2016 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Hager Ben-Asher’s The Burglar

It might be wishful thinking on our part to think that Hager Ben-Asher would somehow submit her sophomore film in January instead of holding out for the month of May. Before The Burglar (which will drop in 2016), there was the Critics’ Week Cannes Film Festival 2011 selected The Slut (see pic above) which helped make a proper name for the filmmaker. This directorial debut was indeed affiliated to the Sundance – as it was selected by the Sundance Institute for what  was the 2010 Israel mini lab. Featuring newbie actress, popular Israeli model Lihi Kornowski, The Burglar was on our radar for 2015, but now we’re hopeful it’ll drop in early ’16 with stops at Rotterdam and/or Berlin as a strong possibility. While her debut was a little bit louder than a pin drop, featuring another strong female heroine, this could make a thunderous noise for her national cinema.

Gist: Lihi Kornowski plays a young woman who becomes a female burglar herself after her mother’s home is broken into by brutal thieves.

Production Co./Producers: Hagar Ben Asher, rohfilm’s Benny Drechsel and Karsten Stöter (My Sweet Pepper Land), Nathalie Vallet, Eitan Mansuri (The Congress).

Prediction: Low chances for Sundance entry with World Dramatic Comp eyed. Cannes most probable from all the fests.

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available. TBD (domestic). The Match Factory (international)

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