What a Wonderful Place
Eyal Halfon, 2005, 104 min, Hebrew, English, Russian, Tagalog, Thai, Filipino, Drama
Grand Jury Prize & Best Actor Award
Karlovy Vary Film Festival, 2005
Best Picture, Best Script, Best Actor and Best Editing
Israeli Academy Award
Best Picture & Best Actor
Jerusalem Int’l Film Festival, 2005
Golden Dolphin
Festroia International Film Festival, 2006
SYNOPSIS
Three stories become one story, as they intermingle one in the other and show something about us, people, who suddenly find ourselves alone, alienated from all those who are close to us, close to those who are foreign to us.
Franco, an ex- policeman, who got into trouble and became an agent for a violent gangster, rediscovers himself with the help of Jana, a call girl from Ukraine. Zeltzer, a melancholic farmer from the Arava desert plains follows the tracks of Jana’s photograph only to find out that the only person he can trust is one of his Thai workers, Visit. Eloni, A tough ranger, persecutes the Thai workers for illegal hunting as he finds himself preoccupied with his handicap father. The only one who can assist the ranger is Eddie, a Filipino caretaker. Eddie is addicted to gambling and becomes involved with the Boss, the violent gangster from the first story. All the characters eventually reach the same point in the desert – for different reasons, and one dramatic resolution.
Stills
Behind the scenes
DIRECTOR
Cast
- Uri Gavriel – Franco
- Evelyne Kaplun – Jana
- Avi Oria – Zeltzer
- Yossi Graber – Mr. Aloni
- Yoav Hait – Yoav Aloni
- Ramon Bagatsing – Eddie
- Chredpong Laoyont – Vissit
- Mymy Davao – Nenny
- Marina Shoif – Yulia
- Evelin Agoel – Ahuva
- Dvir Benedek – The Boss
Crew
- Eyal Halfon – Director
- Assaf Amir & Yoav Roeh – Producers
- Eyal Halfon – Scriptwriter
- Nili Aslan – Director of Photography
- Einat Glaser-Zarhin – Editor
- Ido Dolev – Art Director
- Avi Belleli – Original Score
- Keren Ron – Costume Design
- David Lis – Sound Recording
- Aviv Aldema – Sound Design
- Ruth Gazit-Argov, Sharon Abaranok – Casting
- Dorit Cohen – Makeup Artist
- Merav Nahoum – 1st Assistant Director
- Eyal Fisher – Stills
The film was produced with the support of
