Posts Tagged ‘Israeli’

My Event at Temple Sinai

April 28th, 2008

We had our first public showing of a condensed version of the show in front of an audience at Temple Sinai, a reform(liberal) synagogue in Toronto.

They seemed enthusiastic even though the material challenged some of their assumptions. We had a Q and A after , some wanted to set me straight and paint a picture in which the traditional positions were fleshed out again. Others wanted to know more about the issues of race and class and security over all other considerations among other topics.

I challenged them to look beyond simple notions of good guys and bad guys and Israel right or wrong because I believe that so many people in the middle east want and need to be seen not as the enemy but as human. I have been attacked at times for being naive. I am not. I am a student of the situation and a believer in the Jewish values of loving the stranger and standing for social justice, not just for the other but for so many in Israel who live in poverty and suffer systemic prejudice. My people Sephardim (arab land Jews for the most part). People were animated and the organizers thanked me even though they were nervous that I would offend some.

All in all a good night.

rb

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Posted in Conflict, Episode Scenes, Israeli, Mizrachi, My Israel, OCCUPIED TERRITORIES, Ralph Benmergui, Trailers, arabic, hamas, intifadah, israeli conflict, jerusalem, jewishist, middle east, muslim arabs, palestinian, radio, television in israel, the wall, video blog, vision tv | No Comments »

Words from the Director of Ralph Benmergui:My Israel, Allan Novak

April 28th, 2008

Here’s some production info for those that are interested…
We shot this series over a thirteen-day period, twelve of those in Israel. We flew out on Christmas eve, December 24, 2007 as Ralph had to be back at his radio job two weeks later. We had a seasoned Canadian/Israeli crew was led by Martin Himel (possessor of great chutzpah and a good Rolodex). Our second camera was Ami Shamir (an artist at heart who appears in episode two) sound was shared between Daniel Tchelet and Noy Raz, both intelligent, talented and dedicated people. Rounding out the crew was Inna Shapiro our talented Israeli/Russian location producer and researcher and Sharon Nesher, our driver, who also appears in episode two. Sharon was a former elite soldier who made some unforgettable comments on camera. Karen Hawes was our anchor/supervising producer in Toronto assisted by Daniel Rattner our researcher/clearance person.

Editing was done by Charlotte Disher (episodes two and five), James Lim (episode three and four) and myself (episode one). I’ve been editing for years and still love to be hands on, particularly at the start of a series. Charlotte and James worked very hard and I thank them both for their unique personalities and talents. Animation was done by Ivan Verlaan of Visual Inclinations and Mandi Gorenstein and Darby McInnis were our hard working assistant editors.

I have to get back to finishing the theatrical version for the screening at the Jewish film Festival on Sunday May 4th, 6pm (at the Al Green Theatre). Please mark your calendars if you want to attend live (to see a highlights-filled 53 minute version) or to catch the full series May 5,6,7 at 9PM on VisionTV

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Posted in Conflict, Israeli, Mizrachi, My Israel, OCCUPIED TERRITORIES, Ralph Benmergui, arabic, hamas, intifadah, israeli conflict, jerusalem, jewishist, middle east, muslim arabs, palestinian, television in israel, video blog, vision tv | 2 Comments »