Kips Bay, AMC in the East Village, and more!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIQBiusOdpg

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The good folks over at Cliche Skate, whose team consists mostly of French skaters with a couple of Americans and Aussies for good measure, just wrapped up their video tour of Israel. It’s a side of Israel you don’t see that often – the walls and streets are the same, but you’ve never seen it from the perspective of a skater. The video shows them pulling off tricks everywhere they can make them, finding new ways to interact with Israel’s storied historic buildings.

To borrow a cliche (and a pun) from 1994, it’s a pretty sick video. Check it out below, courtesy of Skateboarder Magazine, which is also publishing photos and the story of their Israel video tour in the August/September issue.

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