On Thursday, September 28.9.23, 39, the XNUMXth Haifa Film Festival kicked off with a festive opening event. The festival is produced by Ethos under the direction of Ethos Chairman Jacob Feingold, CEO Yigal Zaevi and the artistic director of the festival - Yaron Shamir. As every year, the event was held in the Rappaport Hall in the center of Carmel, while the films, which will be screened during the festival, will be screened in several halls throughout the city.
The cocktail
The opening event started with a cocktail in honor of the actor Sasson Gabai, on the occasion of receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award. Many candidates for mayor and council came to the cocktail party. Mayor Dr. Einat Kalish Rotem, previous mayor Yona Yahav and his wife Prof. Rivka Yahav, mayoral candidate David Etzioni, mayoral candidate Sharit Golan Steinberg, mayoral candidate Itzik Blas, chairman of the Likud faction in Haifa Yaniv Ben Shoshan and council member On behalf of the Likud, Eli Ben Dayan, council member Nir Shuber and more.
Yaron Shamir - the artistic director of the Haifa Festival in his opening speech ► Watch
Sasson Gabai - the winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award
At the opening, artistic director Yaron Shamir said that he invites all film lovers to come to the film festival for ten days of Israeli and international films. The actor Sashon Gabai also came to the cocktail party and told us how happy and excited he was to receive the lifetime achievement award especially in Haifa.
Lifetime Achievement Award ceremony - moderated by Lior Ashkenazi
After the cocktail, the ceremony itself began under the direction of Lior Ashkenazi, in which the award was presented to Shashon Gabai. The artistic director Yaron Shamir presented the films, which are going to be shown during the days of the festival and emphasized that in a time like this - in which we live, it is very important to maintain the independent status of the cinema and prevent interference during the creation.
Lior Ashkenazi is the host of the festival ► Watch
The connection between Lior Ashkenazi and Shashon Gabai
During the presentation of the award, Ashkenazi told about his relationship with Gabai, when at the beginning of his journey they had a common agent. He further described that at the beginning of his career as an actor, he hoped to one day be Sean Gabbay, and in reality they worked together over the years and even became friends.
Sasson Gabai takes the stage
Sasson Gabai went on stage to applause. He thanked everyone who came to the event and those who were involved in the decision to give him a lifetime achievement award, but said that this is just a refreshment stop along the way and he intends to continue working for many years. Gabay explained that it is very significant for him that he is winning the award in Haifa, since he grew up in Haifa and this is where his love for acting and cinema was formed.
His love for cinema
Sashon Gabai said that sometimes he would give up the school day and go see a movie at the cinema, then leave the cinema and run through the streets of the city, happy with the enthusiasm for the game and the movie. He thanked everyone who accompanied him throughout his long playing career, his family and friends.
Sasson Gabai speaks at the festival ► Watch
► Sasson Gabai in an interview with Lahi Fa
Jean du Barry - the film that opens the festival
After the ceremony, the French film Jean du Barry was screened, in the capacity of the director and actress from Greece and the actress and producer Marin Boca. Mayvan went on stage before the start of the film screening to receive a certificate of appreciation from the artistic director Yaron Shamir.
From the director's experience
In her words, she said that her way of maintaining herself in the world of cinema is not to be too impressed by what critics and journalists say, no matter if their criticism is positive or negative. She thanked the Haifa Symphony Orchestra, who played some of the pieces in her film, and said that she was involved in writing the music for the film and that was a very difficult part of the work.
David Bar On and Yoram Katz
On the Hai Pa website, articles dealing with the old cinemas of Haifa appear every week. Alongside the description of the cinemas, most of which have not been working for many years and in some cases the building of the cinema itself has not survived, there are illustrations of the cinemas.
Writer Yoram Katz describes the history of cinemas and Dr. David Bar On illustrates them.
Dr. David Bar On talks about the project of Haifa's old cinemas ► Watch
after private
The evening ended with an after party in the Hecht garden, with sushi and falafel, where discussions were held about the film that was screened during the evening. It seems that many enjoyed the film and it touched their hearts. During the festival the film will be screened several more times alongside the first film of the actress from Greece - Polis.
Yaron Shamir, the artistic director of the Haifa Festival ► Watch
More photos from the opening night of the Haifa Film Festival
Good luck to everyone. Simchat Torah
No festival atmosphere. Kalish got a picture with Gabbay before she said goodbye to us, recalls an event at a nursing home.
The main thing is that the grass near the Rothschild house was expropriated from the public for the purpose of several city events for close associates during the year.
There are no young people in Haifa??? In Tel Aviv, festivals like this are full of young people. What happened to Haifa?
Apart from the other city officials who indicated their participation in the cocktail party, there was also the former minister and MK Merav Cohen and her husband Yuval Edmon, deputy head of the National Economic Council and head of the Haifa Bay Administration.
If there is one coming, then Sassoon Gabai is the perfect choice in my opinion. A great player
Looks like a cultural evening at the Golden Heart Nursing Home.