Auteur efforts for the small fry

The International Children's Film Festival opens today at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque and continues until Saturday. More than 60 feature films and shorts will be screened. These include Ori Ravid's new film "Eli and Ben" about a boy who is forced to deal with the arrest of his father (Lior Ashkenazi); Rene Bo Hansen's "Eagle Hunter's Son," which was filmed in Mongolia and tells of a boy who wishes to study in a regular school but instead has to learn how to hunt eagles; "green films," a series of shorts shot in Tanzania on ecological subjects such as water quality and air pollution; Daniel Valentine's "Red Eye" about the son of Muslim immigrants in Sweden who tries to keep up his family's traditions; and Cristiano Bortune's "Red Like the Sky" about a boy who loses his eyesight in the 1970s.

The festival will include a stunts workshop in which children will learn about special effects from classic films and a dubbing workshop to be conducted by Anat Niv, who is in charge of dubbing at Arutz Hayeladim (the children's channel), and a how to make a film workshop from the shooting until the movie is edited. (Dana Shweppe)

Madame Butterfly sings

"Sabbath of Gold," a series of six operatic concerts, begins on September 26. It will be moderated by Michael Ajzenstadt, the artistic coordinator of the New Israeli Opera, and performed by its leading soloists, including sopranos Hila Baggio, Ira Bertman, Rinat Goldman and Noa Danon; the mezzo sopranos Limor Ilan, Svetlana Sandler and Ayala Zimbler; the tenor Yotam Cohen and the baritone Vladimir Braun.

The first concert will be devoted to Puccini's tragic heroines with arias from "La Boheme," "Tosca," "Turandot" and "Madame Butterfly" among others. At the next concert, on November 21, Israeli folk songs and Russian songs will be performed and on December 26, excerpts from Johann Strauss Jr.'s "Die Fledermaus" will be performed. The next concert, on February 20, will offer duets from operas, including "Cosi fan tutte," "The Marriage of Figaro" and "Romeo and Juliet." A concert April 24 will present hits from operas and musicals. All-time favorites from the company's repertoire will be performed at the concluding concert. Tickets cost NIS 70-100. (Zipi Shohat)

Someone worth talking to

If people divide into those who like to talk and those like to listen, then both these groups will want to participate in "Blackmarket" on September 26 - an exchange of information both useful and not, the brainchild of German dramaturge and curator Hannah Hurtzig. Experts sit at tables and conduct conversations (limited to 30 minutes) about their fields of expertise. The listeners are invited to sign up for a conversation with the experts or simply to listen to the conversations with earphones. Among the participants will be former education minister Shulamit Aloni, MK Hanin Zoabi, Professor Eva Ilouz (a sociologist), musician Eran Tzur, architect and publisher Sharon Rotbard, transsexual activist Nora Greenberg, artists Roi Rosen and Aya Ben Ron and the cultural researcher Tamar Berger.

Entrance to the event, which has already been presented in Berlin, Vienna, Istanbul, Hamburg, Warsaw and Liverpool, is free with every meeting with an expert costing NIS 5. It will be held at Jaffa's Arab-Jewish Center (109 Kedem Street). Registration begins at 6 P.M. and the event starts at 7 P.M. and ends at 11 P.M. It is being held in Israel in cooperation with the Israeli Center for Digital Art in Holon. (Avner Shapira)