Q&A

How does music affect our movie watching experience? What is the process for creating a  movie sound track? Hear the answers to these questions and ask your own in a free Q&A session with award winning composers and musicians Ishai Adar from Israel, and British born Chistopher Gubisch from Los Angeles.

Ishai Adar is a self-educated musician, composer and multidisciplinary artist who uses uncommon methods and techniques, giving his work a uniquely atmospheric character. He started his career in the post-punk band The Top-Hat Carriers and later released several influential experimental electronic albums. A cinema enthusiast who enjoys exploring the pas de deux between image and sound, Ishai’s work includes 2008 Academy Award nominated Beaufort (dir: Joseph Cedar), Sundance 2010 winner A Film Unfinished (dir: Yael Hersonski), SXSW 2016 winner, Mr. Gaga (dir: Tomer Heymann) and HBO’s mini series Our Boys. Ishai is based in Tel Aviv and is the Head of the Sound & Music for Cinema department at Sapir College in Sderot, Israel.

Christopher Gubisch is a British-born composer and producer living in Los Angeles, California. He has produced, performed and toured with many Los Angeles bands. As a composer, his music has been featured on TV shows, commercials and film trailers throughout the world. Chicago-area natives will instantly recognize his earworm jingle for Luna Carpet, his first commercial gig. TV shows include FX Network’s critically-acclaimed drama Damages, as well as underscore for Dateline NBC, National Geographic Explorer, Ancient Aliens and Destination Truth among many others. He has also written the music for three of Dani Menkin’s documentaries, 39 Pounds of Love, Picture of His Life and most recently Aulcie.

Cast: Isahai Adar, Christopher Gubisch

Q and A with Laura Gabbert (Director), Steven Robillard (Producer), and some of the chefs of the new IFC Films’ movie OTTOLENGHI AND THE CAKES OF VERSAILLES.

Q&A with director Ram Loevy of the film THE DEAD OF JAFFA.

Film available to watch January 10-17.  Q&A is included with film ticket.

Three children from the West Bank are smuggled into Israel, arriving at the doorstep of George and Rita’s house in Jaffa. Their mother is dead, and their father has been sentenced to life imprisonment. As Israeli Palestinians, George is afraid that hiding illegal aliens will endanger Rita and himself, while Rita believes the arrival of these children could give meaning to her life. Nearby, a foreign film is being shot. Jerry, an English director, is making a movie about his parents’ love affair in 1947, when they served in the British army in Palestine. George is invited to play a part in the film. When the two stories intertwine, tensions erupt.
MATURE LANGUAGE, DRUG USE

Film: 96 minutes

Director: Ram Loevy

Production country: Israel

Year: 2019

Q&A with filmmakers Imri Matalon and Aviad Givon

Imri Matalon graduated cum laude from the Sam Spiegel Film School. His short film Dead End won the Best Short Film Award at the Haifa Film Festival and many awards around the world. His first full-length film Broken Mirrors was nominated for the Best Screenplay Award at the Ophir Awards (Israeli Oscars). The film has played in many festivals around the world and won several awards for the film makers as well as the movie’s star, Shira Haas.
Matalon currently lives in Tel Aviv with his wife and two small children, and is working on his second film that will be shot soon. He is also writing a drama series for television and teaching writing and directing at various universities in Israel.

Aviad Givon graduated from the Sam Spiegel School Film School in Israel. He is the director of the short movies
Ha’Even and Letters to Popeye. Givon is also an author — his debut book The Picture Looks at Me was chosen to be the Novel of the year in Israel, and received commendable reviews. Broken Mirrors is his first feature length film.

Q&A with filmmaker Michael Mayer and cast members Iris Bahr (Hila), Alon Pdut (Avner), Ido Mor (Yossi), Mike Burstyn (Mati), Shani Atias (Noya) and Daniel Lavid (Maor). Moderated by Rebecca Fonte from The Other Worlds Film Festival.

Michael Mayer’s “gripping feature debut”, Out in the Dark had it’s world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, sold to over 40 countries and went on to play in more than 130 film festivals, winning 27 awards.

His new feature, Happy Times, due for release in 2021 has already been dubbed the “Israeli Get Out” and won the Best Screenplay Award at the Haifa International Film Festival. Currently, Mayer is developing a feature adaptation of Erri De Luca’s best seller Tu, mio as well as a one-hour thriller series for US and Israeli Television.

Born and raised in Haifa, Israel, Mayer lives and works in Los Angeles.

Q&A with Filmmaker Mauro Mancini.

