Boulder Jewish News Arts, Culture, Events, Lifestyles, Holidays, Synagogues, Education
Every year the Gold Derby predicts the winners of the upcoming Academy Awards with frightening accuracy.
In the best supporting actor category, Gold Derby currently has Kieran Culkin in first place to take home the Oscar for “A Real Pain,” a film about two odd-couple cousins making a pilgrimage to Poland to honor their late grandmother, a Holocaust-survivor.
Writer, director and star Jesse Eisenberg is in 12th place to win Best Actor, and “A Real Pain” is also 12th in line for Best Picture. Not bad for a film that hasn’t even opened theatrically yet. In film industry jargon, it’s called strong buzz.
The festival’s opener, which plays Sunday, November 10 at 3 and 6:30 pm, is not the only film in our roster with strong buzz.
“Running on Sand” recently won the Audience Award at the prestigious San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, as well as the Audience Awards at the Palm Springs and Boca Raton Jewish Film Festivals. In addition, it won Best Film at the Israeli Film Festival in Paris and Best Debut Film at the Haifa International Film Festival.
This Israeli dramedy of mistaken identity, which was selected by the festival’s newly formed Program Committee as the Community Centerpiece, plays Wednesday, November 13 at 6:30 pm.
“Running on Sand” was also among the most highly rated films at the recently concluded Rochester Jewish Film Festival, along with “Call Me Dancer,” which will be shown Sunday November 10th at noon and Thursday November 14 at 6:30 pm. Since the world film festival premiere in February 2023, “Call Me Dancer” has won 16 film festival awards, nine of which are Audience Awards. This documentary about an Indian street dancer and his Israeli ballet teacher and mentor could not be more heartwarming.
The Israeli Oscars, called the Ophir Awards, bestowed a whopping 10 awards on our closing night film, “Seven Blessings,” including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress for Reymond Amsallem, Best Supporting Actress for Tikva Dayan, and Best Screenplay. The boisterous tale of a Moroccan family gathered for a wedding in Israel won a host of festival awards as well, including Best Feature at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival.
Meanwhile, at the Italian Oscars, “Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara” received 11 nominations and won 5 awards, including Best Adapted Screenplay. The historical drama about a Jewish boy kidnapped by the Church plays Monday, November 12 at 6:30 pm.
In Germany’s prestigious Jupiter Awards, “Stella: A Life” was nominated for Best Picture, Actress and Actor. Based on a true story set in Nazi Germany, the heart wrenching drama screens Wednesday, November 12 at 3 pm.
“Telling Nonie,” in which an elderly Israeli secret agent meets the Palestinian daughter of a man he assassinated in the 1950s, was named Best Israeli Documentary at the Haifa International Film Festival.
A few of our films are brand new but are sure to earn awards as they play in festivals and open theatrically: “Auction,” “Song of Ascent,” “The Catskills” and “The Blond Boy from the Casbah” are all just beginning to be shown.
Tickets go on sale on Tuesday, October 22 at thedairy.org. Be sure to purchase early so as not to miss any of these award-winners!
I wonder how a documentary like Killing Gaza would do at a thing like this.