10/04/2008

Having headed the Filmmakers of the Present section on several occasions and sat on the jury in 1992, Israeli director Amos Gitai will return this summer to the Locarno International Film Festival to receive an Honorary Leopard.

Winning acclaim in the documentary genre before going on to make narrative films, Gitai has directed around 40 features and medium-length films, including The House, Esther Forever, Berlin-Jerusalem, Kadosh, Kippur, and more recently Disengagement [+see also:
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trailer
film profile] and Later, which screened at this year’s Berlinale.

A selection of his films will be screened at the 61st edition of Locarno, which will be held from August 6-16.

Following Alexandre Sokourov in 2006 and Hou Hsiao-Hsien last year, artistic director Frédéric Maire has thus once again chosen to honour a director who stands out in the contemporary film landscape.

Maire commented: "Deeply anchored in a specific geography and history – that of Israel – his work is a ceaseless examination of the past and present, current events and memories, travelling and exile, man and his land. But, above all, his films reveal to us the infinite complexity of the real, whether we’re talking about political documentaries, economic pamphlets, historical or mythological frescoes, war stories or portraits of society. A prolific director, Gitai is above all a free spirit and citizen, for whom film represents first and foremost a critical look at the world."

(Translated from French)