Here is a tidbit of some of what is going on our Northwestern-New Voices website: A review of the Chicago Festival of Israeli Cinema by Abraham Benson-Goldberg.
Howdy y’all! ABG here, checking in with some good suggestions for the NU Jew community. Arts and culture!
As you know, if you know me, I’m a film major, and I’m big into watching movies and then talking about them. I mean, lots of people like to watch movies, but not a lot of people enjoy really cutting into them and trying to find out what’s working and what isn’t and all the fun stuff that comprises mise-en-scene criticism (Andre Bazin and the Cahiers du Cinema FTW)! But sometimes, I like to trust in someone else to do my criticism for me—festival programmers. Programming a festival (or even a repertory theater) is the most immediate act of criticism known to the industry: It is literally picking which movies are good enough to go into the overall show!
This week, in Chicago, IL, courtesy of the Israeli Consulate, a few dedicated festival programmers have brought us one of the best Israeli film festivals outside of Israel: the Chicago Festival of Israeli Cinema. There will be something for everyone there, but the two films I recommend seeing at any cost are: “A Matter of Size” and “Eyes Wide Open.” These are some of the best pieces Israel has had to offer — in fact, Israel has been ramping up production values and making some quality cinema ever since 2007, the year (Israeli war film) “Beaufort” was made and nominated for Best Foreign Picture.
