#Ruthy Pribar

[cinemaforester]

[chashechki]

[rithond]

Movies 2023

JANUARY / ENERO 6: L'Extraordinaire Voyage de Marona - Anca Damian (9/10) 6: Le Voyage du prince - Jean-François Laguionie & Xavier Picard (7/10) 10: Une histoire d'amour et de désir - Leyla Bouzid (9/10) 11: Les amours d'Anaïs - Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet (10/10) 11: Un cuento de circo & a Love Song - Demián Bichir (2/10) 12: Finlandia - Horacio Alcalá (10/10) 14: Ruido - Natalia Beristáin (10/10) 16: La La Land - Damien Chazelle (9/10) 18: Decision to Leave - Park Chan-wook (6/10) 19: Whiplash - Damien Chazelle (10/10) 22: Nos hicieron noche - Antonio Hernández (8/10) 22: Amor rebelde - Alejandro Bernal (8/10) 23: Malvada - J.M. Craviotto (5/10) 30: La panthère des neiges - Marie Amiguet & Vincent Munier (10/10) 30: Babylon - Damien Chazelle (7/10) TOTAL: 15

FEBRUARY / FEBRERO 7: Aftersun - Charlotte Wells (10/10) 8: Knock at the Cabin - M. Night Shyamalan (7/10) 8: Alcarràs - Carla Simón (10/10) 8: Corsage - Marie Kreutzer (7/10) 11: El suplente - Diego Lerman (8/10) 11: Les Magnétiques - Vincent Maël Cardona (8/10) 13: Armageddon Time - James Gray (9/10) 15: The Whale - Darren Aronosfky (10/10) 15: Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey - Rhys Frake-Waterfield (6/10) 20: Rimini - Ulrich Seidl (8/10) 23: The Banshees of Inisherin - Martin McDonagh (10/10) 27: Missing - Nicholas D. Johnson & Will Merrick (10/10) 28: The Fabelmans - Steven Spielberg (9/10) 28: Till - Chinonye Chukwu (8/10) 28: Pearl - Ti West (9/10) TOTAL: 15

MARCH / MARZO 1: Huesera - Michelle Garza Cervera (8/10) 1: Women Talking - Sarah Polley (10/10) 4: Manto de gemas - Natalia López (7/10) 4: Close - Lukas Dhont (10/10) 11: Perfume de violetas - Maryse Sistach (10/10) 13: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish - Joel Crawford (10/10) 15: Living - Oliver Hermanus (10/10) 16: Tár - Todd Field (10/10) 16: 1976 - Manuela Martelli (9/10) 20: À plein temps - Eric Gravel (10/10) 20: Tár - Todd Field (10/10) 22: Everything Everywhere All at Once - Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert (10/10) 22: Women Talking - Sarah Polley (10/10) 25: The Piano - Jane Campion (10/10) 29: ¡Que viva México! - Luis Estrada (4/10) TOTAL: 15

APRIL / ABRIL 3: Dos estaciones - Juan Pablo González (9/10) 3: Last Film Show - Pan Nalin (9/10) 7: Klondike - Maryna Er Gorbach (8/10) 7: Estación catorce - Diana Cardozo (9/10) 8: Sobre las nubes - María Aparicio (9/10) 8: Concerned Citizen - Idan Haguel (10/10) 9: Laila in Haifa - Amos Gitai (6/10) 11: EO - Jerzy Skolimowski (8/10) 11: Asia - Ruthy Pribar (9/10) 12: Last Film Show - Pan Nalin (10/10) 12: Holy Spider - Ali Abbasi (10/10) 13: Triangle of Sadness - Ruben Östlund (10/10) 13: Dalva - Emmanuelle Nicot (10/10) 14: Godland - Hlynur Pálmason (9/10) 15: Vicenta B. - Carlos Lechuga (10/10) 15: Sick of Myself - Kristoffer Borgli (10/10) 15: La double vie de Véronique - Krzysztof Kieślowski (8/10) 20: Sparta - Ulrich Seidl (10/10) 23: Feature Film About Life - Dovilė Šarutytė (10/10) 26: Infinity Pool - Brandon Cronenberg (5/10) 26: Dead Bride - Francesco Picone (3/10) TOTAL: 21

