Arnon Goldfinger with Michael Moore.

Two Israeli films were announced winners at the 8th annual Traverse City Film Festival, held in the Michigan town during the past week. Documentary film “5 Broken Cameras”, Israeli-Palestinian co-production of directors Guy Davidi and Emad Burnat, won the coveted Best Picture award, while Arnon Goldfinger’s “The Flat” won the Special Jury Prize for a Foreign Film.

Winners were announced at the Filmmaker Party, ahead of Sunday night’s closing event, hosted by the festival’s co-founder, Academy Award winning director Michael Moore (“Fahrenheit 9/11”, “Bowling for Columbine”). The Festival showcases excellence in filmmaking, particularly rare independent films by both noted and new filmmakers, that do not receive mainstream distribution to start off.

“5 Broken Cameras” has already won numerous awards in recent months, including the World Cinema Directing Award at last January’s Sundance Film Festival. “The Flat” premiered at the Jerusalem Film Festival last year and has been garnering consistent critical acclaim globally. Earlier this week it was announced that North American rights for “The Flat” have been picked up by Sundance Selects film distribution company. The film is tentatively scheduled to be released in the US come October.