The movie festival in Icon is the fourth largest of its kind in Israel and yet again this year is recognized and supported by the Israeli Film Council and The Ministry of Foreign Affairs's Culture and Science department (“Kashtoom”), as well as partnerships with various embassies and cultural institutes including the Goethe institute, the Japanese embassy, the Spanish embassy, the Cervantes institute, the Swedish embassy, the USA embassy and Ireland's embassy.
The festival will include the screenings of full length films as well as short movies, theoretical programs and professional workshops.
The film screenings will take place during the seven days of the festival, 4th-10th of October (Sunday-Saturday) in the Tel Aviv Cinematheque, and a week later in additional Cinematheques across the country.
Opening Movie:
District 9 (2009, South Africa/New Zealand, Minutes 112)
35 mm screening, courtesy pf United Kings films. Peter Jackson's new production (Lord of the Rings, King Kong), whose specifics have been kept secret until it's release in the ISA this August. A science fiction movie that's part mocumentary and part action, about the integration of a race of aliens into human society in South Africa.
Closing Movie:
Moon (Britain, 97 minutes, 2009)
These are the last days of Sam on the moon. Communication with Earth – with his wife and son – is unavailable and his only partner for his stay is “Gerti”, the base computer. His 3 year stay on the moon, which he spent alone mining minerals are coming to an end, but as the date approaches strange things begin to occur... Sam Rockwell (and the voice of Kevin Spacey as the computer) in one of the most eagerly anticipated science fiction movies of the year, in Duncan Jones's (David Bowie's son) first movie. 35mm
Special Events:
Metropolis (1927, Germany, minutes 118)
Fritz Lang's masterpiece in a restored 35mm edition from 2001 from the Murnau archives, courtesy of the Goethe institute, with musical accompaniment by Matan Porat, an Israeli pianist and composer of worldwide fame and influence.
"Porat's two hour long improvisation for Lang's Metropolis was an astounding feat of creative musicianship."
(Alex Ross, New Yorker 22.6.09)
Prescreening: Gamer (2009, USA, 95 minutes)
In the not too distant future the most popular show on television is “the game”, a revolutionary meld of virtual reality and gaming – an online game where players are prisoners sentenced to death, with 17 year old gamers controlling their fate in combat... A prisoner who survives 30 battles gains a pardon.
John Tillman (Jerard Butler) was convicted for a crime he did not commit and sentenced to life imprisonment. He accepts an offer to participate in the show and due to his charisma and military experience he and his gamer become popular among millions of fans of the show, who wait for him every week. Just before his release, the commander of the prison and owner of the show will do anything not to lose their star...
Premier showing in Israel: The Insomniac City Cycles (Israel, 68 minutes, 2009)
Ran Slavin's film is on the edge between Cinema and video art and will be shown twice during the festival, in a pre-release showing as part of the “Designing Tomorrow” convention and the premiere screening in the festival will take place on Friday.
Tel Aviv and Shanghai have never looked more strange and different than Ran Slavin's first long film. Through a crumbling mosaic of memories, a sleep deprived man finds himself shot in a Tel Aviv parking lot.
He can no longer distinguish between reality and dreams and the city begins to reflect his condition. A mysterious girl wakes up from a phone call from that same blurred dream, tied up in a hotel room in Shanghai. An interrupted call between a stranger who appears at times to be her lover becomes a midnight imbroglio full of action and the futuristic vistas of Tel Aviv and Shanghai.
“Insomniac City Cycles” veers between film-noir and science fiction, between reality and surrealism. A mix of bizarre dark psychological drama heading towards the twilight zone. This is a cyclic cinematic project that began in 2004 and a video exhibit and is now in its final cycle, it has been re-edited with additional scenes for a full length narrative.
Dark City (1998, Australia / USA, 100 min), Alex Proyas' film starring William Hurt, Keifer Sutherland and Jennifer Connelly, has already become one sci-fi's classics. The film is a milestone in the design of fantasy cities in movies and Christian Lorenz Scheurer, one of the movie's designers, is a guest at the festival. Dr. Yeal Munk of Tel Aviv University will give a lecture about the movie as part of our "Future City – City Future" convention. A Beta screening courtesy of YES. The movie will be introduced by festival guest Christian Lorenz Scheurer, who worked alongside the movie's design team. Dr. Yeal Munk will discuss the film as part of the festival's academic program.
Mon Oncle (1958, France / Italy, 117 min), Jacques Tati's classic film will be screened during the "Designing Tomorrow" convention. 35mm.
First Squad: The Moment of Truth (2009, Russia / Japan / Canada, 73 min), screening supported by te Japanese embassy.
Time of Eve (2009, Japan, 95 min), screening supporets by the Japanese embassy.
Zombie Girl: The Movie (2008, USA, 89 min), a movie documenting the production of Emily Hagins' Zombie movie. Emily is directing a full-length bloody zombie film, and everything goes pretty much according to the plans on the set of her standard zombie movie. In fact, everything is very ordinary, apart from the director. Emily is 12 years old.
The Pilot of "Caprica" (2009, USA, 93 min), the newest show from Ronald D. Moore, a spin-off of "Battlestar Glactica" set in its world, about 60 years prior to the events of Galactica. The show deals with the birth of artificial intelligence in the form of the Cylons, soon to be the annihilators of humanity. The story is told from a personal perspective, as a family drama involving the Greystone and Adama families. The pilot aired April of 2009 on the USA's Sci-Fi Channel.
The Pilot of "Warehouse 13" (2009, USA), a new sci-fi series that aired this July on the USA's Sci-Fi Channel. A cross between "The X-Files", "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and a bit of "Moonlighting" – two agents of the USA's secret service are reassigned to warehouse 13 – a secret sight of the US government were… supernatural items are stored. Their job – to catalogue the existing items, locate the lost and take care of the new.
