With 200 guest rooms, the Peninsula — one of an international group of five luxury hotels owned by Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels, Ltd. — is certainly not the largest hotel in the city, but it hosts more than its share of celebrities and A-list events.
Amid the celebrities and paparazzi crowding the Cannes Film Festival last week, Katriel Schory roamed the bustling boulevard Croisette like a proud parent. \”Israeli cinema has never had such a presence here,\” Schory, director of the Israel Film Fund, said via the cell phone that seems attached to his ear.
Natalie Portman has probably populated more fanboy fantasies than anyone this side of Jessica Alba.
Besides presiding over the recent \”Star Wars\” films as Queen Amidala, she plays a bald, beautiful and badass revolutionary in \”V For Vendetta,\” opening March 17, the latest film from \”Matrix\” masterminds Andy and Larry Wachowski. As the missing link between the universes of George Lucas and the Wachowski Brothers, Portman holds a unique place in geek-movie history
Even the annual Oscar competition can\’t stay clear of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.\nThis year, the brouhaha is about \”Private,\” a film centering on a Palestinian West Bank family whose home is temporarily taken over by a squad of Israeli soldiers.\n\”Private,\” the work of Italian director Saverio Costanzo, was shot by an Italian crew and was selected as Italy\’s official entry in the foreign language film Oscar category.\nIt was promptly rejected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which accepted entries from 57 other countries, including Israel and the not-yet nation of Palestine.
Clara Khoury and Hiam Abbass star in \”The Syrian Bride,\” where bureaucracy is an uninvited guest.
\”I am not Menachem.\” So says Israeli heartthrob Aki Avni, referring to his character in \”Time of Favor,\” the Israeli psychological thriller opening in Los Angeles movie theaters Feb 1. The film, winner of six Israeli Oscars last year, including picture of the year, tells the story of a religious settler army unit in which one student, Pini, takes to heart his rabbi\’s ideological rantings about the Temple Mount, and crazily decides to blow it up.
\”In the old Hollywood movies, the underdog always won. I\’ve got to believe that can still happen,\” says Joseph Cedar, sitting in the lobby of a cheap hotel in the mid-Wilshire area frequented by young Israelis and artistic types of various nationalities.
Israeli filmmaker Amos Gitai will direct a novice actor in his next movie. He is playwright Arthur Miller, better known as the author of \”Death of a Salesman,\” \”The Crucible\” and numerous other dramas.
I first went wild over \”Salah\” in 1964. More than three decades later, I couldn\’t help wondering whether the Israeli movie would still exert its charm and humor.
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