Israeli film producer in Cannes: 'Heart is in Israel, but body is in Cannes'

‘The dream of every filmmaker is to make it to the official competition at Cannes,” said Israeli producer Emilio Shenker, a day after he and his producing partners, Eyal Rimmon and Gideon Tadmor, walked the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival for the world premiere of Paul Schrader’s latest film, Oh Canada, which is indeed in the main competition. “It’s kind of like the holy grail of being a filmmaker . . . and it was an amazing journey.”

While only one short film from Israel is competing at Cannes, Shenker, Rimmon and Tadmor – who work for Sipur, an Israel-based international entertainment studio – have made sure that Israel has a presence at the world’s highest profile film festival this year. They have partnered with a number of other producers from around the world to bring Schrader’s latest movie to the screen.

Oh Canada stars Richard Gere – with whom Schrader previously collaborated on the iconic film American Gigolo in 1980 – and is adapted from a Russell Banks novel that tells the story of a draft dodger who stayed in Canada, became a filmmaker, and looks back on his life. Gere plays the filmmaker as an older man, while rising star Jacob Elordi (Saltburn, Euphoria), portrays the character in his youth, and Uma Thurman plays his wife.

SCHRADER, 77, best known as the screenwriter for Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, has had a fascinating life and career. He grew up in a strict Calvinist community in Grand Rapids, Michigan and didn’t see a movie until he was 17. After studying film, he became a critic, screenwriter and director. He has had many ups and downs in movies that, at their best, were considered transcendent, and at their worst, suffered from shooting too high and missing.

Among his films are Hardcore, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, and Affliction. In 2008, he made Adam Resurrected, an adaptation of a Yoram Kaniuk novel that was filmed in Israel and starred Jeff Goldblum. In the last few years, he has enjoyed what most critics agree is a return to form, making the movies First Reformed, The Card Counter, and Master Gardener.

But Oh Canada, which some think is an attempt by him to make sense of his own life, marks the first time in decades he has had a movie in competition at Cannes, considered by many to me the most prestigious festival in the world. Shenker and his partners were proud to be there with him.

“It’s an iconic theater [where the movie premiered], the Lumiere Theater... and I almost cried when I entered it with a movie that I produced. The response of the audience was amazing, we had a seven-minute standing ovation and they were extremely supportive of the movie,” he said. “Paul Schrader deserves it so much; he hasn’t always gotten the recognition he should have, and I’m very happy for him. He’s an incredible director, an incredible talent – and like me, he almost cried.”

Shenker also praised the film’s leading man, saying, “Richard is an amazing actor and I feel like he also didn’t get the appreciation he should have from the industry.... He’s a very handsome guy but I think that now everybody realizes that he’s also an amazing actor.” In 2016, Gere starred in the movie Norman by Israeli Joseph Cedar, and has visited Israel a number of times.

Seeing another Schrader-Gere collaboration celebrated at Cannes “brought closure... Paul Schrader is such an auteur director that all of his movies are like one story,” Shenker said. “And I think at the end of the movie, we’re all left with the question: Who was this character, really, and if what we saw was real or wasn’t real.” It’s a movie audiences will think about long after they see it, he said.

While this is a triumphant moment for the producer, he never forgets the war that is being fought back at home – and while he is savoring the moment, celebrating it felt a bit unnatural. “I’m here, the sun is shining, the ocean is blue and the birds sing – but my heart is in Israel, with the soldiers and with the hostages. I keep thinking about it all the time.”

SURPRISINGLY, except for one incident, he said, they had not encountered any anti-Israel or antisemitic sentiments. “We came here with 100 yellow pins for the hostages. We give the pins to the people that we meet; some know what it is about and some don’t. We explain what the pins symbolize. Some of them put it on their shirts right away, some put it in their pockets – but everyone treats us with enormous respect.”

All political symbols – including yellow-ribbon pins – are strictly forbidden on the Cannes red carpet, and when a survivor of the October 7 Supernova Music Festival massacre, Laura Blajman Kadar, managed to sneak onto it wearing a dress that featured pictures of the hostages, she was quickly made to leave.

'Heart is in Israel, but body is in Cannes'

But Shenker said people were glad to receive the pins. “I didn’t hear any antisemitic or anti-Israel reactions here at all. So, yeah, it’s tough to be Israeli these days and it’s also tough to celebrate – it’s very tough. I have family in the army. My heart is in Israel, but my body is in Cannes.”

He said that he and his colleagues “received a big hug personally and professionally from people we’ve met with – and we never hide the fact that we’re Israelis and we’re Jews.” They have not had any problem getting meetings with anyone.

The only difficulty they have had has been with “one specific creator, a significant American creator... who said she refused to go on working with us on this show because we are Israeli... She could have found an excuse, she could have said, ‘I’m too busy,’ but she said she would not do a project with us because we are Israelis – and I was furious,” Shenker said.

“She is a lesbian and so she is part of Queers for Palestine, which I think is the biggest joke in history,” he said. “I told her people, ‘The next time she is invited to celebrate in a gay party in Gaza, I’m happy to join her.’ Because we all know there are no gay parties in Gaza. There are no gay parties in most of the Muslim world... This is chutzpah of the most extreme kind.”

But he preferred to focus on Oh Canada, saying that while he could not reveal yet who would be distributing the film worldwide, it would be widely shown. “We’re in a great place,” he said, adding that he hoped Gere would promote the film in Israel.