Festival Films A-Z

Ronit Elkabetz, Sasson Gabai, Imad Jabarin

Bleiberg Entertainment, Inc.
9454 Wilshire Blvd.,
Suite 200
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
USA
Tel.: 310-273-0003
Fax: 310-273-0007
E-Mail: info@bleibergent.com
oder: sales@bleibergent.com
July August Productions, Sophie Dulac Productions

Shai Goldman

Arik Lahav Leibovitz

Concorde Filmverleih GmbH
Rosenheimer Straße 143b
81671 München

Tel.: +49 89 45 06 10-0
Fax: +49 89 45 06 10-10
E-Mail: verkauf@concorde-film.de

Synopsis

Tel Aviv airport, not too long ago: eight musicians from the police band of Alexandria in Egypt have arrived. They are supposed to play at the opening of an Arab culture centre. For whatever reason - bureaucratic, unfortunate, or incidental - nobody comes to pick them up. What are they to do on 'enemy' territory? They decide to go looking for the venue on their own account. This results in an adventurous journey, an odyssey, which -- after several misunderstandings -- eventually takes them to a small village in the middle of the Negev desert. An Arab culture centre is nowhere to be seen. Only thanks to the help of the energetic Dina, proprietress of a food stall, they find a bed for the night - a night they won't forget.

"The Band's Visit shows what you can do with virtually nothing for a set and no big boxoffice elements -- you can make a terrific film about people." the Hollywood Reporter raved after the film's opening in Cannes, where The Band's Visit was honoured with two awards. "This terrific film touches upon big issues, which concern not only the relation between the two countries, but all of mankind. At that, the film is so charming and full of humour that the importance of its topics is no encumbrance to entertainment. 34-year-old director Eran Kolirin was strongly influenced by Egyptian television: "When I was a child, I often watched Egyptian films with my family", mused Eran Kolirin. "It was a common practice in Israel in the early 1980s. In the late afternoon on Friday, we'd be glued to the screen, watching complicated intrigues, impossible loves, and heartbreaking tear-jerkers... It was pretty strange, in fact, for a country that spent half its time at war with Egypt and the other half in a sort of cold and barely cordial peace with its neighbor to the south.
The film's mix of melancholy, comic situations, and deadpan style is often reminiscent of the works of Aki Kaurismäki. When it premiered at the Munich Filmfest, the audience was immediately thrilled and gave it the Audience Award

Dates

10

02.10.2007

20:00

CineCitta