Premiere of ‘Matt Caspi — Confession’ saved by judge’s pen

The AICE Israeli Film Festival averted an opening night disaster by five minutes on Monday night

One of the best films in the Israeli Film Festival is Barak Heyman’s documentary Almost Friends.

The AICE Israeli Film Festival averted an opening night disaster by five minutes on Monday night with a late-lifted injunction order allowing the screening of Matt Caspi — Confession, the film about one of the country’s greatest musicians. An Israeli injunction, brought by the subject himself, hovered over the film screening in Israel and here, although the Hebrew judgment likely had no jurisdiction here. Nevertheless, the Israeli judge issued an order releasing the film at 7pm on Monday, moments before the premiere in Melbourne. The festival continues in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Perth until August 30.

One of the best films in the Israeli Film Festival is Barak Heyman’s documentary Almost Friends. Festival artistic director Richard Moore says documentaries dominate the schedule for obvious reasons: they’re the best works coming from the country at the moment. Heyman’s film stumbled on the classic “young love across borders” scenario when looking at an education program aiming to bridge gaps between sections of Israeli society. Sure enough, a sixth-grade Jewish settler and an impoverished Arab student hit it off, until the Jewish parents intervene. “It’s very political, very depressing but also very beautiful in a way,” Heyman says. He adds, correctly, that the film is also “very promising and optimistic” because it suggests there will be generational change although it will be slow. “The reality in Israel is crazy, is depressing, is racist and violent, but it’s also very surreal,” he says. “And when you see the reality through the point of view of kids, you just don’t believe what’s happening.” The film has received complaints in his homeland, Heyman says, which “is a good sign”. “If you don’t get complaints, it means you’ve pleased and entertained everybody and not challenged anyone’s opinion. But the average response was very positive mainly because even though the film is harsh and touching on sensitive issues, it is not a stereotyped left-wing, critical film that portrays the reality in black and white.”

Famed American independent documentary filmmaker Alan Berliner will be the special guest of the Antenna Documentary Film Festival in October, including a retrospective of his work at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art. The festival will open with the Australian premiere of Venice film festival Fedic Award winner On the Bride’s Side, in which Italian journalists disguise their Syrian refugee friends as a wedding party and try to spirit them across Europe’s borders to asylum. Other doco features on the program include Oriented, about three gay Palestinian friends living in Israel; Danish director Michael Madsen’s look at how governments are preparing for the off-chance of an alien arrival in The Visit; a look at the special US trailer parks housing convicted sex offenders, Pervert Park; a look at free schooling, Approaching the Elephant; Spartacus & Cassandra; Leaving Africa; and closing film Finders Keepers. The festival runs October 13-18 in Sydney.

Sony Pictures Releasing is back in the Australian film production game with Spin Out, the new comedy co-written and co-directed by former Doug Anthony Allstar Tim Ferguson. The comedy began filming in Shepparton on Tuesday. Ferguson will direct, with Takeaway’s Marc Gracie, and he co-wrote the script with Edwina Exton. It stars The Twilight Saga’s Xavier Samuel, Morgan Griffin, Tomorrow When the War Began’s Lincoln Lewis, Winners and Losers’ Melissa Bergland, Love Child’s Tessa James and country singer Brooke McClymont. The love story is set within the locale of a town’s Ute Muster and annual B&S (Bachelor & Spinsters’) Ball. Stephen Basil-Jones, Sony Pictures’ managing director, says: “We’re thrilled to be involved with such a great local project, which we’ve championed over several years to get made. We’ve worked closely with the filmmakers to ensure we deliver a thoroughly entertaining movie that will resonate with a broad youth audience. The music too will be a key asset for us and we’ve received fabulous support from our partners at Sony/AT Music Publishing.” The film will be released mid-next year. Sony last invested in the Australian gothic thriller Gabriel in 2006.

Jeremy Sims’s road movie Last Cab to Darwin has moved comfortably to fourth among Australian films at the box office this calendar year with another $1 million during the weekend bringing its total box office to $3.02m. The film dropped only 11 per cent of its audience from the previous week in a strong affirmation for the broad release through the new Independent Cinema Association of Australia My Cinema Premiere initiative, which gave regional cinema operators the frisson of their own premieres. The film starring Michael Caton and Ningali Lawford-Wolf ranked fifth for the weekend behind Trainwreck ($2.1m for $9.4m total), Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation ($1.7m for $12m), new release The Man From U.N. C. L. E ($1.6m) and The Fantastic Four ($1m for $4.3m).

And the Absolutely Fabulous movie is a step closer with production reports suggesting an October 12 principal photography date for the London comedy starring Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley.