Eithan Weitz

Fellow Israeli (and Palestinian) actors, filmmakers, and artists all mourn today the assassination of actor, director, and peace activist Juliano Mer-Khamis. Born in 1958 in the Arab city of Nazareth (North of Israel) to a Jewish mother and an Arab father, Mer-Khamis embodied in his life, as well as in his death, the division and the conflict between the two people sharing this bloody land.

Tawfik Abu-Wael is a 35 year-old Arab-Israeli filmmaker who appears to be set for a second splash in Cannes. Born and raised in the northern town of Um El Fahm, at an early age, he went against his family wishes, and moved to Tel Aviv, where he studied the art of filmmaking. In 2004 his feature debut Atash-Thirst received heavy critical praise and it won the FIPRESCI award in Cannes that year.

Last week it was announced that Elad Keidan's Of Our Economical Situation will be presented in this year's prestigious Cannes' L'atelier program in an attempt to raise funds. Hymn described one man's wandering through the streets of Jerusalem. In his debut feature, Elad Keinan intends to travel through the streets of Haifa.

It seemed like director Eytan Fox disappeared from the public eye, but this year he's planning a comeback. 20 years ago his short film After made a name for him as someone who put homosexuality at the center of his works. He moved on to direct a few other features and TV series, his breakthrough came a decade later, with Yossi and Jagger, a 65 min TV film that broke out from the little screen to be shown at movie theaters locally and internationally.

Shlomi Elkabetz, brother of Ronit Elkabetz (The Band's Visit, Late Marriage), and co-director (alongside his sister) on To Take a Wife (2004) and the 2007 smash hit Seven Days, is currently working on a project of his own. Entitled Testimony, this promises to be a political bomb, and an intriguing and unconventional film in its structure.