Israel’s Sam Spiegel International Film Lab presented $70,000 in awards at the Venice Production Bridge on Monday, September 7.
The $50,000 Grand Prize, donated by the Beracha Foundation, went to Brachi Haisherik’s Leaving Gur. The project sees a young Hasidic Jewish couple escaping their strict Gur community and setting out on a desert trek beyond supervision, rules, and communal control over their bedroom.
The award was selected by an international jury featuring Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg film funding CEO Sarah Duve-Schimd, former Fremantle executive Christian J. Vesper, and Gabor Greiner, head of acquisitions at Films Boutique.
The jury statement on the project noted “a bold and unexpected vision of sexuality and intimacy, this film explores curiosity, the desire to break free, and the strength it takes to defy a community’s expectations and follow one’s own path. Set in a world unknown to us, it’s a love story that feels both strange and deeply human.”
The Lab’s $20,000 Emerging Filmmaker Award went to Horse Parade, with writer Gabriela Matarazzo, director Luciana Vieira and producer Claudia Chakmati. The film follows a young jockey on Brazil’s clandestine horse-racing circuit, whose talent is not enough to outrun her father’s gambling addiction.
“A fresh coming-of-age story set in a world rarely seen through a female gaze,” noted the jury statement. “The film enters a distinctly masculine universe and turns it on its head through the eyes of a young woman finding her voice, power, and place within it.”
A Special Recognition was given to Yotam Knispel’s Don’t Forget Flora, produced by Harel Ben Melech.
“At Sam Spiegel, we believe that in times of war and division, we must not remain on the sidelines, but act: protect artistic freedom, and ensure cinematic voices are heard,” said Dana Blankstein Cohen, executive director of the Sam Spiegel Film and Television Institute. “This year’s Film Lab reminds us of cinema’s power to make indifference more difficult. Peace cannot simply be waited for — we must seek it and pursue it.”
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