Eyes Wide Open

Israeli Filmmaker Haim Tabakman's Feature Film
EYES WIDE OPEN

Opens Friday February 5, 2010 at New York's Cinema Village
Additional screenings will be held at the NY Jewish Film Festival (Jan. 19-24, 2010)
 

Director Haim Tabakman will be in New York January 20-28th and is
available for interviews.

Aaron,
a respectable butcher in Jerusalem’s
ultra-orthodox Jewish community, is married to Rivka and is a dedicated
father of four children. One day, he hires Ezri, a handsome twenty-two
year
old student, as an apprentice and soon develops feelings for him. As
the relationship grows, Aaron starts to neglect his family and
community life,
swept away by his love–and lust–for Ezri. But a foreboding guilt,
inner torment and intense condemnation from the community catch up with
him,
leading him to make a radical decision.

Variety
says, "Recalling
Amos Gitai's "Kadosh" and David Volach's "My Father My Lord" (which
Tabakman edited), the soberly fascinating pic shows the
attractions and disadvantages of life in a closed religious community.
The taboo-breaking "Eyes Wide Open" is an intense, restrained
drama."

Director Haim Tabakman: ”Religious people do
not consider homosexuality a sin; it just does not exist. I really want
to
help break the silence, to be part of the evolution of the orthodox
world. There is a way to convince people, through movies, without using
force, to
say: “Look, this exists.” I think our heroes are diving into this
romance whereas they know there is no real chance to live it. It’s
just like accepting faith. I see EYES WIDE OPEN as a car rushing
towards you, but you keep on walking in the same direction.”

Born in 1975, Haim Tabakman studied Cinema and Television at the University of Tel Aviv. Two of
his early short films, Free Loaders and The Poet’s Home, were selected by the Cannes Film Festival (Cinefondation), as well as
by the Karlovi Vary and Montpellier film festivals. Tabakman has also edited several films, including My Father, My Lord (by David Volach).
Eyes Wide Open is his first feature film.

Founded
in late 2004, New American Vision (NAV) has emerged as one of
Hollywood’s leading niche entertainment firms dedicated to bring new
independent and specialty films to new American audiences. Pursuing a
vision of a 21st century America marked by many languages, ethnicities,
political interests and sub-cultures, NAV encompasses the distribution,
marketing and creation of niche-oriented content that reaches out to
traditionally underserved markets in both the entertainment and
educational
arenas.

Official selection: 2009 Cannes Film Festival – Un Certain Regard

 Toronto International Film Festival

EYES WIDE OPEN / Eynayim Pekuhot