Amos Kollek continues his singular collection of features about women on the brink of emotional crisis with Fiona, the portrait of a 31-year-old crack-smoking prostitute. Like his previous Berlin prize winner Sue, the film brandishes an edgy realism that feels as much like documentary as fiction. Sue-star Anna Thomson returns to play Fiona while her aging prostitute mother is played by a real working girl.

Kollek says he and Thomson were planning to shoot a different version of Fiona when he stumbled into a crack den while doing research for a documentary project. Realizing that he had to shoot there, Kollek melded the two projects so that Fiona now contains some of the most explicit footage of prostitutes at work ever dared in a dramatic feature.

Kollek, 50, splits his time between New York and Jerusalem, where he’s known as both a novelist and filmmaker. He’s written five books, including 1971’s award-winning Don’t Ask Me If I Love, as well as a doc about his dad, former Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kollek. North Americans know Kollek best as the director of five fiction features starring actresses like Julie Hagerty (Goodbye, New York), Hanna Schygulla (Forever Lulu), Sally Kirkland (High Stakes) and Faye Dunaway (Double Edge). Sue, Kollek’s seventh feature, won both the FIPRESCI and Ecumenical Jury prizes at this February’s Berlin festival and has been sold by sales agent Christa Saredi to France, Germany, the Netherlands, Greece, Poland and Mexico; U.S. rights remain available.

Cinematographer Ed Talavera, also Sue’s d.p., shot Fiona hand-held on 16mm while Kollek ran sound and lights. "I was very interested in seeing what I could do with only the two people you absolutely need to make a film, and we ended up getting to shoot in a lot of places where [the proprietors] didn’t necessarily know what we were doing," says Kollek. Fiona should be done this summer and all rights are available.

Cast: Anna Thomson, Felicia Maguire, Alyssa Mulhern, Anna Grace, William Dawes, Mike Hodge, Matthew Powers. Crew: Producers, Amos Kollek, Osnat Shalev; Co-Producers, Linda Moran, Rene Bastian; Screenwriter/Director, Kollek; Cinematographer, Ed Talavera; Add’l Cinematography, Peter Agliata; Editor, Jeff Harkavy; Music, Alison Gordy. Contact: Amos Kollek, 77 Ha’Eyal Street, Malcha, Apt. #9, Jerusalem 96955, Israel. Tel/Fax: (972-2) 679-5495; NYC Fax: (212) 727-7284.

Backward Looks, Far Corners - Christopher Munch
Coming Soon - Colette Burson
The Dharma Brats: Growing Up Buddhist in America - Bari Pearlman & Jesse Thompson
Fiona - Amos Kollek
A Good Baby - Katherine Dieckmann
The Joyriders - Bruce Battersby
Park Day - Sterling Macer, Jr.
Roberta - Eric Mandelbaum
Sally - David Goldsmith
Spring Forward - Tom Gillroy