Taglines: Pride, Envy, Vanity… How far would you go for recognition?
Professor Eliezer Shkolnik and his middle-aged son Uriel are both philologists and Talmudic scholars, however, Eliezer, even though he has been labouring for nearly all his life, he still remains in obscurity with his sole recognition being a single footnote of a work by an esteemed scholar. On the other hand, much to cranky Eliezer’s chagrin, the driven Professor Uriel seems to be showered with recognition, fame and all the things he ever longed for; a distressful topic and the reason for a subtle, yet bitter academic rivalry. Is that it then? A brief reference in a book for a life’s work?
Footnote (Hebrew: הערת שוליים, translit. He’arat Shulayim) is a 2011 Israeli drama film written and directed by Joseph Cedar, starring Shlomo Bar’aba and Lior Ashkenazi. The plot revolves around the troubled relationship between a father and son who teach at the Talmud department of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The film won the Best Screenplay Award at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. Footnote won nine prizes at the 2011 Ophir Awards, becoming Israel’s entry for the 84th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. On 18 January 2012, the film was named as one of the nine shortlisted entries for the Oscars. On 24 January 2012, the film was nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Best Foreign Language Film, but lost to the Iranian film A Separation.
Footnote (2012)
Directed by: Joseph Cedar
Starring: Shlomo Bar-Aba, Lior Ashkenazi, Aliza Rosen, Alma Zack, Micah Lewensohn, Nevo Kimchi, Yuval Scharf, Daniel Markovich, Tsipi Gal, Michael Koresh, Idit Teperson, Shmuel Shiloh
Screenplay by: Joseph Cedar
Production Design by: Arad Sawat
Cinematography by: Yaron Scharf
Film Editing by: Einat Glaser-Zarhin
Costume Design by: Laura Sheim
Music by: Amit Poznansky
MPAA Rating: PG for thematic elements, brief nudity, language and smoking.
Distributed by: Sony Pictures Classics
Release Date: March 9, 2012 (United States), June 2, 2011 (Israel)
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