33rd Israel Film Festival Opening Night
Arthur Cohn, Sharon Harel
THE 33rd ISRAEL FILM FESTIVAL in Los Angeles Opening Night Gala for the first time completely sold-out a week in advance to a capacity crowd of over 900 guests at last night’s opening at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills. The packed audience greeted the evening’s host, Israel Film Festival Founder/Executive Director Meir Fenigstein, with a standing ovation in recognition of his outstanding leadership of the Festival for over three decades.
Standing ovations continued as six-time Academy Award-winning producer Arthur Cohn received the 2019 IFF Lifetime Achievement Award from actress Rosanna Arquette and when WestEnd Film Chair and producer Sharon Harel-Cohen was presented with the 2019 IFF Achievement in Film Award by Avi Lerner, Chairman/CEO, Millennium Media. After the introduction of 25 of today’s leading Israeli filmmakers and talent who have films playing in the Festival which runs through November 26th, the Festival bowed with the U.S. Premiere of renowned director Yaron Zilberman’s 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.
Sundra Croonquist, Yaron Zilberman, Tamar Sela, Yariv Mozer, Ari Davidovich
Meir Fenigstein, Sharon Harel 
Arthur Cohn, Meir Fenigstein
Meir Fenigstein, Ari Cohn, Alon Aboutboul, Maria Conchita Alonso,
Daphna Edwards Ziman
Hanan Savyon, Guy Amir, Tal Berkovich, Shani Atias, Alon Gur Arye,
Jorge Gurvich, Anat Goren
“The Israel Film Festival opening night was a triumphant and successful start to what will be two weeks of premiere screenings of the very best of critically acclaimed and crowd-pleasing Israeli cinema,” said Fenigstein. “Nowhere else will audiences be able to see 35 award-winning Israeli movies, documentaries and tv shows complete with Q&As with their visiting filmmakers and talent in attendance.”
The 33rd Israel Film Festival takes place from November 12th – 26th. For further information on all films, schedules and to purchase tickets visit www.IsraelFilmFestival.com Festival screenings take place at the Ahrya Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills and the Laemmle Town Center 5 Theatre in Encino. For further information contact the IsraFest Foundation: 310.247.1800 or email info@israelfilmfestival.org.
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