MAY / MAYO 1: Evil Dead Rise - Lee Cronin (6/10) 3: La Usurpadora: The Musical - Santiago Limón (5/10) 4: Jirón - Christian Cueva (10/10) 4: Trigal - Anabel Caso (8/10) 9: Les cinq diables - Léa Mysius (10/10) 13: Huesera - Michelle Garza Cervera (9/10) 16: Brujería - Christopher Murray (8/10) 16: Firebird - Peeter Rebane (10/10) 17: Beau Is Afraid - Ari Aster (4/10) 17: Eami - Paz Encina (7/10) 17: The Innocents - Eskil Vogt (10/10)

[fuckyeahwomenfilmdirectors]

10 Most Anticipated Holdovers of 2021

Ten films that played at festivals or were released in their home countries in 2020 I can’t wait to see in 2021.

Asia dir. Ruthy Pribar

Pribar’s feature film debut is a mother-daughter tale about a woman forced to grow up and become a better mother after her child develops a life-threatening illness. The film was nominated for (and won) a slew of Ophir Awards (Israel’s Oscar equivalent). It also won the Nora Ephron award at Tribeca, an award given to a female filmmaker and whose winners I have almost universally loved over the years.   

Beans dir. Tracey Deer

This was one of the three TIFF people’s choice award winners in 2020. Loosely based on Deer’s own childhood the movie tells the story of a 78 day standoff between two Mohawk communities and the Canadian federal government as experienced through the eyes of the titular child, a young girl nick-named Beans.

Bruised dir. Halle Berry

I really love Halle Berry as an actress and I keep hoping she’ll actually get good material and she never does. Fingers crossed that her directorial debut Bruised in which she plays a former MMA fighter looking to get back in the ring will finally do her justice. 

Honeymood dir. Talya Lavie

I am a huge fan of Lavie’s directorial debut, Zero Motivation and have been anticipating whatever she made next for years. Honeymood follows a newlywed Tel Aviv couple that, go on a surreal honeymoon around Israel following a huge fight. I love Lavie’s work and frankly this plot description could be about anything and I would watch it. 

Mainstream dir. Gia Coppola

I may be alone in this but I loved Coppola dreamy and romantic debut Palo Alto and have been waiting for her next move ever since. Well she’s back with Mainstream where Maya Hawke plays a director turned Youtuber when an consumerist screed she accidentally captures goes viral on the Internet. Coppola has reunited with a lot of her Palo Alto crew so I know that this will be, if nothing else, visually brilliant.

Nomadland dir. Chloé Zhao

I’ve been a fan of Zhao so I was always anticipating this movie but time on the festival circuit means it is now a TIFF People’s Choice/Venice Golden Lion winner. Zhao has a good shot at being the first woman of colour to be nominated for Best Director at the Oscars and if she isn’t nominated at all it will be a huge shock and the think pieces will be unending. 2021 will be the year of Zhao and I can’t wait!

Rosa's Wedding dir. Icíar Bollaín

This is exactly the kind of cheesy life-affirming movie I love. Set in Spain the titular Rosa is a middle-aged woman who has lived her life for everyone else and decides to start doing what she wants by throwing a wedding to celebrate her commitment to herself. Her family thinks she’s marrying her longterm boyfriend and start planning her wedding to him. Shenanigans ensue. 2020 was a shit year. All I want to do is watch happy movies with ensuing shenanigans!  

Shiva Baby dir. Emma Seligman

The reviews for this film, in which a bisexual Jewish woman is forced to attend a shiva where she runs into both her ex and her sugar daddy, have been absolutely fantastic. Can’t wait to see it and hope it lives up to the hype!

