2022

The Fat Guy 

Director: Gudis Schneider; Producers: Dafna Dannenberg, Aviram Avraham; Screenwriters: Gudis Schneider and Liat Elkayam; Cinematographer: Amit Shaal; Editor: Dov Steuer; Sound Design: Yossi Apelbaum; Music: Alon Eder and Tzachi Sadan. With Mey-Ran Menkes, Tzachi Sadan, Assaf Perry and Efrat Weintraub.

Production Company - Ei8ht Productions.

Jury: Carla Caetani, Italy - screenwriter, served as Head of Office at Filmitalia – a department at Cinecittà studios responsible for the promotion of Italian cinema around the world, deputy director of the Taormina Film Festival; Nana Dzhordzhadze, Georgia - Georgian film director, screenwriter and actress. Member of the European Film Academy and the American Film Academy; Shmuel Hasfari, Israel - Israeli playwright and director. Wrote, adapted and directed about thirty plays in Israel and around the world, won the Ophir Prize and awards at international film festivals; Kais Nashaf, Israel - an Israeli film and television actor of Palestinian and German descent. Won Best Actor Award in 2018, participated in last year's Haifa Festival competition with the film Abu Omar directed by Roy Krispel; Benny Barbash, Israel - writer, screenwriter, blogger and playwright. Wrote scripts for eleven motion pictures that were screened all over the world. Created and written over 100 episodes for drama series for television, won numerous awards for his films, series and books in Israel and abroad, and has taught screenwriting at Sam Spiegel and Tel Aviv University.

From the jury's decision: "Director Gudis Schneider and screenwriter Liat Elkayam created an amusing, sharp, painful, contemporary and hopeful film, very Tel Avivian, very Israeli. The script, the direction, the fine acting and the artistic design combine beautifully to create a playful romantic comedy."

Story: Jimmy and Elik meet in the army, a minute before checking out. He is a fat corporal and she is a beautiful officer, but something between them clicks; pity it doesn't stand a chance. Over the years, they run into each around the city, but only a decade later, when they’re both 30-somethig, somewhat wiser and more beaten, do they really become friends.

Everything is fine, until love gets in the mix.