2018 IFF Achievement in Film and TV Award to acclaimed producer Jason Blum

32nd ISRAEL FILM FESTIVAL IN LOS ANGELES RUNS

NOVEMBER 6th – 20th

Multi-Academy Award nominated and Emmy Award winning producer Jason Blum, founder of Blumhouse Productions, and award-winning Israeli director/screenwriter Avi Nesher, will be honored on November 6th at the 2018 Opening Night Gala of the 32nd ISRAEL FILM FESTIVAL in Los Angeles with the 2018 IFF Achievement in Film and TV Award and the 2018 IFF Cinematic Achievement Award, respectively. The honors, to take place at the Steve Tisch Cinema Center at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills, will immediately be followed by the Opening Night West Coast Gala Premiere screening of Nesher’s new film, The Other Story, announced Israel Film Festival Founder/Executive Director Meir Fenigstein. Serving as Honoree Chairman of the Festival is Arnon Milchan, owner of New Regency Productions.

The 32nd ISRAEL FILM FESTIVAL in Los Angeles, highlighting the very newest and finest of award-winning Israeli cinema and television, will take place November 6th – 20th with screenings of over 40 narrative films, documentaries, and television series, as well as short films, at the Ahrya Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills and the Laemmle Town Center 5 Theatre in Encino. For further information or to purchase tickets for all Festival events, contact the IsraFest Foundation: 310.247.1800 or email info@israelfilmfestival.org. Tickets will also be available to purchase on the website as of October 22nd: www.IsraelFilmFestival.com.

“THE ISRAEL FILM FESTIVAL in Los Angeles will celebrate and honor the outstanding artistic achievements of two amazingly accomplished and talented individuals, producer Jason Blum and director/screenwriter Avi Nesher, each of whom have reached audiences around the world with their award-winning and dynamic films,” noted Fenigstein.  “The Festival will also proudly present the West Coast Premiere of Nesher’s new film, The Other Story, as part of this very special Festival Gala Opening Night.”

Blum, founder of Blumhouse Productions, is a two-time Academy Award nominated and two-time Emmy Award winning producer known for pioneering a new model of studio filmmaking:  producing high-quality, micro-budget films.  The company’s films range from Get Out, Split and Whiplash, to The Purge and Paranormal Activity franchises, to this Summer’s BlacKkKlansman from Spike Lee.  His highly-anticipated Halloween will debut in theaters on October 19 and his 2019 film slate features M. Night Shyamalan's Glass and Jordan Peele's US.

Blum’s work in television includes Sharp Objects, The Jinx, The Normal Heart and The Purge television event.  Blumhouse Television's horror anthology, Into The Dark premieres on Hulu this Friday and next month production begins on BH Television’s limited series for Showtime on former Fox News chief Roger Ailes, Loudest Voice in the Room, starring Russell Crowe as Ailes.

Blum is a member of the Sundance Institute’s Director’s Advisory Group and serves on the Board of The Public Theater and the Board of Trustees for Vassar College.

Award-winning director and screenwriter Nesher is considered one of the most innovative and influential filmmakers in Israel's history. His early films, The Troupe and Dizengoff 99 are considered Israeli classics. The recently restored Rage and Glory is considered a masterpiece by many Israeli critics.

This last decade, his films (Turn Left at the End of the World, The Secrets, The Matchmaker, The Wonders, Past Life and most recently, The Other Story) were shown at major film festivals and have received both domestic and international critical praise and worldwide box-office success. 

In 2007, he was awarded an Achievement Award at the Jerusalem International Film Festival. In 2009, he received an Achievement Award from the Haifa Film Festival, and in 2010 he received the prestigious Landau Excellence Award for the Stage Arts. 

In Nesher’s The Other Story, family disputes and conspiracies take center stage in this lively drama, which even-handedly explores the divide between Israel’s secular Jews and the ultra-Orthodox.   Sasson Gabai (The Band’s Visit) plays a renowned psychologist and rationalist who falls out with his strong-willed granddaughter when she enters a Haredi community and plans to marry a musician previously known for his wild ways. 

For 32 years, the Festival has presented more than 1,000 feature films, documentaries, television dramas and short films to close to one million filmgoers and brought hundreds of Israeli filmmakers to the U.S. to share their art.  The Israel Film Festival is produced by IsraFest Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization created in 1982. Among the Sponsors of the 32nd Israel Film Festival are Adelson Family Foundation, Annenberg Foundation, Bank Leumi USA, Campbell Grobman Films, Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Crescent Hotel, David Wiener, Diane & Guilford Glazer Foundation, Disney, Eclipse Advertising, Four Seasons Hotel, Hanna & Bernie Rubinstein, Insync Plus, Israel Consulate in Los Angeles, Israel Film Fund, Israeli Ministry of Tourism, Izek & Aline Shomof, Maurice Marciano Family Foundation, Millennium Media, Molly & Israel Weinberg, Netflix, Rabinovich Foundation, Screen International, Stanley & Joyce Black Family Foundation, The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, The Hollywood Reporter, The Jewish Community Foundation, The Orlando Hotel, Variety and others.

The full list of films will be announced shortly.