The World to Come dir. Mona Fastvoldt

I have been really impressed with Fastvoldt’s writing work with her husband actor turned director Brady Corbet so I was immediately intrigued by the fact that she’s stepping into the directing chair again with a period piece about neighbouring 19th century women who fall in love with each other despite being married to men.

Zola dir. Janicza Bravo

I felt like I had been waiting forever for this movie and then covid-19 hit and I had to wait over a year longer. Based on an article based on the infamous Twitter thread about a young woman going to Florida to strip and then finding herself entangled in a sordid tale of prostitution, sex trafficking and violence, Zola has been hotly anticipated for years. Also ready for Taylour Paige to become a star (go watch Jean of the Joneses if you don’t know what I’m talking about).

[berkreviews]

Asia (2020) is an emotional look at motherhood

Asia (2020) is an emotional look at motherhood

Asia (2020) is a movie that is challenging in many ways but has that undeniable pull of a well-crafted story. Writer and director Ruthy Pribar creates a lived-in space for her characters that instills the viewer with a sense of familiarity, yet distance. While watching the film, it would be hard to not feel a connection with Asia (Alena Yiv) and her daughter, Vika (Shira Haas). 

Asia is a…

[whileiamdying]

Mideast/North African Films Jostle for Oscar Shortlist Attention

By Alissa Simon

Although this year’s Middle Eastern/North African Oscar submissions have yet to generate a strong buzz, there are titles among the 10 films that could be contenders for the international feature short list.

Chief among them is “Sun Children” from veteran Iranian helmer Majid Majidi, whose 1997 “Children of Heaven” landed a foreign-language film nomination. This gripping drama about exploited urban street kids is cast with charismatic, non-pro performers and earned an acting award at the Venice fest for its resilient young protagonist. Strand Films will release.

A possible dark horse is “Broken Keys,” the feature debut of Lebanese multi-hyphenate Jimmy Keyrouz. It marks an expansion of his 2016 Student Academy Award-winner “Nocturne in Black” about a musician in a Syrian town controlled by ISIS. Sporting the Cannes Label, this tense drama, with a score by Keyrouz’s famous compatriot Gabriel Yared, shares the combination of real-life crisis and sweeping emotion that characterizes some past nominees.

If sundry festival awards could make an Oscar winner, then Sudan’s visually assured drama “You Will Die at 20” and Israel’s poignant, mother-daughter study “Asia” would have the inside track. The former, the feature debut of Amjad Abu Alala, premiered at the 2019 Venice fest where it bagged the prestigious Lion of the Future kudo. Set in an isolated village where superstition constrains the population, it follows the difficult coming of age of a young man who received a disturbing prophecy at birth.

“Asia,” from debuting helmer Ruthy Pribar, was a multiple winner at the Jerusalem and Tribeca festivals.

It centers on an attractive Russian émigré nurse and single mother, and her relationship with her ailing teen daughter, played by Emmy nominee Shira Haas (“Unorthodox”). Menemsha Films is releasing this quiet, emotionally acute drama.

Also boasting several festival awards are two films about the cruel absurdity of life in the Palestinian territories. Simple but enraging, the Jordanian entry “200 Meters” marks the feature debut of Palestine-born Ameen Nayfeh. The title signifies the distance between the home of the protagonist, Mustafa, in the Occupied Territories, and the dwelling of his wife and children in Israel, behind the border wall. Unlike the rest of his nuclear family, Mustafa is not an Israeli citizen, and requires a work permit in order to cross the border. When his permit expires and an emergency requires his presence in Israel, he is forced to deal with people smugglers.

In the droll Palestinian entry “Gaza Mon Amour,” the sophomore feature of twin brothers Arab and Tarzan Nasser (“Dégradé”), the minimalist action unfolds against a backdrop of the many limitations governing life in Gaza.

