Yossi Madmoni Looks to do Some ‘Restoration’ in Sundance

The Sundance Film Festival announced their line-up last week and since I’m the site’s Israeli-based film reporter, I’ll be putting the emphasis the one homegrown film that managed to crack the festival’s line-up (short film announcements are being made next week so that status might change). The World Cinema Dramatic Competition line-up will include the Israeli film entitled Restoration (the original Israeli title translates as Good Morning Mr. Fidelman).

The film is directed by Yossi Madmoni who’s been co-directing with David Ofek for several years on feature films and TV series. “Restoration” is his first solo flight. The movie stars Sasson Gabai (The Band’s Visit) as an aging furniture restorator fighting his own lawyer son who wishes to sell his father’s business for financial profit while the apprentice (Henri David) gets romantically involved with the pregnant restorator’s son’s wife (Sara Adler). On the surface this project looks humble and dramatically strong, exactly what the type of film where an actor such as Sasson Gabai could demonstrate his talents.