Mark Hamill to present award at LA Israel Film Festival event

Months before the Israel Film Festival is set to open in Los Angeles, actor Mark Hamill will appear at a sponsor luncheon for the event this weekend.

Hamill, best known for playing Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars franchise, was slated to arrive on Thursday at the event in Los Angeles, and present an “achievement in film award” to Hollywood producer and Israeli native Ram Bergman.

Bergman, originally from Rishon Lezion, was a producer on 2017’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi and is to be involved in the franchise’s next film as well.

The luncheon will also present awards to Larry Tanz, a Netflix executive, for achievement in television, and philanthropist Stanley Black will receive the Israel Film Festival’s humanitarian award.

“As we celebrate Israel’s 70th anniversary, the Israel Film Festival is proud to honor three distinguished individuals who have paved the way for groundbreaking collaborations between the US and Israel film and television industries, resulting in movies and series that reached millions of people worldwide,” said Meir Fenigstein, the founder and director of the film festival.

Bergman is most recently known for his work on Star Wars, but he has been living and working in LA for several decades.

His first critically acclaimed films were 2005’s Brick and 2012’s Looper. Both of those films were directed by Rian Johnson, who reunited with Bergman on Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

The 32nd annual Israel Film Festival will be held this November.