ACADEMY AWARDS

Israel picks 'The Band's Visit' for Oscar slot

Debut film about a traveling marching band has won acclaim on the festival circuit.

By Deborah Netburn, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

September 24, 2007

Israel has selected Eran Kolirin's film, "The Band's Visit," as its official Oscar entry in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

The film, about a traveling marching band thrown into a cultural conundrum, has received critical acclaim at the Cannes, Telluride and Toronto film festivals, and Sunday night it swept the Israeli Film Academy Awards, winning in the best picture and seven other categories, including best screenplay, best actor and best actress.

"The Band's Visit" is Kolirin's directorial debut. The 34-year-old also wrote the film.

In the movie, the powder-blue-suit-wearing band from comes to Israel from Egypt to play at the opening of an Arab cultural center. The musicians are stranded when nobody greets them at the airport, and though their music director tries to get them to the cultural center, a series of mishaps lands them on the outskirts of a small Israeli town in the desert.

They wind up at the town's only cafe, where the proprietor offers to let them stay with her and some friends until they can catch a bus the next morning.

As day turns to night, the hosts and their guests begin to spar.

Sony Pictures Classics will release the film Dec. 7 for a one-week run in Los Angeles and New York. National release will follow in February.