Israeli movie receives award at Thessaloniki Film Festival

Israeli movie “Valeria is getting married” by Michal Vinik won the Silver Alexander Award at the 63rd edition of the Thessaloniki Film Festival in November.

The festival is one of the most important in Greece and every year attracts movies from across the world in 15 different categories.

This year the festival saw the participation of three Israeli films with the support of the Embassy of Israel in Greece: in addition to “Valeria is getting married,” also "Concerned Citizen" by Idan Hagoel and “The Taste of Apples is Red” by Ehab Tarabieh were screened.

“Film is an international language, a bridge between peoples and cultures,” said Ambassador Noam Katz. “This was another opportunity for the Festival’s public, Greeks and others, to get acquainted with Israel through its films, the mirror of a dynamic society that knows how to look within itself in all sincerity and with much talent.”

The movie by Vinik tells the story of a Ukrainian woman who moved to Israel through a ‘bride-to-order’ kind of deal. She is happy with her life and she hopes her younger sister will find a similar deal. But the different personality of the young woman disrupts the plan.

“A highly original film, extremely well acted, written masterfully, directed with sensitivity, in a manner that takes the audience on a journey alongside these characters, in ways that were both surprising and intimate,” the jury wrote in motivating the prize. “This film celebrates the human experience with its various shades of light and dark, without ever being judgmental and shows us that reality is far more complex than one would imagine.

Israeli director Avi Nesher also attended the festival as a member of its jury.