Jellyfish
Drama,
Family,
IdentityShira Geffen,
Etgar Keret
Ayelet Kait,
Laetitia Gonzalez,
Yael Fogiel,
Amir Harel
Zeitgeist Films
Liron Vaisman,
Yali Sobol,
Shalom Shmuelov,
Amos Shoov,
Leila Pourcel,
Odid Perah,
Rina Padwa,
Naama Nisim,
Efrat Mishori,
Tal Lifshitz,
Gideon Levi,
Menachem Lang,
Anrik Kneler,
Efraim Keret,
Lev Kerel,
Tami Harel,
Amir Harel,
Johnathan Gurfinkel,
Shosha Goren,
Shira Geffen,
Natasha Geffen,
Miri Fabian,
Binos,
Ilanit Ben-Yaakov,
Bruria Albeck,
Tsipor Aizen,
Zaharira Harifai,
Ma-nenita De Latorre,
Noa Knoller,
Nikol Leidman,
Gera Sandler,
Sarah Adler,
Tzahi Grad,
Dror Keren,
Yitzhak Hizkiya,
Zohar Strauss,
Assi Dayan
Synopsis
Family. Relationships. Love. Life. Jellyfish is a film based on these themes and these alone, no flashy plot twists, condescending assumptions, or presuming life lessons. It has the courage to be exactly what it is,be simply a window into the lives of three Israeli women on different paths, that are parallel only in magnitude.
Batya, a newly single waitress, is forced to take on an unexpected responsibility when she encounters a young, mute girl emerging from the sea. Keren, a newlywed, must downsize her honeymoon after an unfortunate accident and must cope with the affect this has on her young marriage. Joy is a Philippine woman grappling with her choice to leave her young son while she attends to the elderly, in search of a better life. Their lives do not as much interconnect, as much as they intersect, and this allowsallowing for the complexity of a beautiful, yet sad reality to truly affect its viewers.
Awards
Wins
2007, Prize of the Ecumenical Jury Award, Bratislava International Film Festival2007, Special Mention Award, Bratislava International Film Festival 2007, Golden Camera Award, Cannes Film Festival2007, SACD Screenwriting Award, Cannes Film Festival
Nominations2007, Grand Prix Award, Bratislava International Film Festival2007, Best Actress: Sarah Adler, Awards of the Israeli Film Academy2007, Best Art Direction: Avi Fahima, Awards of the Israeli Film Academy2007, Best Costumes, Awards of the Israeli Film Academy2007, Best Director: Shira Geffen and Etgar Keret, Awards of the Israeli Film Academy2007, Best Editing, Awards of the Israeli Film Academy2007, Best Film, Awards of the Israeli Film Academy2007, Best Screenplay: Shira Geffen, Awards of the Israeli Film Academy2007, Best Sound: Aviv Aldema, Eli Yarkoni, Gil Toren and Asher Milo, Awards of the Israeli Film Academy2007, Best Supporting Actor: Tzahi Grad, Awards of the Israeli Film Academy2007, Best Supporting Actress: Zaharira Harifai, Awards of the Israeli Film Academy
Articles & Interviews
“…Etgar Keret and his co-director and the film's writer, Shira Geffen, are commendable…” – Roger Ebert, Jellyfish. Chicago Sun-Times, May 15, 2008.
“Highly cinematic, with a mood of existential loneliness leavened by magical whimsy, its different story strands share themes including the need for affection and the struggle to communicate.” – Alissa Simon, Jellyfish. Variety.com, May 23.
“An Israeli movie with neither politics nor religion—and only one casual, if fraught, mention of the Holocaust—bespeaks an underlying desire for normality that's as poignant and fantastic as Keret and Geffen's modest, shabby Tel Aviv settings.” – J. Hoberman, Jellyfish: An Israeli Movie With Neither Politics Nor Religion. The Village Voice, April 1, 2008.
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