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The band's visit (Bikur Ha-Tizmoret) - Sasson Gabai, Saleh Bakri, Ronit Elkabetz, Eran Kolirin

Threat advisory: Guarded - General risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

Once - not long ago - a small Egyptian police band arrived in Israel. Not many remember this... It wasn't that important.

The Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra arrives in Israel from Egypt for a cultural event, only to find there is no delegation to meet them, nor any arrangements to get to their destination of Petah Tiqva.

When they find their own ride, they arrive instead at the remote town of Beit Hatikva. Stuck there until the next morning's bus, the band, lead by the repressed Tawfiq Zacharya (Sasson Gabai), gets help from the worldly Dina (Ronit Elkabetz), who offers to put them up for the night. What follows is a special night of quiet happenings and confessions as the band makes its impact on the town, and the town on them.

Theatrical propaganda posters

The band's visit (Bikur Ha-Tizmoret) theatrical one sheet

Target demographic movie keyword propaganda

Film drama Israel Egypt police band Israeli Jew lost café bus art-house suburbs

Persons of interest

Sasson Gabai .... Lieutenant-Colonel Tawfiq Zacharya
Ronit Elkabetz .... Dina
Saleh Bakri .... Haled
Khalifa Natour .... Simon
Shlomi Avraham .... Papi
Uri Gavriel .... Avrum
Imad Jabarin .... Major-General Camal Abdel Azim
Ahuva Keren .... Lea
François Khell .... Makram
Hisham Khoury .... Fauzi
Tarak Kopty .... Iman
Rinat Matatov .... Yula
Rubi Moskovitz .... Itzik
Hilla Sarjon .... Iris
Eyad Sheety .... Saleh
Eran Kolirin .... Screenwriter
Eran Kolirin .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

The band's visit (Bikur Ha-Tizmoret) official movie site
The band's visit (Bikur Ha-Tizmoret) film production notes
The band's visit (Bikur Ha-Tizmoret) QuickTime movie trailers
Awards and film festivals:

Awards of the Israeli Film Academy 2007: Won: Best Actor (Sasson Gabai), Best Actress (Ronit Elkabetz), Best Costumes (Doron Ashkenazi), Best Director (Eran Kolirin), Best Film, Best Music (Habib Shadah), Best Screenplay (Eran Kolirin), Best Supporting Actor (Saleh Bakri); Nominated: Best Art Direction (Eitan Levy), Best Cinematography (Shai Goldman), Best Editing (Arik Leibovitch), Best Sound (Gil Toren, Itai Elohev), Best Supporting Actress (Rinat Matatov)
Cannes Film Festival 2007: Won: Un Certain Regard - Jury Coup de Coeur (Eran Kolirin)
Copenhagen International Film Festival 2007: Won: Audience Award (Eran Kolirin), Jury Special Prize (Eran Kolirin)
European Film Awards 2007: Won: European Discovery of the Year (Eran Kolirin), Best Actor (Sasson Gabai); Nominated: Best Screenwriter (Eran Kolirin)
Fantasporto 2008: Won: Critics' Award (Eran Kolirin), Directors' Week Award Best Actor (Sasson Gabai)
Flanders International Film Festival 2007: Won: Special Mention (Sasson Gabai, Ronit Elkabetz); Nominated: Grand Prix
Independent Spirit Awards 2008: Nominated: Best Foreign Film (Eran Kolirin)
Molodist International Film Festival 2007: Won: Scythian Deer (Eran Kolirin)
Mons International Festival of Love Films 2008: Won: Best Actor (Sasson Gabai), Coup de Coeur (Eran Kolirin), Prix Ciné Femme (Eran Kolirin)
Montréal Festival of New Cinema 2007: Won: Feature Film Award - Louve d'Or (Eran Kolirin)
Munich Film Festival 2007: Won: Audience Award (Eran Kolirin), Cine Vision Award (Eran Kolirin)
Palm Springs International Film Festival 2008: Won: Bridging the Borders Award (Eran Kolirin)
Sarajevo Film Festival 2007: Won: Audience Award
Tokyo International Film Festival 2007: Won: Tokyo Grand Prix (Eran Kolirin)
Warsaw International Film Festival 2007: Won: Audience Award (Eran Kolirin), Grand Prix - Warsaw Competition (Eran Kolirin), Warsaw Award (Eran Kolirin)
Zurich Film Festival 2007: Won: Golden Eye - Best Début Fiction Film (Eran Kolirin), New Talent Award (Eran Kolirin)

NB: Arabic, English and Hebrew language dialogue with English language subtitles
Studios and distributors:

Madman Cinema

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

Wow, for once the tagline tells you exactly what happens in the film: Once - not long ago - a small Egyptian police band arrived in Israel. Not many remember this... It wasn't that important.

In fact, so little happens in The band's visit (Bikur Ha-Tizmoret) that you might be forgiven for thinking that nothing happens, but this film is about Arabs in Israel and police in the suburbs so something is bound to turn up. Except that it doesn't. It's a bit like Waiting for Akmal. You will need to be a hard-core art-house movie buff to watch this one (Think of it as the complete opposite of a Hollywood blockbuster).

The drama, Israel movie The band's visit (Bikur Ha-Tizmoret) is directed by Eran Kolirin and stars Sasson Gabai, Saleh Bakri, Ronit Elkabetz.