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On June 22, 2008 the establishment and operation of the Jerusalem Film and Television Fund (“the Fund”) was announced in Jerusalem, founded by the Jerusalem Development Authority (“the Authority”).
Fund Director: Yoram Honig
Project Manager: Galia Altaratz
The Jerusalem Film and Television Fund, which operates under the auspices of the Jerusalem Development Authority, is the first municipal film fund in Israel, modeled after funds in many cities around the world. The Fund has set itself several goals:
1. To present Jerusalem’s human image through films and television serials whose stories take place in Jerusalem, and to feature Jerusalem on cinema and television screens.
2. To simplify production processes in Jerusalem for foreign and local producers.
3. To develop the film and television industry in the city and to assist in creating jobs for crew members and students in the field.
4. To promote activity for businesses that support productions in Jerusalem (travel, catering and the like).
5. To turn Jerusalem into a key venue in the cinematic discourse in Israel.
6. To increase the love of film culture among Jerusalem residents.
The Jerusalem Film and Television Fund brought with it in 2008 new sources of financing for Israeli cinema – NIS 7 million, which were allocated by the government through the Jerusalem Development Authority. The Fund’s budgets will serve as a springboard for producers, directors, screenwriters and entrepreneurs in media fields for projects in which at least 50 percent of the story takes place in Jerusalem and is filmed in Jerusalem, and for additional activities that will contribute to attaining the Fund’s goals and turning Jerusalem into a city that is hospitable and amenable to filmmaking and film production.
In 2008, the Fund already approved investments in the production of six films, and in the development of 13 feature films and three television serials, for a total amount of over NIS 5 million.
Submitting projects to the Fund
The Fund will choose the projects on the basis of professional criteria. It will consider how essential is the story’s setting in Jerusalem, script originality, writing quality, level of the cast and crew, feasibility of the production and more. Along with the Fund’s director, proposals will be read by rotating artistic consultants (lectors) from the worlds of film and academia. The Fund director will present the proposal for investment in the selected projects to the Manegment. The Fund’s investment monies will be given to each selected project in phases, as the progress of the production and timetable is demonstrated.
The management of the Fund reserves the right to change at its discretion the scope of investment in the different investment tracks, based, inter alia, on the number of requests that are submitted, their level and degree of complexity, and the total budget that will stand at the Fund’s disposal.
The investment in film productions is contingent upon ensuring the Fund’s rights in the production, including the right for a refund of the investment and participation in profits, according to the policy and regulations to be determined by the Fund’s management from time to time.
Requests to the Fund may be submitted by members of the Film Producers Association and/or the Directors Guild and/or the Scriptwriters Guild or people with a proven professional and artistic background in the fields of film and television, who have had at least one of their works screened in a recognized public framework; they must be Israeli citizens or constitute independent production corporations that are registered and permanently active in Israel. The submitters and the projects they are submitting must meet the definition of an “Israeli film” as defined in the Film Regulations (Recognition of a Film as an Israeli Film), 5765-2005, and on condition that the project meets the main activity guidelines of the Fund.
Moreover, an additional submission track is expected to be opened for international productions, intended for producers or production corporations based outside of Israel.
The information in this document is not binding upon the Fund and is intended for informative purposes only, subject to the final agreement between the Authority and the submitter of the request.
Investment in film
1. Track for developing a screenplay for a film
The track is intended for developing screenplays for full-length feature films for screening in movie theaters, according to the proposal that will be submitted to the Fund.
2. Track for a film script without a “production package”
The track is a preliminary and necessary screening stage for completed screenplays, for receiving approval for future submission of the screenplay in the production track with a “production package.”
3. Production track with a “production package”
Track for investment in production of independent full-length feature films, which are clearly suitable for screening in movie theaters.
4. Track for completing films
Investment in independent full-length feature films, which are clearly suitable for screening in movie theaters, have completed their main shooting and are at the rough cut stage, and require supplementary investment in order to professionally and fully complete the post-production stage, until preparation of an edited and ready final cut of the film for screening at movie theaters.
5. International productions track
Currently being defined.
Investment in television
6. Developing drama and comedy series for television
Investment in the development of a drama or comedy series consisting of no less than 7 episodes, at a length of no less than 24 minutes per episode, in which at least 50 percent of the series’ screen time takes place in Jerusalem, and the storyline requires a significant amount of outdoor shooting in Jerusalem.
7. Track for producing drama and comedy series for television
Investment in producing a drama or comedy series intended for broadcast on television (see further definitions below) consisting of no less than 7 episodes, at a length of no less than 24 minutes per episode, in which at least 50 percent of the series’ screen time takes place in Jerusalem, and the storyline requires a significant amount of outdoor shooting in Jerusalem.
Film productions in which the Fund invested in 2008
“The Book of Internal Grammar”
Based on The Book of Intimate Grammar by David Grossman
Screenwriter + director: Nir Bergman
Producer: Assaf Amir
On the delicate seam line between adulthood and childhood, 10-year old Aaron experiences betrayals that lead him to the brink of insanity, into a world with its own internal grammar.
“The Dealers”
Screenwriters: Rammy Davidoff, Sagie Azulay
Director: Oded Davidoff
Producers: Marek Rosenbaum, Itai Tamir
A crime film about two friends who live in the Ramot neighborhood, work in a pizzeria and play for the local team, dreaming of an original scheme for making a big score.
“Damaged Goods”
Screenwriter: Michal Vinik
Director: Aya Somech
Producers: Yoav Roeh, Aurit Zamir
Rafael returns to his parents’ home in Mea Shearim after ten years of secular exile in France, and becomes entangled in a life of lies between the two worlds.
“Human Resources”
Adapted from the novel The Mission of the Human Resources Manager (A Woman In Jerusalem in the English edition) by AB Yehoshua
Screenwriter: Noah Stollman
Director: Eran Riklis
Producers: Haim Mecklberg, Estee Yacov-Mecklberg
A man’s journey to a distant land in order to restore the humanity of a woman he never knew, becomes an inner journey to himself, in which he will try to regain his own humanity.
“Abanibi”
Director + screenwriter: Shemi Zarhin
Producers: Eilon Ratzkovsky, Yochanan Kredo
Three Jerusalemite brothers search for their identity – in Jerusalem, Paris, Marseilles and Algiers, in the past and present. An ironic journey comedy, touching upon nostalgia and the manner in which memories are shaped by pictures and images.
“Tanathur” (Crumble)
Director + screenwriter: Tawfik Abu-Wael
Producers: Amir Harel & Ayelet Kait
A bourgeois couple from East Jerusalem experience a deep crisis in their relationship, and from it find the strength to make their peace with the tragedy of their past
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