avivapress's blog

By Maria Esteves - November 13, 2008

The 23rd Israel Film Festival (IFF) in New York celebrates Israel's 60th Anniversary wtih the U.S. Premiere of ELI & BEN written/directed by Ori Ravid held at the Clearview Cinema, Sunday, November 2, 2008, 12:00 PM. An exclusive Q&A with emerging Israeli director Ori Ravid preceded the 2008 IFF Israeli Documentary Filmmakers Panel Discussion.   

ME: What inspired the making of the feature film ELI & BEN?

OR: I think it was trying to capture the magic of childhood in one aspect. On the other aspect, it deals a lot with father figure and the fact that we all grow up in feeling that our parents are super human and later on in life as we mature we understand they are only flesh and blood. These are the two basic sentiments that inspired the making of the film, one is negative if you can call it the maturing and the other is the magic, intensity of childhood, the sense of wonderment that we have as a kid.

ME: What is the film about?

OR:  ELI & BEN is a parallel father and son journey with mutual admiration. Ben is a city architect in Herzliya, Israel. His son Eli is a little bit on the wild side, which Ben doesn't mine. In the film, Ben gets arrested for taking a bribe as city architect. Convinced his father is innocent, Eli goes on a journey to try to get his father released. In the process, Eli matures discovering his self-identity.

ME: What film festivals have ELI & BEN been introduced?

OR: In October 2008, our debut film premiered at the 24th International Haifa Film Festival, in Israel. The 23rdIsrael Film Festival in New York is our U.S. premiere.

ME: Any interest from film distributors?

OR: We look forward to commercial distribution in Israel. We literally finished making the film and immediately had our world premiere in Israel; then we flew in to New York City with a copy for our U.S. Premiere.    

ME:  Thank you, Mr. Ravid.

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