INCITEMENT to Open the 33rd Israel Film Festival

THE 33rd ISRAEL FILM FESTIVAL in Los Angeles, taking place November 12th - 26th, will present the U.S. Premiere of Incitement at its Opening Night Gala. Incitement is the winner of the Ophir Award for Israel's Best Feature Film of 2019 and Israel's Official Selection to the 2019 Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film. The Gala on November 12th at the Steve Tisch Cinema Center at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills will also honor two illustrious filmmakers: six-time Academy Award-winning producer Arthur Cohn with the 2019 IFF Lifetime Achievement Award as well as chair of WestEnd Films and Incitement producer Sharon Harel-Cohen with the 2019 IFF Achievement in Film Award, announced today Israel Film Festival Founder/Executive Director Meir Fenigstein.

"The Israel Film Festival is privileged to present the U.S. Premiere of renowned director Yaron Zilberman's Incitement, winner of the Ophir Award for Israel's Best Feature Film in 2019, at the Opening Night Gala. We look forward to hosting this esteemed filmmaker along with the film's lead actor Yehuda Nahari Halevi and producer Sharon Harel-Cohen," noted Fenigstein. "On this very special night we are equally honored to recognize legendary film producer and six-time Academy Award winner Arthur Cohn with this year's IFF Lifetime Achievement Award as well as WestEnd Films/producer Sharon Harel-Cohen with the 2019 IFF Achievement in Film Award."

The 2019 Israel Film Festival Opening Night Gala will take place on November 12th at the Steve Tisch Cinema Center at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills. VIP Opening Night Gala Tickets $125, Regular Tickets $50. For further information or to purchase tickets for the Opening Night Gala or all Festival events, taking place from November 12th - 26th, contact the IsraFest Foundation: 310.247.1800 or email info@israelfilmfestival.org. Tickets will also be available to purchase on the website as of November 1st, 2019: www.IsraelFilmFestival.com. Festival screenings will screen at the Ahrya Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills and the Laemmle Town Center 5 Theatre in Encino.

A psychological thriller, Incitement chronicles the year leading to the assassination of Israel's prime minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995. On the backdrop of Rabin's efforts to end once and for all the Israeli-palestian conflict, the film is told through the journey of the assassin. It examines all the forces that acted on him, from his personal quest to become a hero in the eyes of his peers, and the rejection he faces from his love interest, to the intense incitement of politicians and religious leaders. The film is a cautionary tale to what happens when leaders use politics of violence and hate. Directed by Yaron Zilberman and written by Yaron Zilberman and Ron Leshem, the film stars Yehuda Nahari Halevi, Amitay Yaish Ben Ousilio, Sivan Mast, Yoav Levi, Daniella Kertesz and Anat Ravnitzki. Winner of the Ophir Award for Israel's Best Feature Film of 2019 and Israel's Official Selection to the 2019 Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film, the film was an Official Selection at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival and the 2019 London International Film Festival.

Arthur Cohn, producer of the Festival's The Etruscan Smile, will receive the 2019 Israel Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award. He has won six Academy Awards - more than any other independent producer in film history - among them for the classic The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, Dangerous Moves, One Day in September, American Dream, Black and White in Color and The Sky Above, The Mud Below. Cohn was born in Basel, Switzerland. After high school he became a journalist and a reporter for Swiss Radio, covering sports and the Middle East. After shifting from journalist writing to script writing, he soon found his passion in producing movies. He divides his time between Basel and Los Angeles and is regarded as a hands-on producer who is strongly involved with the development of the script until the final touches of the editing process. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was also awarded the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Ministry of Culture in 1996, the Humanitarian Award by the National Board of Review in 2001, the Guardian of Zion Award in 2004 as well as the UNESCO Award in 2005. Cohn is the recipient of multiple honorary degrees from Boston University (1998), Yeshiva University (2001) and the University of Basel (2006).

Sharon Harel-Cohen, who will receive the 2019 IFF Achievement in Film Award, began her career in Israel by producing HaLahaka and Dizengoff 99, two mega cult classics. Since then, she has earned more than 50 international credits, including Altman's Oscar-winning Gosford Park, Cronenberg's Spider, Polanski's Death and the Maiden, Frears' Tamara Drewe, Fiennes' The Invisible Woman, Oscar-nominated Albert Nobbs (Glenn Close), and Israel's 2019 Oscar entry, Incitement. She is currently producing two TV drama series, Valley of Tears about the Yom Kippur war and the thriller Traitor. She chairs WestEnd Films, which she co-founded with Maya Amsellem, and is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures and BAFTA.

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The mission of the Israel Film Festival is to brand Israel as the lively and innovative nation that it is; as well as shining a spotlight on Israel's thriving film and television industry and enriching the American experience of Israel's social and cultural diversity. As an international entertainment industry event, the festival has brought acclaim to both the films and participants and has opened new possibilities for cooperation and co-production between the U.S. and Israeli film and TV industries. Each year, the Festival explores Israeli society by premiering Israeli features, documentaries, television dramas and student shorts, and through conversations with visiting Israeli filmmakers. For 33 years, the Festival has created an exciting and artistic platform for engaging diverse audiences with the richness of Israeli life and culture.

For 33 years, the Festival has presented more than 1,000 feature films, documentaries, television dramas and short films to close to one million filmgoers and brought hundreds of Israeli filmmakers to the U.S. to share their art. The Israel Film Festival is produced by IsraFest Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization created in 1982. Among the Sponsors of the 33rd Israel Film Festival are Adelson Family Foundation, The Hollywood Reporter, American Associates Ben Gurion University, Bank Leumi USA, Israel Film Fund, The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Rabinovich Foundation, Variety, Insync PLUS, LOT Polish Airlines, Screen International, New Regency, HBO, David Wiener, Diane & Guilford Glazer Foundation, Disney, Fox Searchlight, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Four Seasons Hotel, Cinemoi North America, LLC, Maurice Marciano Family Foundation, Stanley & Joyce Black Family Foundation, The Orlando Hotel, Israel Consulate in Los Angeles and others.

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