Famed American filmmaker Quentin Tarantino was honored for his contribution to cinema at the 33rd Jerusalem Film Festival on Thursday.
“Wow, sababa,” Tarantino said, offering some Hebrew slang (meaning “cool”) to the audience upon accepting the lifetime achievement award, the Times of Israel reported. “There is something special about receiving this prize here in Jerusalem, at the foot of the Old City, in the open air. God bless you all.”
“Thank you very, very much for making me feel so well at home, and I am having a fantastic time, may God bless you all,” he added toward the end of his speech.
While this was Tarantino’s first visit to the festival, it was his second trip to Israel. Tarantino visited the Jewish state in 2009 to promote the fictionalized Nazi drama Inglorious Bastards. “I didn’t know that every young person has to go into the army,” Tarantino said after that trip. “The concept behind that I thought was awesome. To me, what it said was, ‘You will never catch us unaware again. Never.’”
The 10-day Jerusalem Film Festival will run through July 17, with screenings throughout the day at several movie theaters in the city. Special guests including noted Icelandic director Grímur Hákonarson, renowned experimental video artist Laurie Anderson, Sony Pictures Classics vice president Dylan Leiner, and ARTE France vice president Rémi Burah will offer film master classes and workshops.
[Photo: Georges Biard / Wikimedia ]