VIFF | FOOTNOTE

No dates and times yet - the full schedule hits the streets Sep 17 - but here's a Soul Food highlight gleaned from the Sneak Preview guide, available in print around town and as a download from the VIFF site.

FOOTNOTE
Israel | Dir: Joseph Cedar

Winner, Best Screenplay, Cannes 2011

Academic egos clash to witty effect in director Joseph Cedar's (Oscar nominee for Beaufort) tale of two Talmudic scholars at each other's throats. That they are father and son adds a certain frisson to the plangent goings-on.
"A sprightly, shrewd and ingenious black comedy of middle age and disappointed ambition…" Guardian.
"Probably the Cannes Film Festival's biggest breakout, and the closest thing to a tour de force. It had the Festival's most unlikely log line by far (the uneasy relationship between father and son Talmudic scholars reaches crisis point due to a clerical mixup over prestigious lifetime achievement award), which hardly prepares you for the at times stylistically dazzling and dramatically gripping end result." Film Comment

The story of a great rivalry between a father and son, both eccentric professors in the Talmud department of Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The son has an addictive dependency on the embrace and accolades that the establishment provides, while his father is a stubborn purist with a fear and profound revulsion for what the establishment stands for, yet beneath his contempt lies a desperate thirst for some kind of recognition. The Israel Prize, Israel's most prestigious national award, is the jewel that brings these two to a final, bitter confrontation.

The Vancouver International Film Festival runs Sep 29 - Oct 14. Full program guides available Sep 17. Sneak Preview guide available now online.