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SNOWLAND

[88 min]

Festivals Awards

Festivals Participant

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SemiFinalist-CyrusInternationalFestivalo
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Berlin Official Selection
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Directed by Jonni Zicoltz
Script by Yuval SegalJonni Zicoltz

 

Lead Cast:

Shlomi KoriatOri Pfeffer | Tali SharonNati Kluger
Ann Bloshinky | Shula Chen
Shmil Ben Ari  and more...

Producers:  Moshe Edery, Leon EderyMicky Rabinovitz

Line Producer: Iftach Gabay

Associate Producer: Or Vivante

Light Stream - Producer: Avital Yosefi

Cinematographer: Ram Shweky

Editor: Iris Ozer

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About the Movie

Set against the backdrop of another Israeli war, in Tel Aviv, Amir and Johnny’s long time friendship is put to the test, right before their 40th birthday as they set out on a quest of self discovery. Amir is grappling with daughter’s cancer diagnosis and his crumbling marriage, as his wife issues a restraining order against him. While Johnny is coming to terms with shutting down his mythological bar and breaking up his 6 year relationship with Mickey, just as they’re about to walk down the aisle.
Both men are lost, living small lives and losing two major loves, a wife and daughter, and despite their immense pain, they’re searching for a ray of light, a smile, and a silver lining beyond the dark mountains ahead.

vimeo.com/458943245/7afa72e093

Snowland Trailer  \\  

Director Statement
As a creator you often times feel like a hunter. More often than not, hunting provides you with momentary stories that fade away just as fast as they hit you. It’s rare to come across a story that you simply can’t let go of.

‘Snowland’ belongs to that second category of stories. And it happens to be so because it’s based on a true story, Amir (the leading role is called Eyal in real life) is best freinds with Jonni, and that’s me (Jonni Zicholtz). I’ve been living with our story for almost 7 years, since Eyal’s son, Maor (in the script the character is based on Tamara), died of cancer when he was 3 years. While Maor was sick, Eyal broke off his long term relationship with Maor’s mother (the character that’s based on Alona in the script), and their relationship officially ended when Maor passed away.
During which, I also broke up with a woman I was about to marry and walked out on her at the 11th hour.

With ‘Snowland’ I wanted to describe the process of two men in their late 30s, breaking down and building themselves back up again just as their about to hit their 40 year old crisis. They’re great friends that find themselves facing a huge crisis, one that raises a lot of questions about the lives they’ve lived, their dwindling libidos and the decisions they’ve made at major crossroads in their lives that turned out to be disastrous. Two men that are living small lives and losing two major loves, a wife and daughter. And despite their immense pain, they’re searching for a ray of light, a smile, and the silver lining beyond the dark mountains ahead. The two leading characters of this film aren’t heroic or strong, they’re not about to save anyone, perhaps just themselves. And maybe their friendship, which is the only thing they have left.

As a filmmaker, you get a shot once every 4 or 5 years to tell a story, ‘Snowland’ is the story I’ve chosen to tell this time and it’s without a doubt, my most personal film yet. Maor’s death was such a terrible blow, a pain that can never heal and this film is dedicated to his memory. But what I wanted to focus on primarily in the film was male friendship and how you cope with it during difficult times, when it seems as if it’s about to completely fall apart after so many years of friendship, while having to come to terms with myself, looking inwards and accepting who I am, with growing older, but still maintaining my inner child but also learning to take responsibility and committing without running away, just as I’m about to turn 40 years old, the age in which they say men face their biggest crisis. The film is a journey of redemption of two men, two kids, two best friends.

Director Biography - Jonni Zicoltz

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Director, screenplay writer, actor and creator. Was born and raised in Haifa, and has been based in Tel Aviv since 1995. He directed his first film, ‘Alenby Romance’, in 2004 and has directed and written three additional films since - ‘Slower Than the Heart’ (2010), ‘All In’ (Screenplay) (2018) and ‘Snowland’ (2020). Two of his plays, ‘Gaza 17’ and ‘Srulik’, debuted at the Kameri Theater and in 2016, he created the television series ‘Kings’ for Channel 2 and the Keshet Broadcast Network. Jonni is a lector for the Israeli Film Fund and lecturer of communications, he also develops and advises on television and film on a regular basis. ‘Snowland’ will be his 3rd film as both director and writer.

Snowland Festivals

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March 5,
2020
Buenos Aires International Film Festival

SemiFinalist-CyrusInternationalFestivalo

October 1,

2020

Cyrus International Monthly Festival

of Toronto 

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October 1,

2020

Cuzco Underground Cinema Festival 

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October 29 -
November 5, 2020

Orlando

Film

Festival

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November 12,

2020

Alexandria

Film

Festival

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November 13-15,

2020

Nottingham International Film Festival

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November 23-27,

2020

Melbourne

Lift-Off

Film Festival

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April 22-25, 

2021​​

WorldFest -

Houston International Film Festival

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November 23-27,

2020

Sydney

Lift-Off

Film Festival

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2021

Continental

Film Festivals

New York

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December 31,

2020

Santa Monica International Film Festival

Berlin Official Selection

February 1- March 1, 2021

Berlin

Lift-Off

Film Festival

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March 1 - April 1 

2021

Manchester

Lift-Off

Film Festival

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April 8,

2021

LA Indies Festival

Los Angeles, California

Photos by  David Scouri

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