Turning 18 means different things in different cultures, but almost every culture agrees it’s an age of adulthood.  In the religious culture of Orthodox Judaism, at 18 a young woman is preparing for the important ritual of marriage – and wondering whom her family will choose for her to end up with. This is the scenario Shira (Hadas Yaron) is in at the beginning of Fill the Void. She and her mother, Rivka, (Irit Sheleg) stalk a young man in the grocery store, watching him for signs of whether he’d make a good match. The sort of silly cultural scenario one would find in a Jane Austen story. Fill the Void is definitely the sort of romance that would have Ms. Austen entertained. Drawing on universal concepts of love, choice, heartache and duty, the perspective of the film within the Hasidic community at no point seems too narrow as to alienate it’s western audience. Instead, the insulated cultural setting only enhances the nuances of romance making every minor touch, every hushed encounter that much more thrilling.

When Shira’s sister Esther dies suddenly in childbirth, the entire family is devastated at the loss. Caring for the child she left behind and coping with their grief, there is further disaster on the horizon when Rivka learns Esther’s widowed husband, Yochay (Yiftach Klein) is considering remarriage.

Desperate to keep her family together and seeing a potential love match, she proposes to Yochay that he consider young Shira. Hesitant at first, eventually Yochay can’t deny the desirability of such a situation, nor deny that Shira loves his child like a mother, even if she is quite young. Suddenly Shira is faced with the daunting choice of giving up the experience of “first love” or satisfying her mother by accepting Yochay’s marriage proposal. As she begins to try to see Yochay in a different light, she demonstrates the complexity of attraction and the hesitancy of the female heart.

Rama Burshtein, a first-time director and herself an Orthodox Jew, does an excellent job of nuancing the potentially antiquated situation Shira finds herself in. Shira, while young, is sensible and true to her own feelings and desires; determined to have the love she deserves. She grapples with the shadow of her sister and the prospect of being with the man who loved her, while simultaneously being introduced to what it feels like to be wanted and romanced. Audiences used to more flagrant flirtatious methods of wooing may find the story slow or unbelievable, but it’s the subtlety that sells the romance and the pacing makes the end that much sweeter.

In an age of progressive feminist ideals, Fill the Void could have easily been off-putting. Instead it envelops the viewer in a rich and vibrant culture that embraces the importance of chosen participation within tradition. With it’s shallowly focused lens, the film literally has a fairy tale glow to it. Burshtein has woven a beautiful film, compellingly providing insight into her own community, while gracefully revealing a delicate and unique romantic tale.

Fill the Void trailer:

Film Independent announced the nominations for the 28th annual Independent Spirit Awards this morning by Zoe Saldana and Anna Kendrick. Last year many of the award winners went on to win Oscars but I suspect that will be a little different this year. The winners will be announced at the 28th annual Film Independent Spirit Awards on February 23th and the broadcast will air at 10 p.m. ET/PT on IFC.

There were two films that tied for the most amount of nominations and those were Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom and David O. Russells’s Silver Linings Playbook with five total nominations. Both of the films will be competing for the top award of Best Feature.

It was a little shocking to see that the Sundance standout Beasts of the Southern Wild did not have quite as many nods but four is a healthy amount of nominations to receive. The film bypassed Best First Feature even though it is technically Benh Zeitlin’s first and step up to the bigger category Best Feature (rules prohibit a film from being in both). Beasts of the Southern Wild was ousted from the Best Screenplay category.

John Hawkes makes his third straight appearance in the nomination list with his role in The Sessions. This time he will move up to the Best Lead Male category against some pretty strong contenders. Hawkes was nominated for Best Supporting Male last year for Martha Marcy May Marlene and won the award in the previous year for Winter’s Bone. Matthew McConaughey will get two chances to win for two different films. He got a nod for Best Male Lead (for Killer Joe) and Best Supporting Male (for Magic Mike).

Perhaps the most interesting category this year belongs to the Best International Film section as there was quite a bit of potentials for it this year. Michael Haneke’s Amour made the cut, unsurprisingly, and will likely be the favorite to win (as well as for the Oscar). It was a bit of a surprise to not see Holy Motors in that list but seeing War Witch get a nod was lovely as it is definitely a film worth seeing. I didn’t expect to see Paradise: Love or Goodbye First Love on this list but it would have been if it were up to me.

