''Yana's Friends'' () is a 1999 Israeli film directed by Arik Kaplun.

script editor A script editor is a member of the production team of scripted television and radio programs, usually dramas and comedies. The script editor has many responsibilities including finding new script writers, developing storyline and series ideas wit ...

: Savi Gabizon. Critically acclaimed, it won 10 Israeli Academy Awards including the Ophir Award for Best Picture. It also won the Crystal Globe at the 34th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 1999. The film has a very rare 100% rating on the film website

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based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 7.16/10. The site's consensus reads: "A heartwarming movie that handles some weighty subjects with humor".

Plot

The story follows two Russian

immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

families living in the same building as Eli (portrayed by Nir Levy), a film student preparing to leave Israel to pursue his studies in New York. One of the families consists of Yana (portrayed by Evelyn Kaplun) and her husband, Fima (portrayed by Israel Demidov), who are also Eli's roommates. At the start of the film, Fima abruptly abandons Yana, fleeing to Russia and leaving her pregnant and burdened with his debts. As Yana struggles to navigate her new reality, a romance gradually develops between her and Eli, unfolding against the tense backdrop of the First Gulf War. The second family includes Elik (portrayed by Vladimir Fridman) and Mila (portrayed by Lena Sakhnova), their infant son, and Mila's paralyzed grandfather, Yitzhak. Facing financial difficulties, Elik and Mila send Yitzhak—adorned with his wartime medals—to beg for money near a street musician named Yuri (portrayed by Shamil Ben Ari). Elik believes that Yitzhak will receive more donations from people passing by positioning himself among musicians, as he appears to be one of them. Meanwhile, an old romance rekindles between Yitzhak and the building’s landlord, Rosa (portrayed by Dahlia Friedland). As the film progresses, the characters' seemingly separate paths intersect in unexpected and deeply moving ways, revealing the shared struggles, hopes, and resilience of immigrants forging new lives in Israel.

Cast

* Evelyn Kaplun as Yana * Nir Levi as Eli * Shmil Ben Ari as Yuri * Mosko Alkalai as Yitzhak * Dalia Friedland as Rosa * Vladimir Friedman as Alik * Israel Damidov as Pima *

Dina Doron Dina Peskin, known professionally as Dina Doron and Dina Doronne, (Hebrew language, Hebrew: דינה דורון; born 15 March 1940) is an Israeli film and stage actress. Biography Doron was born in Afula, Israel on 15 March 1940 to Zivia a ...

as Luba * Lena Sachanova as Mila * Jenya Fisher as Adik * Anna Finshtein as Mia * Evyatar Lazar as Daniel * Lucy Dubinchik as Yuri’s daughter

Rewards

In the year of its release, the film competed in the Ophir Awards and won ten categories, including

cinematography Cinematography () is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens (optics), lens to focus reflected light from objects into a real image that is transferred to some image sen ...

, directing, editing, screenplay, acting (for Evelyn Kaplun, Nir Levi, Mosko Alkalai, and Dalia Friedland), and Best Film of 1999. The film achieved immense success in Israel and internationally, winning special awards at the

Jerusalem Film Festival The Jerusalem Film Festival (, ) is an international film festival held annually in Jerusalem, It was established in 1984 by the Director of the Jerusalem Cinematheque and Israeli Film Archive, Lia van Leer, Lia Van Leer, and has since become th ...

, in

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, the " Crystal Globe" award at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in the

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, and awards in

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, the

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, and the

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. It also participated in festivals in

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, and

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, and was distributed in the

and

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after its awards.

References

External links

*
Yana's Friends
on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

*
Yana's Friends
on the

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

website'' *
Yana's Friends
on the

AllMovie AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, television series, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was ...

website'' *
Yana's Friends
' ''on the

website'' *
Yana's Friends
' in the KinoPoisk film database (in Russian) 1999 films Israeli drama films 1990s Hebrew-language films 1990s Russian-language films Crystal Globe winners 1999 drama films Films set in Tel Aviv 1999 multilingual films Israeli multilingual films Russian-language Israeli films {{1990s-drama-film-stub