Kalat Hayam/Jaffa by Keren Yedaya is a revelation.  When Hitchcock said the screen rectangle must be charged with emotion he had films like this in mind.  Jaffa tells the tale of a family dissolution in Israel that involves a love affair between a young Israeli woman named Mali (Dana Ivgy) and a Palestinian man named Toufik (Mahmud Shalaby).  When Toufik accidentally kills Mali’s brother during a fight (and impregnates her as well), it initiates the beginning of her ruinous path filled with deceit, heartache and disaster.

Jaffa is a film in which not only every frame is charged with emotion but also one can feel the emotion behind every creeping use of the slow zoom, in every glance of the actors, with every appearance of the sparse score.  This searing drama is handled with complete mastery by Yedaya, not a single note of the film ringing false.  Yedaya has certainly delivered on the promise of her debut film, Or, which won a multitude of awards at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival including the Camera d’Or, the award given to the best first feature.  There can be no doubt that a major talent has emerged in Israeli cinema – her name is Keren Yedaya.

Flesbek/Flashback by Aleksandar Jankovic is another first feature from a director that needs a bit more seasoning behind the camera.  About a man who returns from prison and hopes to kindle a relationship with a daughter he has never known, this film does not offer much in the way of either capable acting or plotting.  The cinematography is a black and white take on the noir ethos and the tone of the film veers from limpid comedy to ineffective drama.

Dramatic feature films from Serbia have not had a very good showing here at the festival.  There seems to be no shortage of young directors fresh out of film school, or in Jankovic’s case still in it, who are getting their projects off the ground – and certainly that feat in itself deserves some praise.  Though the results have in fact been far from praiseworthy, judging from the rich history of Serbian cinema one may not have to wait long for the next major talent to make herself or himself known.