Israel Film Festival in LA Awards $190K for Audience Choice Awards

The Audience Choice Awards of the 33rd ISRAEL FILM FESTIVAL in Los Angeles, the largest showcase of Israeli films in the United States, presented in a tie vote both Incitement, directed by Yaron Zilberman, Israel's Official Selection to the 2019 Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film and Forgiveness, directed by Guy Amir and Hanan Savyon, with the Audience Choice Award for Best Feature Film and Picture of his Life directed by Yonatan Nir and Dani Menkin with the Audience Choice Award for Best Documentary Film at the November 26th Closing Ceremony. For the first time, the winning filmmakers received a combined value of $190,000 in post-production services for their next film, the largest amount ever awarded by the Festival, courtesy of sponsor partners DCR Finance Corp, Los Angeles and Go Media Productions, Atlanta, Georgia, and OPUS Post Production, Tel Aviv, announced Meir Fenigstein, founder and executive director of the Festival.

"Thanks to the support and generosity of DCR Finance Corp, Los Angeles and Go Media Productions, Atlanta, Georgia, providing much needed film funding, the winners of the Audience Choice Awards will be able to continue to bring their visions to the screen. These sponsors, along with Adelson Family Foundation, The Hollywood Reporter, American Associates Ben Gurion University, Bank Leumi USA, Israel Film Fund, and the many other supporters are the reason that the Israel Film Festival in Los Angeles continues to exist and flourish and allows Israel to showcase its gifted filmmakers to American audiences," noted Fenigstein, "This year's record-breaking attendance at the Festival is a testament to the creative force and exceptional work produced by Israeli filmmakers and talent. This symbolizes how Los Angeles audiences are eager to embrace the very best of Israeli filmmakers."

The 33rd ISRAEL FILM FESTIVAL's Audience Choice Award winners, as voted on by Festival audience attendees, are:

Audience Choice Award for Best Feature Film
INCITEMENT
Directed by Yaron Zilberman
Total Award: $92,500

Audience Choice Award for Best Feature Film
FORGIVENESS
Directed by Guy Amir and Hanan Savyon
Total Award: $92,500

Audience Choice Award for Best Documentary Film
PICTURE OF HIS LIFE
Directed by Yonatan Nir and Dani Menkin
Total Award: $5,000

DCR Finance Corp www.dcrfinancecorp.com is a media finance firm that specializes in equity investments and entertainment funding. The company was formed by New York financier Adi Cohen and producers Mark Damon and Jordi Rediu. The company launched a $100 million film and media fund that will be used to finance small to midsize films across Europe and the U.S., with the goal to help filmmakers complete their movies and land distribution. In addition to financing, the fund aims to dedicate 20% of all money raised to selected film festivals and film schools. At launch, $5 million will be gifted to the Jerusalem Sam Spiegel International Film Lab. For the IFF audience awards, the company contributed $175,000 worth of production services. Go Media Productions www.gomedia.productions, spearheaded by Len Gibson and Wayne Overstreet, oversees state of the art post-production including film editing, sound design and special effects. Their award of $175,000 will go towards filmmakers' future films. OPUS Post Production, Tel Aviv awarded $15,000 in post-production services.

Highlights of the 33rd Israel Film Festival included honoring six time Academy Award winning producer Arthur Cohn with the 2019 IFF Lifetime Achievement Award, WestEnd Films Chair producer Sharon Harel-Cohen with the 2019 IFF Achievement in Film Award, the U.S. Premieres of a host of titles including Incitement, winner of the Ophir Award for Israel's Best Feature Film in 2019 and Israel's Official Selection to the 2019 Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film, God of the Piano, Forgiveness, and Love Trilogy: Chained, Love in Suspenders, Unseen as well as the Los Angeles premieres of such documentaries as King Bibi, Golda and Shai K.

With over 35 narrative films, documentaries, television series and shorts, audiences welcomed 25 leading Israeli filmmakers and actors for U.S., West Coast and Los Angeles premieres as well as post Q&A discussions.

Connect with the 33rd Israel Film Festival on Facebook (The Israel Film Festival), Instagram @IsraelFilmFestival, and Twitter @IsraelFilmFest for festival news and highlights, and join the conversation with #IsraelFilmFestival and visit www.israelfilmfestival.com.

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 and others.

To become a sponsor of the 2020 edition of the Israel Film Festival in Los Angeles contact Festival founder/executive director Meir Fenigstein at 213-948-8800 or meir@israelfilmfestival.org

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