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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Mar 16, 2015 19:26:55 GMT -6
deadline.com/2015/03/my-promised-land-documentary-hbo-ari-shavit-israel-1201393338/HBO Making Israel Documentary Based On ‘My Promised Land’ Bestseller HBO is turning Haaretz columnist Ari Shavit’s 2014 book, My Promised Land: The Triumph And Tragedy Of Israel, into a documentary. The book is a narrative history that draws on interviews, historical documents, private diaries, and letters, as well as Shavit’s own family to tell the story of modern-day Israel. It was a New York Times bestseller and winner of the Natan Book Award, the National Jewish Book Award, and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. Shavit was on a panel this morning here in Jerusalem at the INTV conference organized by Keshet Media, which will also be involved in the film. HBO CEO and chairman Richard Plepler, also on the panel, had nothing but praise for the tome, saying: “The book left me awestruck and as moved as I’ve been maybe ever. When I first approached him, I said to Ari that I’ve waited my whole adult life to find this book.” Shavit said of the film, which is already underway, “Keeping it complex and balanced while keeping it powerful and emotional is a challenge, but it’s exciting.” Dan Setton is directing. Plepler said the plan is to “make it a film that will reach millions of people.” Although no date has been set, it will premiere in Jerusalem, per Plepler, and will be shown in schools and universities. He declared that the book “will become the bible in American Jewish homes.”
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Mar 16, 2015 20:43:14 GMT -6
variety.com/2015/tv/news/hbo-israel-my-promised-land-ari-shavit-documentary-1201453453/Ari Shavit’s ‘My Promised Land’ Set as HBO Documentary Film JERUSALEM – Ari Shavit’s “My Promised Land,” the bestselling book about the author’s complicated love for the land of Israel, is being made into a documentary film for HBO. Shavit and HBO topper Richard Plepler discussed the project on Monday in Jerusalem at Keshet Media’s third annual INTV conferenece, a two-day gathering of top global television execs in Israel’s capital city. The project will be helmed by Dan Setton, and Keshet’s Avi Nir is serving as exec producer. Shavit is a longtime columnist for the left-leaning Israeli daily Haaretz, and regarded as one of the most respected journalists in Israel. In his book, which raised the hackles of right-wing Jewry but which the New York Times’ Thomas Friedman declared a “must-read,” he delves into his own family’s history in Israel, painting his ancestral legacy as a patina for the story of the Jewish state. Plepler told the audience at INTV that as soon as he read the book, he wanted it for HBO. “When I first approached Ari I told him that I’ve waited my whole adult life to find this book… it captured both the objective truth and the emotional truth, the psychological truth of how I love Israel and ponder its challenges, and wrestle with its obvious mistakes and foibles,” he said. “And I thought, my goodness, what a privilege, to capture the essential truths of this book and to make a film that could reach millions of people not only in Israel and the U.S., but all over the world.” INTV auds were shown a trailer of the documentary, which starts with footage of Israelis running in the streets under an air-raid siren during this summer’s war with Gaza. Plepler said he hopes the documentary will bow in Jerusalem and encourage a greater dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians. Shavit, when asked if he was concerned that his material might be lost in the translation of print to television, said that he gave Setton very few artistic constraints. “My line was you must capture the spirit, you must speak the balance,” he said. “But the details – it’s a new medium, and I just said it must work in the new medium.”
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