While Hollywood always tends to flex its muscle at film festivals, packing red carpets with stars, and dominating headlines with highly anticipated movies, the pleasure of hitting places like Venice and Toronto is discovering hidden gems, or acclaimed movies from elsewhere that haven’t quite made a wave internationally just yet. And Yuval Adler‘s “Bethlehem” could potentially make some major noise. It’s already earned notice at home, earning 12 nominations from the Israeli Film Academy, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay. And now, it’s getting ready to show its stuff for the world.
Today we unveil the exclusive trailer for the film, as it gears up play both Venice and Toronto in the coming weeks, and it certainly looks very promising. Starring Shadi Mar’I, Tsahi Halevy, Hitham Omari and Tarek Copti, the film chronicles the complex relationship between an Israeli Secret Service officer and his teenage Palestinian informant that grows even more morally conflicted, when the young man learns his employers are plotting to assassinate his radical brother. And this trailer certainly looks like a electric, white-knuckle ride is in store for viewers, with the film co-written by Adler and Ali Waked, a veteran west bank journalist, which seems to lend a realism to the proceedings.
The film is without distribution, but given that it looks like a strong candidate for Israel’s foreign film selection for the Oscars this year, that could very well change. Watch the trailer below, followed by a clip from the movie and if you’re at Venice and TIFF, be sure to check your schedules.