Prizes totaling $120,000 were awarded to promising new talents from around the world

The Industry Days 16thannual Pitch Point took place during the 40th year celebrations for the Jerusalem Film Festival. Prizes were awarded to five outstanding Israeli projects. As part of its partnership with the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab, the award ceremony took place this year for the first time on the roof of the new Sam Spiegel building in central Jerusalem.

The prizes awarded are:

The 55,000NIS Jerusalem Foundation Award was granted to Wild Animals Director Yona Rozenkier, Producers Kobi Mizrahi and Dominique Welinski

The Diamond Award – in the amount of 10,000NIS, was presented to the team of the award-winning Land of Limpopo, director and producer: Gur Bentwich, director of animation: Shafaf Ram.

The 25,000 NIS EDIT Post Production Services Grant was awarded to Tropicana

Director Omer Tobi; Producers: Hilla Medalia and Gil Sima.

DB Post Production Services Grant in the amount of 30,000NIS was given to Issa’s House director and producer Tomer Heyman; producers Issa Amro, Tomer Heymann, Izzat Karaki, Lukasz Konopa, Leigh Heiman.

The Jerusalem Pitch Point is a competitive industry platform aiming to encourage and promote international collaborations and co-productions with Israeli feature-length films either in the development & packaging stage, or in their post-production stage. This year’s jury included Olivier Père, director ARTE Cinema, France; Thorsten Ritter, Beta Cinema;

Kevin Chan, MUBI; Claudia Solano the Match Factory; Yael Fogiel,Les Films du Poisson and  Helge Albers from the Hamburg Film Fund.

Celebrating its first decade last year, the 11th edition of the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab awarded prizes to The Sam Spiegel International Film Lab $50,000 Grand Prize, donated by the Beracha Foundation was awarded to Children of the Monkey, directors Tommaso Landucci and Damiano Femfert, producer Andrea Calbucci, Italy. The jury headed by Kirsten Niehuus, CEO of Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, stated “this is a modern depiction of fatherhood and the male perspective on caretaking. and the complexities of examining the limits of love and generosity.”

The Sam Spiegel International Film Lab Emerging Filmmaker Award in the amount of $20,000 was granted to Checkpoints by Rita Borodiyanski; Producer: Osnat Saraga, Israel. The jury statement read: “this is an energetic story of female empowerment and liberation. It tells a story of a woman who comes from a challenging background. making the best of her situation in a politicized reality that does not give her many options”.

The Factory 54 Artistic Vision Award this year was given to Exile, director Oz Zirlin, producer Dor Levy, Israel. Ifat Irani, Owner and co-CEO Irani Corp and Israeli producer Osnat Handelsman Keren were joined by jury head Kirsten Niehuus and stated: “this is a project that depicts a dark reality he knows intimately, and spotlights lives often overlooked. The jury was impressed by his artistic vision that has the ability to open up this subject with great sensitivity and humanity”.

The Jerusalem Sam Spiegel International Film Lab, is one of the foremost programs for the development of groundbreaking feature films by some of the world’s most promising talents.

Over the past decade, JSFL projects have received the most prestigious accolades- from Lazlo Nemes's Academy Award winning Son of Saul, to the Camera d’Or for Murina by Antoneta Kusijanović.

The Lab is supported by the Beracha Foundation; the Rothschild Foundation; the Jerusalem Foundation; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the Jerusalem Development Authority; the Jerusalem Film and Television Fund; the Israel Film Fund; The Israel Film Council; The Embassy of Hungary in Israel; the Jerusalem Municipality; Carol Polakoff; and the Sam Spiegel Estate.