Award-winning director and screenwriter, Mauro Mancini began his career in 2005 with the short film Our Secret. Over the years he has shot commercials, music videos, documentary and short movies.

His first feature film Thou Shalt Not Hate was presented in the Film Critic’s Week competition at 77th Venice International Film Festival.

Q&A with director, screenwriter, and producer Irena Pavlásková and producer Michal Kráčmer live from Prague.

Director Irena Pavlásková is one of the most acclaimed Czech directors of all times. Her films have screened at the most prestigious festivals around the globe. Her film Time of Servants was awarded Special Mention Camera d’Or at the Cannes IFF and received many other awards around the world as well as being voted the best film of the decade by the Czech Society of Film Critics. Her film Time of Debts was the most attended film of the year in Czech cinemas. Her other films, like Bestiary and Photographer, were big successes both in domestic cinemas and abroad. Her film Earthy Paradise to the Eyes won three main awards at the Moscow IFF.

Michal Kráčmer is a film producer known for creating edgy movies. His filmography includes, among others, the experimental film My Unknown Soldier by Anna Kryvenko, as well as the documentary Kiruna – Brand New World by Greta Stocklassa. Both films earned extraordinary success on the global festival circuit. He was recognized as a Promising Producer at Tallinn IFF (2014, EST) and awarded the Promotion Prize of the GWFF at Cottbus IFF (2015, DE). Michal has attended international workshops such as MIDPOINT, MAIA, SOFA, ARCHIDOC, Producers Network and Workshop at Cannes IFF, Berlinale Talents, and Trans Atlantic Partners.

Q&A with writer and film narrator Martin Goldsmith.

Martin Goldsmith is the author of Alex’s Wake: A Voyage of Betrayal and A Journey of Remembrance, the story of his grandfather and uncle, who were two of the more than 900 passengers on the ill-fated Jewish refugee ship St. Louis in 1939, and his own six-week journey in their footsteps in 2011.

His first book, The Inextinguishable Symphony: A True Story of Music and Love in Nazi Germany, told the riveting story of the Jewish Kulturbund, an all-Jewish performing arts ensemble maintained by the Nazis between 1933 and 1941, an ensemble that included Mr. Goldsmith’s parents. The Inextinguishable Symphony is the basis of the acclaimed 2019 film Winter Journey, directed by Anders Ostergaard and starring Bruno Ganz.

Martin Goldsmith has been a classical music radio programmer and presenter for forty-nine years. For ten years, from 1989 to 1999, he served as the host of “Performance Today,” National Public Radio’s daily classical music program. which won the coveted Peabody Award for broadcasting. Before that he worked at NPR member station WETA-FM in Washington, DC, for a dozen years, serving as producer, announcer, music director and, eventually, program director.

Goldsmith began his radio career at commercial classical station WCLV in Cleveland, where his mother was a violist in the Cleveland Orchestra. Mr. Goldsmith was born in St. Louis, where his mother spent 21 years as a member of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. A graduate of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, he has sung in the chorus of the Baltimore Opera Company and made a guest appearance with the Washington Opera. He has also acted in many roles in Washington-area theaters, including Arena Stage.

Q&A with filmmaker Tal Michael

Tal Michael born in 1974 is a film & TV director and content editor. Michael is a graduate with honors of the film and Television dept. at Tel Aviv University, and a former PhD student in Comparative Literature. Among her works are the films Hunger (2020); Bukra fil Mish-Mish (2019 – award winner in the Jerusalem JFF); Israeli Hero (2018); Call Me Ovadya (2018); Around the bed of a Dying Collaborator” (co-director with David Ofek; best medium length film in Krakow Film Festival 2019); Israel is not waiting…“; Pitbulls: Flesh&Blood (2014) ; the documentary series: My Little Empire” (2006); Candidates (2018), The Israeli Connection (2011, 2013); Vacum (2011, 2015); The Story and MABAT Sheni” (2012-2016) ; Bench Player (best Drama film, Haifa film Festival 2002) ; andNo Rain (best script, best actor- America Israel prizes);

Her works have been included in international festivals and acquired by various channels in Israel and abroad.

Q and A with Václav Marhoul and cast members of the new IFC Film THE PAINTED BIRD.  In partnership with IFC Films and Tamar Simon from Mean Streets Management.

Director: Václav Marhoul

To watch the movie itself, please visit IFC Film’s event page with links to where you can watch it on online pay-per-view. 

Note:  this is an excellent film, but contains some very intense scenes.  Viewer discretion is advised.