A story about freedom, autonomy, car thieves, gorgeous blondes, a soldier who dreams about Tom Jones and an aging lion who decides he’s fed up with it all and is going out to find a lioness to spend the night with.
Circus Palestina
A Film by: Eyal Halfon
(Israel, 1998, 90 Minutes, Color, Hebrew, English subtitles, Cast: Yoram Hatav, Evgenia Dudina, Amos Lavi, Basaam Zuamot, Vladimir Friedman)
A dark comedy chronicling the trials and tribulations of a small circus troupe who visit the West Bank. When a lion escapes the camp, an unlikely alliance is forged between Russian lion tamer Mariana (Evgenia Dudina), Israeli Sergeant Bleiberg (Yoram Hatav), and a young Arab boy (Yousef Ibrahim), who join forces in a effort to find the beast before it can injure any unsuspecting townspeople. A charming, subtle, and politically astute comedy with more than enough heart to compensate for its low production values.
FESTIVALS & SCREENINGS
• Winner of the Israeli Academy award for best script & best film (1999)
• Vancouver International Film Festival
• Santa Monica Film Festival
• Hong Kong Int’l Film Festival
• Seattle Film Festival
• Denver Jewish Film Festival
• Warsaw Film Festival
• Film Festival of Med Cultures, Bastia
• International Film Festival, Bratislava (competition section)
• Mediterranean Film Review
• Dublin Film Festival