The performances of top Palestinian stars Salim Daw as a grumpy bachelor and Hiam Abbas (“Succession”) as a pious widow elevate the piece.

In contrast, a more hopeful look at life and love comes from the compelling Egyptian entry “When We’re Born,” a tender, humanist drama from indie helmer Tamer Ezzat that makes innovative use of music. Three stories of when everyday life and ambitions conflict, forcing hard choices, find counterpoint and connection in a musical narration composed by Amir Eid, lead singer-songwriter of the popular Egyptian band the Cairokees. The lanky Eid also makes a convincing acting debut as the sensitive protagonist of one of the episodes.

Tunisia’s provocative entry, “The Man Who Sold His Skin,” from writer-director Kaouther Ben Hania (“Beauty and the Dogs”), combines the humanitarian crisis in Syria with the vagaries of the international art market to ask some uncomfortable questions about the price of a human life. “Skin’s” plot involves a displaced Syrian who lets a cryptic art world guru tattoo his back with a Schengen visa, then finds it easier to travel to Europe as an artwork than as a refugee. This ambitious international co-production, which some may find a tad too long and a tad too far-fetched, nevertheless confirms Ben Hania as a talent to watch.

Also signaling important new director-writer talents are Morocco’s “The Unknown Saint” from Alaa Eddine Aljem and Saudi Arabia’s “Scales” from Shahad Ameen, which is set for a Variance Films release. “Saint” is an entertaining, absurdist fable about spirituality and greed. It follows a thief who buries a bag of loot near a derelict desert village, disguising the spot as a grave. Years later, when he returns to retrieve his booty, he is astonished and frustrated to find that a mausoleum honoring an “unknown saint” credited with performing healing miracles now covers the site.

“Scales” is set in an isolated village where families must sacrifice a daughter to monstrous sea maidens and draws an elemental power from Arabic folklore using imposing black-and-white visuals. Distaff helmer Ameen believes that the film acts as a catalyst for wider conversations about gender roles, beliefs and feminism in the Arab world. It represents the desert kingdom’s fourth Oscar submission and third by a female director.

[awardseasonblog]

#Israele🇮🇱 ha scelto come proprio rappresentante per gli #Oscar2022 per la categoria #BestInternationalFilm la pellicola #LetItBeMorning di #EranKolirin tratto dall'omonimo romanzo palestinese in lingua ebraica di Sayed Kashua. Selezionato per la competizione Un Certain Regard dell'ultimo Festival di Cannes dove il cast palestinese del film si è opposto alla categorizzazione del film come "israeliano" per poi ritirarsi in segno di protesta. Con la vittoria però agli Ophir Awards assegnati dall'Israeli Film Academy (ne ha vinti 7) la pellicola è diventata automaticamente il candidato nazionale per gli Oscar. È la storia di Sami che pensava di aver trovato il suo posto nella vita, ma poi, senza una ragione concepibile, il villaggio arabo dove era cresciuto improvvisamente è stato circondato da un muro spaventoso. Una presa di coscienza amara su uno stato d'assedio, sia interno che esterno, e su un uomo che ha costruito un muro attorno al suo cuore, e come quel muro inizia a sgretolarsi quando un altro muro più reale viene costruito attorno al villaggio in cui è nato. Lo scorso anno fu scelto Asia diretto da Ruthy Pribar che per non ha ottenuto la candidatura. Nella storia degli Oscar l’Israele ha conquistato ben 10 nomination, senza però conquistare l’ambita statuetta. Nel 2018 ha sfiorato l’undicesima candidatura con Foxtrot di Samuel Maoz riuscendo ad entrare nella short list dei semifinalisti #OscarsSubmission #94rdOscars #94rdAcademyAwards #Oscars2022 #InternationalFeatureFilm https://www.instagram.com/p/CUsXAWkM-vc/?utm_medium=tumblr

[film-book]