Watch for our predictions for the 2013 Film Independent Spirit Awards post to come in the coming weeks.

Full List of 2013 Independent Spirit Award Nominations:

Beasts of the Southern Wild
Bernie
Keep The Lights On
Moonrise Kingdom
Silver Linings Playbook

Wes Anderson – Moonrise Kingdom
Julia Loktev – The Loneliest Planet
David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
Ira Sachs – Keep The Lights On
Benh Zeitlin – Beasts of the Southern Wild

Fill The Void – Rama Burshtein
Gimme The Loot – Adam Leon
Safety Not Guaranteed – Colin Trevorrow
Sound of My Voice – Zal Batmanglij
The Perks Of Being A Wallflower – Stephen Chobsky

Jack Black – Bernie
Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook
John Hawkes – The Sessions
Thure Lindhart – Keep The Lights On
Matthew McConaughey – Killer Joe
Wendell Pierce – Four

Linda Cardellini – Return
Emayatzy Corinealdi – Middle of Nowhere
Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook
Quvenzhane Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild
Mary E. Winstead – Smashed

Matthew McConaughey – Magic Mike
David Oyelowo – Middle of Nowhere
Michael Pena – End of Watch
Sam Rockwell – Seven Psychopaths
Bruce Willis – Moonrise Kingdom

Rosemarie DeWitt – Your Sister’s Sister
Ann Dowd – Compliance
Helen Hunt – The Sessions
Brit Marling – Sound of My Voice
Lorraine Toussaint – Middle of Nowhere

Breakfast With Curtis – Laura Colella
Middle of Nowhere – Ava DuVernay
Mosquita y Mari – Aurora Guerrero
Starlet – Sean Baker
The Color Wheel – Alex Ross Perry

How To Survive A Plague – David France
Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present – Matthew Akers
The Central Park Five – Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, David McMahon
The Invisible War – Kirby Dick
The Waiting Room – Peter Nicks

Amour – Michael Haneke
Once Upon A Time In Anatolia – Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Rust and Bone – Jacques Audiard
Sister – Ursula Meier
War Witch – Kim Nguyen

Yoni Brook – Valley Of Saints
Lol Crawley – Here
Ben Richardson – Beasts of the Southern Wild
Roman Vasyanov – End of Watch
Robert Yeoman – Moonrise Kingdom

Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola – Moonrise Kingdom
Zoe Kazan – Ruby Sparks
Martin McDonagh – Seven Psychopaths
David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
Ira Sachs and Mauricio Zacharias – Keep The Lights On

Rama Burshtein – Fill The Void
Derek Connolly – Safety Not Guaranteed
Christopher Ford – Robot & Frank
Jonathan Lisecki – Gayby
Rashida Jones and Will McCormack – Celeste and Jesse Forever

Starlet
Director: Sean Baker
Casting Director: Julia Kim
Ensemble Cast: Dree Hemingway, Besedka Johnson, Karren Karagulian, Stella Maeve, James Ranson

Alicia Van Couvering – Nobody Walks
Mynette Louie – Stones in the Sun
Derrick Tseng – Prince Avalanche

Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel – Leviathan
Peter Nicks – The Waiting Room
Jason Tippet and Elizabeth Mims – Only the Young

David Fenster – Pincus
Adam Leon – Gimme The Loot
Rebecca Thomas – Electrick Children

Venice Film Festival announced the 2012 lineup this morning which will feature a premiere of Terrence Malick’s To The Wonder starring; Ben Affleck, Javier Bardem, Rachel Weisz, and Rachel McAdams. Malick is one of the 17 directors that will be competing for the Golden Lion trophy at this year’s Venice Film Festival. One of the other directors that will be representing the United States is Harmony Korine with his film Spring Breakers featuring James Franco, Vanessa Hudgens, and Selena Gomez.

The biggest surprise was the absence of Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master. According to many rumors the film was going to premiere at Venice and when it was left off the TIFF announcement two days ago that only made it more likely to appear here. Variety even made the mistake of initially reporting The Master making the lineup.

