The Band's Visit / Bikur Ha-Tizmoret
Israel , 2007

Directed by: Eran Kolirin
Script: Eran Kolirin
Producer: Eilon Ratzkovsky, Ehud Bleiburg, Yossi Uzrad, Koby Gal-Raday, Guy Jacoel
Production company: July August Productions/ Bleiberg Entertainment
Cinematography: Shai Goldman
Editing: Arik Lahav Leibovitz
Music: Itai Eloav
Cast: : Sasson Gabai, Ronit Elkabetz, Saleh Bakri, Khalifa Natour, Imad Jabarin

Format: boja, color, 35mm
Running time: 89'

Synopsis
Invited to perform at the opening of an Israeli cultural centre, the immaculately pressed Alexandria Ceremonial Police Band arrive at the airport only to find that their hosts are nowhere in sight. Their Plan B is to take a bus, but they head in the wrong direction, led by conductor Tewfiq (Sasson Gabai). Stranded in a tiny Israeli desert town, they reluctantly decide to stay the night until the next bus arrives in the morning. Tewfiq and the fetching Haled (Saleh Bakri) stay with the self-assured and witty café proprietress, Dina (Ronit Elkabetz), whose casual sensuality can’t help but challenge the men’s ideas about womanhood. Through the connections they forge, the band members and the villagers find their cultural assumptions shaken – with one especially memorable scene taking place in a roller disco.

Awards
2007 Awards of the Israeli Film Academy - Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Costumes, Best Director, Best Film/Najbolji film, Best Music, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Saleh Bakri) 2007 Cannes Film Festival - Award of the Youth, FIPRESCI Prize Un Certain Regard, Un Certain Regard - Jury Coup de Coeur – Coup de Coeur 2007 European Film Awards/Europske filmske nagrade - European Discovery of the Year/Europsko otkriæe godine, Best Actor/Najbolji glumac 2007 Sarajevo Film Festival - Audience Award/Nagrada publike

Directors Biography
Eran Kolirin was born in Tel Aviv. He has written several television episodes, as well as the screenplay of the award-winning feature film Zur Hadassim (1999). He has also written and directed the television film The Long Journey (2004). The Band’s Visit (2007), which won the Jury Coup de Coeur prize in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival, is his feature directorial debut.

Location and screening schedule:
premiere: SC Cinema, Tuesday, October 21st at 14.00
reprisal: EUROPA Cinema, Tuesday, October 21st at 21.30