Film Review: ASIA (2020): Shira Haas & Alena Yiv Excel in Ruthy Pribar's Israeli Drama https://tinyurl.com/yjkp48pn

[jeannekwong]

From right to left, Asia (Alena Yiv) and Vika (Shira Haas), in film ASIA

ASIA

A Mother and A Daughter For The Long Haul

Asia became a mother at a young age. Now that her daughter Vika is a teenager, their relationship is challenged as Vika seeks independence. From director Ruthy Pribar, the film looks at the relationship of a mother and daughter. Asia is a “work-hard, play-hard” kind of gal who expects the same openness and honesty from Vika. At a time when Vika is forming her own identity, she rebels against Asia’s parental style, seeking space and privacy for herself as she seeks out bonds and relationships of her own. After an accident, Vika requires the use of a wheelchair, which further alters the expectations in the family even as Vika matures. The focus of the story is also on two Russian immigrants to Israel.

The film has won awards at the Israeli Ophir Awards and the Tribeca Film Festival.

It is set to be shown in the Hybrid Film Series by the Calgary International Film Festival on Wednesday, February 17 at the Globe Cinema* in Calgary, and through Video On Demand on February 18

*The in-cinema screening is tentative and will be based on health restrictions in place from the Alberta government at the time of the screening.

Visit ciffcalgary.com for more information and tickets.

[chashechki]

[fuckyeahwomenfilmdirectors]

Asia dir. Ruthy Pribar (2020)

Asia’s motherhood has always been an ongoing struggle rather than an obvious instinct. Becoming a mother at a very early age has shaped Asia's relationship with her teenage daughter Vika. Despite living together, Asia and Vika barely interact with one another. Asia concentrates on her job as a nurse while Vika hangs out at the skate-park with her friends.

Their routine is shaken when Vika's health deteriorates rapidly. Asia must step in and become the mother Vika so desperately needs.

Vika's illness turns out to be an opportunity to reveal the great love within this small family unit.

[awardseasonblog]

#Israele ha scelto come proprio rappresentante per gli #Oscars2021 per la categoria #BestInternationalFilm #Asia diretto da Ruthy Pribar. Presentato al #TribecaFilmFestival 2020 dove ha vinto 3 premi: migliore attrice, migliore fotografia e il premio Nora Ephron alla regista, il film ha ricevuto 13 nomination agli #OphirAwards (considerati gli Oscar israeliani). Senza dimenticare il Roberto Rossellini Award conquistato al Festival Internazionale del Film di Pingyao (2020) Al centro della vicenda una ragazza madre di nome Asia che non riesce ad instaurare alcun rapporto con la figlia adolescente Vika nonostante vivano sotto lo stesso tetto. La loro routine è però sconvolta quando la salute di Vika peggiora rapidamente. La sua malattia si rivela un'opportunità per rivelare il grande amore all'interno di questo piccolo nucleo familiare. Nella storia degli Oscar l’Israele ha conquistato ben 10 nomination, senza però conquistare l’ambita statuetta. Nel 2018 ha sfiorato l’undicesima candidatura con Foxtrot di Samuel Maoz riuscendo ad entrare nella short list dei semifinalisti #OscarsSubmission #93rdOscars #93rdAcademyAwards https://www.instagram.com/p/CHikccxFGFE/?igshid=l85b273xmzu2

[chashechki]

[fuckyeahwomenfilmdirectors]

The Tribeca Film Festival didn’t happen due to covid-19 mandated theatre closures but regardless the selected films were screened by the jury who announced their winners.

16 years after her debut feature film Alice Wu’s return to filmmaking The Half of It, a highschool re-imaging of Cyrano de Bergerac, won the top prize at the festival winning the Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature.

Israeli director Ruthy Pribar’s directorial debut Asia also won big taking home Best Actress and Best Cinematography wins in the International Feature category. Ruthy Pribar also won the Nora Ephron Award, given to a woman director or screenwriter with a unique cinematic voice.