The 69th annual Venice Film Festival will run from August 29th through September 8th.

See the full Venice Film Festival lineup below:

Opening Film (Out Of Competition)
The Reluctant Fundamentalist – Mira Nair (U.S.,Qatar)

Competition
To The Wonder – Terrence Malick (U.S.)
Something in the Air – Olivier Assayas (France)
Outrage: Beyond – Takeshi Kitano (Japan)
Fill The Void – Rama Bursztyn and Yigal Bursztyn (Israel)
Pieta – Kim Ki-duk (South Korea)
Dormant Beauty – Marco Bellocchio (Italy)
E’ stato il figlio – Daniele Cipri (Italy)
At Any Price – Ramin Bahrani (US, UK)
La Cinquieme Saison – Peter Brosens, Jessica Woodworth (Belgium, Netherlands, France)
Un Giorno Speciale – Francesca Comencini (Italy)
Passion – Brian De Palma (France, Germany)
Superstar – Xavier Giannoli (France, Belgium)
Spring Breakers – Harmony Korine (US)
Thy Womb – Brillante Mendoza (Philippines)
Linhas de Wellington – Valeria Sarmiento (Portugal, France)
Paradise: Faith – Ulrich Seidl (Austria, France, Germany)
Betrayal – Kirill Serebrennikov (Russia)

Out Of Competition
L’homme qui rit – Jean-Pierre Ameris (France-Czech Republic)
Love Is All You Need – Susanne Bier (Denmark-Sweden)
Cherchez Hortense – Pascal Bonitzer (France)
Sur un fil – Simon Brook (France-Italy)
Enzo Avitabile Music Life – Jonathan Demme (Italy-US)
Tai Chi 0 – Stephen Fung (China)
Lullaby To My Father – Amos Gitai (Israel-France-Switzerland)
Penance (Shokuzai) – Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Japan)
Bad 25 – Spike Lee (US)
O Gebo e a Sombra – Manoel de Oliveira (Portugal-France)
The Company You Keep – Robert Redford (US)
Shark (Bait 3D) – Kimble Rendall (Australia-Singapore-China)
Disconnect – Henry-Alex Rubin (US)
The Iceman – Ariel Vromen (US)

Out Of Competition: Special Events
Anton’s Right Here – Lyubov Arkus (Russia)
It Was Better Tomorrow – Hinde Boujemaa (Tunisia)
Clarisse – Liliana Cavani (Italy)
Sfiorando il muro – Silvia Giralucci and Luca Ricciardi (Italy)
Carmel – Amos Gitai (Israel-France-Italy)
El impenetrable – Daniele Incalcaterra and Fausta Quattrini (Argentina-France)
Witness: Libya – Michael Mann (US)
Medici con l’Africa – Carlo Mazzacurati (Italy)
La nave dolce – Daniele Vicari (Italy-Albania)

Orrizonti
Wadjda – Haifaa Al Mansour (Saudi Arabia-Germany)
The Paternal House – Kianoosh Ayari (Iran)
I Also Want It -, Alexey Balabanov (Russia)
Gli Equilibristi – Ivano De Matteo (Italy-France)
L’intervallo – Leonardo Di Costanzo (Italy-Switzerland-Germany)
Winter of Discontent – Ibrahim El Batout (Egypt)
Tango Libre – Frederic Fonteyne (Belgium-France-Luxembourg)
The Cutoff Man – Idan Hubel (Israel)
Fly With The Crane – Li Ruijun (China)
A Hijacking – Tobias Lindholm (Denmark)
Leones – Jazmin Lopez (Argentina-France-Netherlands)
Bellas Mariposas – Salvatore Mereu (Italy)
Low Tide – Roberto Minervini (US-Italy-Belgium)
Boxing Day – Bernard Rose (UK-US)
Yema – Djamila Sahraoui (Algeria-France)
Araf – Somewhere In Between – Yesim Ustaoglu (Turkey-France-Germany)
The Millennial Rapture – Koji Wakamatsu (Japan)
Three Sisters – Wang Bing (France-Hong Kong-China)