The prestigious Venice Film Festival has recently announced the acceptance of two Israeli films to the event – Idan Hubel's "The Cutoff Man," and "Fill the Void" by Rama Burstein.
The two filmmakers withdrew their candidacy from the Jerusalem Film Festival competition following the announcement.
Idan Hubel's film "The Cutoff Man" tells the story of Gabi (played by Moshe Ivgi), who cuts off the water supply to people who don't pay their bills. Due to his financial hardships, he is forced to keep this job in spite of daily humiliations and harassments.
His only hope is his son, who dreams of becoming a professional soccer player. But when one day Gabi comes to sanction a sponsor of his son’s team, his dream is compromised.
"Fill the Void" by Rama Burstein
"Fill the Void" paints a complex family portrait and love affair in a haredi community. The heroine, Shira, is matched with a promising yeshiva student, but shortly thereafter hears the news of her sister's death.
The wedding celebrations are stained by the heavy grief and the wedding is postponed. As the family struggles to cope with the tragedy, they try and find a way to match their daughter's widower and keep their grandchild close.
Following the two film's withdrawn, only seven films are left to compete in the Haggiag Family Awards for Best Full-Length Feature.
The films cometing in the category are: "Alice" by Dana Goldberg, "The Ballad of the Weeping Spring" by Benny Toraty, "God's Neighbors" by Meni Yaesh, "Epilogue" by Amir Manor, "Rock the Casbah" by Yariv Horowitz, Sharqiya by Guy Ofran and "Single Plus" by Dover Kosashvili.
