‘Blade Runner 2049’ to open the Haifa Film Festival

Long awaited film will kick-off Haifa film festival.

By HANNAH BROWN
RYAN GOSLING stars in Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Blade Runner 2049.’ (photo credit: HAIFA FILM FESTIVAL)
RYAN GOSLING stars in Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Blade Runner 2049.’
(photo credit: HAIFA FILM FESTIVAL)
Blade Runner 2049 will be the opening night film at the 33rd Haifa International Film Festival, which will take place from October 5-14 at the Haifa Cinematheque and other theaters around the city. Directed by Denis Villeneuve, this Blade Runner reboot stars Ryan Gosling as a young blade runner, who tracks down the legendary Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford).
The festival, which features nearly 200 films from all over the world, as well as the latest movies from Israel, will host many distinguished guests. These will include the Scottish actor Brian Cox, who will attend the premiere screening of his latest film, Churchill, a biopic directed by Jonathan Teplitzky, that focuses on how Churchill handled the D-Day invasion.
Cox attended last year’s festival as well, with the film, The Carer, so he must enjoy the view.
ldikó Enyedi the director of On Body and Soul, which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival this year, will also attend the festival. The movie tells the story of two co-workers who have an awkward relationship by day but dream at night that they are forest animals together.
Howard L. Weiner, a very unusual hyphenate – neurologist and feature-film director – will attend the festival with his dramedy, The Last Poker Game, which features the late actor Martin Landau in one of his last performances.
Other guests include Joanna Kos-Krauze, the co-director of Birds are Singing in Kigali; Janos Szasz, the director of The Butcher, the Whore and the One-Eyed Man; Maryana Spivak, the actress who stars in Andrey Zvyagnitsev’s Loveless; Emmanuel Finkiel, the director of Memoir of Pain; Jonas Carpignano, who directed A Ciambra; Dana Lustig, the producer of Jungle, starring Daniel Radcliffe; and Uri Singer, the producer of Marjorie Prime, starring Jon Hamm.
There will be both international and Israeli competitions, classics, children’s movies, midnight movies, animated films, movies about cooking and food, a Virtual Reality conference and much more.
For more details and to order tickets, go to the festival website at www.haifaff.co.il.