American Film Market Dailies

I’m very happy to be here tonight , and I’m really honored to say a few words about my good friend Sharon Harel-Cohen. I’ve known Sharon since she was a very young woman . I met her in Tel Aviv.  One day I saw her in my building entering the elevator with my neighbor, the director Avi Nesher. She looked like a movie star and I was sure that she will be the lead in Nesher’s new movie HALEHAKA.  Nesher introduced her to me and Immediately I thought that she could star in my future movie. But she made it clear “I’m not an actress.” She said “I’m a producer.” I told her that I’m a producer too and that’s how our long friendship started.

Soon after It was clear to me that Sharon is very smart, very creative and a fantastic businesswoman. I knew that she will be successful, and I was not wrong. Sharon produced a lot of movies , Israeli and international. She created a successful production and sales company  WestEnd Films. She got a lot of respect from the movie comunity because of her determination, her talent, and her vision. On top of her film work Sharon is a very busy activist working with doctors and patients in the research of cancer specficially in helping women to overcome their fight with breast cancer.

Tonight Sharon is honored with  a very deserved IFF Achievement in film award. Meir you did right. KOL HAKAVOD. You couldn’t find a better recipient.

Before we bring her to the stage, here’s some proof of what a fantastic producer Sharon is—please enjoy this reel of her films.

Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome the recipient of the 2019 IFF Cinematic Achievement Award, Sharon Harel-Cohen!

Sharon I congratulate you from the bottom of my heart. I love you and I really want you to tell me your secret. How come after so many years I got older and you are getting younger and younger?

Thank you very much for this award which I share with my parents, my husband, and my children. I am especially pleased to receive it here in Los Angeles where I was born.

I was 24 years old when I made my first movie, Halahaka, co starring our host tonight, Meir Feningstein. We had a very limited budget. Some scenes were shot in my family’s home, and it was financed by my wonderful father who wanted to make my dreams come true. Halahaka, and my second movie Dizengoff 99, captured the spirit of the Israel I grew up in and became a beloved part of Israeli culture.

At the time the world of Hebrew language films was limited to one of the smallest countries in the world. Since then a huge transformation has taken place led by television.

First came remakes of successful Israeli TV series like In Treatment and Homeland and then the most amazing thing happened. Fauda came along in Hebrew and conquered American and other international audiences. It was soon followed by Shtisel, Kfulim and other shows. Today, Hebrew language content is increasingly received as naturally as French, Swedish, or Italian. Who could have imagined it could ever happen?!

I’ve had the privilege of working with some of the most talented filmmakers in the world, making films for international audiences. However, the films I feel most passionate about, my real labors of love, have turned out to be my Israeli films.

In filmmaking there’s an element that cannot be planned - a rare magical reaction between the creative talent, the actors, and the subject, that captures something essential, something that touches the heart. HaLahaka and Dizengoff 99 achieved that 40 years ago. Incitement, as you will see, does the same today and much more.

I made most of my films because I wanted to work with specific filmmakers and felt the film would resonate with the audience. When it came to Incitement—I was very keen to work with Yaron Zilberman, but I also felt that it was a film I absolutely had to make.

The assassination of Itzhak Rabin is Israel’s deepest wound. How could a Jewish law student assassinate our prime minister? 24 years later, intolerance extremism and violence have sadly become universal issues.

Very rarely a film becomes bigger than a film.

I feel Incitement achieves that. In Israel it has become the film that everyone has to see no matter their political views, and people are returning to see it again with their children. I hope you leave the cinema tonight feeling the same way.

Thank you again for honoring me! I am so grateful for all you do to support Israel’s film makers!!