Israeli students win best foreign film award

The future of the film industry lies in the hands of a group of bright Israeli students, who were awarded first prize for the ‘Best High School Drama’ in the prestigious annual International Student Film Festival held in Hollywood last week.

The graduates of the Hebrew Reali School in Haifa – Omer Feler (director and cinematographer), Ilia Parfel (editor) and Gili Braslerman (producer) represented Israeli schools in the competition, with their film titled ‘After Twenty Years.’ The Haifa film overtook hundreds of other student films that were sent by universities and colleges worldwide, including from the US, Australia, Poland, Sweden, Turkey, Canada and Germany.

The International Student Film Festival Hollywood is giving student filmmakers from around the world a unique opportunity to showcase their work in the entertainment capital of the world, ” Hollywood”, said the organizer of the competition, veteran film editor Robert Saban.

“After Twenty Years” tells the story of a meeting between two friends set 20 years ago. Over time, it emerges that one of the friends had become a wanted criminal while the other became a policeman. The meeting between the two raises several dilemmas; the main one being whether the policeman should turn his criminal friend in.

The film was shot in the alleyways of the lower city of Haifa, and places emphasis on the universal nature of dilemmas such as friendship, values and ethics that not only apply to the characters of the movie but also to people from all walks of life.

The students produced the film within the finals for their Film, Television and Media studies at their high school. The film was also awarded several prizes at the Van Lier Film Festival in Jerusalem and at the Sukkoth film festival in Haifa held for young filmmakers.

The principal of the Reali High School Ron Kitrey said: “The Hebrew Reali School embraces the talented team who made the movie. These students serve as ambassadors of the city of Haifa and the State of Israel .”

Coming up in a couple of days a glimpse film.

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