During Cannes 2023, Universal Cinema Film & TV Journal’s Amir Ganjavie interviewed Roni Mahadav-Levin the Executive Director of the Jerusalem Film Center, which runs the Jerusalem Cinematheque. The Jerusalem Cinematheque has many ongoing activities, including the Israeli Film Archive and the Jerusalem Film Festival. The highlights of that interview are what follows.
Amir Ganjavie, UniversalCinema Magazine (UM): Can you start by speaking a little about your selection process?
Roni Mahadav-Levin (RM): We have a very big Israeli section, and films are submitted. We have a committee that changes between 2-6 people for each section (documentary, shorts, feature) each year, who selects the films, and that’s the Israeli selection.
International selection is based also on submission. Producers submit the films, and we consider them. As well as scouting films in festivals like Berlin and Cannes, which are more relevant because they are the closest to our festival in July. But also, Sundance, Venice, Toronto, etc.
(UM): And how important are festivals like Cannes to you?
(RM): Jerusalem Film Festival is two months after Cannes, so the importance for us is that it’s very relevant. We know that we’re going to get the premiere after Cannes if we chose the film, that’s part of it. But then again, you need to admit that the Cannes Film Festival is currently the leading festival in the world. As far as the magnitude of the films arriving here, the magnitude of the industry coming here, and the impact it has.
A film winning at Cannes is not the same as a film winning at another Festival. There are films I’ve found in Berlin or other festivals which I thought were better than the winning film some years at Cannes, but it’s something you see by the impact it has on the industry. Everything is full here, every hall. People from around the world come here to select films for distribution. So, it’s work well done by Cannes over the 76 years. And you can see it by the way producers if they get selected to several festivals, will choose Cannes first. So that’s why it’s important. And, then again, going into quality as well as quantitative. But I think that Cannes has proved to showcase many quality films in my opinion.
(UM): Are you looking for films that already have distribution?
(RM): No, we are not looking for things that have distribution. If there’s distribution, it may be easier because we work with an Israeli distributor. Sometimes it changes during the festival because they get picked up. We are individually scouting for films.
(UM): Do you have a definition for a good film? Can you give an example of one?
RM: It’s a very wide range. We have a couple of staff at our Festival to select the films. And each has a different taste and liking, which is a good thing because otherwise, we’ll get more of the same for the 200 films selected. Personally, I’m still looking for the magic of Cinema. I’m a lot more infatuated by things that exploit the big screen as much as possible. Both the narrative and the scenery. I can mention the opening film of the last year, Triangle of Sadness, by Ruben Ostlund, which is definitely a film that I think combines both things.
But it can be anything, it could be a small or unknown documentary, that managed to sweep you away into its story. And it could be a big feature film production with music, cinematography effects, and everything sweeping you away – or it goes the other way.
(UM): Can you speak on the importance of new voices at your festival? I’ve spoken with distributors and they’ve told me if your film goes to Cannes or Berlin or another big festival it will go the festival circuit, but if not, most festivals don’t take the risk.
(RM): It is important to get new voices. Of course, Cannes and Berlin also get new voices, right? There are things that are presented for the first time here and in Berlin and at other festivals. Though, it is a matter of lack of time, because we’re not a huge staff. We don’t have 20+ representatives to scout smaller festivals. So, we use Cannes, Berlin, Sundance, and Venice and those festivals.
It’s easier to know that once you’re going into films, they have passed some selections, so it’s a good step. But then again, we are getting films from all around the world, and we are getting films from small festivals or just fresh out of post-production. And we do try to include those as well.
I’d say the Israeli categories are where we do the work, perhaps for other festivals as well. Because some International festivals, once they see a film has been selected for Jerusalem, they might say, Jerusalem did the scouting. And then they might secure a better circuit further on in other festivals. So, it’s a combination.
(UM): I have never been to Jerusalem, but I heard it is one of the most diverse and multicultural cities and very open to conversations. So, I’m just curious, suppose a filmmaker makes a good but controversial film, will you accept a movie that goes against some human rights?
(RM): I think the movie, first of all, needs to be a good movie. Other than that, I guess the topic is less relevant. Of course, we will not screen a film we think will promote racism or goes against human rights. I expect and believe the film directors to take a stance in the films to create discussions with criticism. There are no sides to racism, but it’s still something that can be looked at, the main protagonist can be racist, but when you watch the film, you get the full picture. The same with films about pedophiles. Obviously, the film does not promote pedophiles. I think it’s in that context that we are looking for in films.
(UM): Some festivals have quotas to promote gender, race, or other underrepresented groups and some have found it to become a question of diversity vs quality.
(RM): You know it’s a discussion, something that should have been better by now, so some have chosen the quota or the diversion between men and women directors. That’s something that’s here in Cannes, and everywhere around the world, and it’s not enough.
So, if you’re asking, shall we choose to include a film directed by women rather than one by men because we need a women’s film? I don’t think that’s fair. We take notice of including women in our selection committee. Our selection committee has different views, and that includes gender and identity politics. We try to have a diverse selection committee to make sure that we don’t discriminate or over-qualify one film or another film. I don’t need a quota, but I think it’s working. We are seeing a larger number of films coming from women, minorities, LGBT, and from less dominant cultures in the world.
(UM): And, in terms of films that you select, what kind of opportunities do you provide? Financial awards, distribution, or any other methods of supporting the filmmaker?
(RM): First of all, we give prizes. We have over 1,000,000NIS which is about €250,000 total prizes, mostly for the Israeli, in the Israeli Competitions. But also 2 or 3 categories of International Films.
Also, a lot of films get picked up from our festival. We have all the distributors in Israel attending the films. It happens quite often when the reaction is good, we’ll hear about a plan for distribution.
(UM): And in terms of festival financing can governmental changes affect your festival and its financing?
(RM): We are a private organization, the Jerusalem Cinematheque, which means we are one of the only Cinematheques in Israel, which is not municipality-owned, not government-owned. We are supported by both municipality and government, but those funds come from the cinema law in Israel and are quite steady. If there’s an impact on the current government, that remains to be seen.
Obviously, the Cinematheque, like most cultural institutes, has a strong stance for democracy and against the judicial reform that’s being promoted in Israel. And we supported via social media and collaboration with the struggle of the entire form of cultural institutes in Israel.
If it impacts funds, again, most of our funding comes from private organizations. And so far, the funds we’ve received there’s strong support from the municipality-related organization. But this is steady support and not affected politically. The government has supported it. We didn’t receive any inclination thus far that would worry us about support.
(UM): Is there anything else you’d like to add about your festival?
(RM): The atmosphere in Jerusalem is very magical. It’s a very diverse city. We are located right between the East and West. There are Arab-speaking and Hebrew-speaking populations. We get both audiences into our halls. There is a feeling of an international event that results in festival balls because of the people inside and from outside coming, but also because of the different languages you hear all around the halls, not just from on screen but also from the audience.
That is something we’re pleased about. The industry worldwide has been struggling post-Covid returning to the numbers of before. At least Jerusalem Film Festival has managed to bounce back, and even more in ’22, maybe because there’s a feeling of a festival, and people don’t want to miss it. We hope that the inclination we saw last year will continue and that people are coming back in full.
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