"Fauda" on Netflix shows complexities of Israel's wrestling with jihadist aggression

Israeli TV panelists: Tsakhi Halevi (Fauda), Udi Segal (Mossad 101)
Michael Gordon (C.A.A.) and Danna Stern (YES TV Israel)

YES-TV's Fauda and Reshet 13's action drama television series Mossad 101 had their second season premieres at this year’s 31st Israel Film Festival in Los Angeles on November 15th and 16th. Each screening was followed by a panel discussion which featured creators, actors, and distributors of Israeli shows discussing the effects of these programs going international. 

In “Mossad 101” (“Hamidrasha” Hebrew for “The Academy”) cadets from every level of Israeli society undergo intense training to join their country’s elite, classified intelligence service, the Mossad.

Fauda, which means “chaos” in Arabic, follows a close-knit unit of Mista’arvim, the commando unit of the Israel army whose soldiers are trained in the language, dress and mannerisms of Palestinians, and whose undercover work is hailed in Israel for scuppering terror attacks and guiding military operations. The show won six Ophir Awards, including Best Drama Series, at the Israeli Academy Awards. 

CNN: Netflix says it has found the next "Homeland"


Two-years ago, Israel Film Festival organizer Meir Fenigstein introduced "Fauda" to American audiences- which led to C.A.A.'s TV agent, Adam Berkowitz, selling the subtitled action/suspense series' rights to Netflix.   This year, the Fest debuted the 2nd season opener to Israeli series "Mossad 101," which of C.A.A. TV intends to sell the format rights to internationally. 



Video playlist includes interviews with Fauda actors Lior Raz and Tsakhi Halevi- and classic Israeli-American actor/director Mike Burstyn. The Fauda actors are joined for a post-screening panel discussion moderated by Itay Hod, entertainment editor of Hollywood's The Wrap news-site, leading a discussion with Fauda co-founding producer Avi Issacaroff, actresses Laetitia Eido (Dr. Shirin), Rona-Lee Shimon (Nurit), composer Gilad ben Amram, director Rotem Shamir. The panel was introduced by Sam Grundwerg, Consul General of Israel in Los Angeles.

Iconic Israeli actor, Mike Burstyn, says that the Israeli TV and film productions are as good as any international productions- and for a fraction of the Hollywood budget. Productions like these, he says, have made greater international recognition of Israel's predicament in the past 5-years than in the previous 50-years. 

Liberal Israeli filmmakers hope Trump era brings greater acceptance of common struggle

Coinciding with the anniversary of Kristallnacht (the night after the US presidential elections) the Israel Film Festival premiered in L.A. on November 10th. Former Bev Hills Mayor Jimmy Delshad tells what Iranian Jews can teach the west regarding the global jihad which US president-elect Donald Trump seeks to thwart through curtailing Muslim immigration to the U.S.



America-Israel relations under Trump? Should Israel Film Festival should portray Israel in favorable light?

Despite liberal Israeli filmmakers penchant for deprecating their society in domestic films, American patrons at the gala fundraiser, Ardyth and daughter Alise, say they expect the Israel Film Festival to select films which depict Israel in a favorable light.



Israel Film Festvial premiere in Hollywood screens Swiss-Israeli director/cinematographer, Raphael Rebibo's film, "Amor," regarding the Jewish dilemma of assisted suicide of terminal patients by relatives. His picture illustrates the conflict between fundamentalist / orthodox religion and liberal society. 

Rebibo says that French speaking countries (including Switzerland) nowadays shy away from showing movies from Israel or Israeli filmmakers.



Meni Yaish, director of Israeli mafia drama, "Our Father" in the style of Quentin Tarantino, talks at the premiere of the Israel Film Festival in Hollywood about bringing Israeli domestic movies to an international market. Do Israeli filmmakers and festivals have a responsibility to represent Israel's public image favorably?



Based on a satire by Israeli author, Ephraim Kishon, Koby Azran produced a parody short-subject movie, "An Average Story" starring Itzik Golan as the demographic, average Israeli which catapults him to above-average celebrity. 




See Israel Film Festival website for show times in Beverly Hills and Encino.

World, east and west, look to Israeli media for lessons in addressing Islamist terror

Lior Raz, co-creator and star of Israeli TV's "Fouda" action-drama series

Islamist war against Israel- then and now. Filmmakers involved in films screened at the 29th Israel Film Festival, "Sabena Hijacking: My Story" and episodes from the controversial, Palestinian-depicting, Israeli TV series "Fouda" speak before their screenings the Israel Film Festival Hollywood/Beverly Hills, California.

Nati Dinnar, producer "Sabena Hijacking: My Story" tells the story of the 1972 Sabena Airline hijacked en route to Tel Aviv.


Grandson of the real-life pilot depicted in docu-drama, "Sabena Hijacking: My Story" reveals how the event depicted affected their lives. Yaron Lipschitz had not yet seen the movie when he had spoken to our camera. 


Candid interview with "Fouda" Israeli action star,  Lior Raz

"Fouda" actor/co-producer, Lior Raz answers Israel Film Fest audience questions post-screening in Beverly Hills

In the wake of Boston bombings, Israeli Film Festival reminds America of the shared need to defend against global jihad

The 27th annual Israel Film Festival opened with a salute to former head of Paramount Pictures, Sherry Lansing and legendary actor Martin Landau.


Pictured are actors Steven Dorff, Lanie Kazan, Martin Landau, Stacy Keach, producer Sherry Lansing, Festival director Meir Fenigstein, and Israeli-American producer Avi Lerner.

Israeli Deputy Consul General to Los Angeles, Uri Resnick, introduced honoree legendary lady producer, Sherry Lansing, at this Israel Film Festival.



Producer Ms. Lansing spoke about Jewish culture in cinema, the critical Israeli eye in film, and Israel productions spawning American copies of In Treatment by HBO and Homeland by Showtime.


Dr. Resnick spoke in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing at the Israel Film Festival.



Dr. Uri Resnick made aliyah from Ottawa, Canada in 1988. He joined Israel's Foreign Service in 2002, having served as Deputy Head of Mission at Israel's embassies in Dakar, Senegal (2003-2005) and Sofia, Bulgaria (2005-2008). He has also served as Deputy Director of the Department for UN Political Affairs (2008-2010) at Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and has participated in several Foreign Ministry Delegations to the United Nations General Assembly. He served in the IDF (1990-1993) in an infantry reconnaissance unit. Dr. Resnick speaks Hebrew, English and French.

Jon Voight to Obama: Stop giving our enemies the idea that we are weakened in any way

Oscar-winner, social activist, Jon Voight, asserts that now is the time for the free world to come together in a show of strength, not apology, for America's allies having defended Muslim peoples from oppression.

Carving a hostile, Palestinian state out of Israel in hopes of appeasing the Muslim world sworn against her, Voight cautions, will make the West appear weak and embolden its Islamist enemies, just as Israel's de-occupying Gaza in '05 proved.



Mr. Voight appeared at the premiere of the 2009 Israel Film Festival in Hollywood, where Diane Warren, Robert Lantos, and John Fishel received honors. Mr. Voight presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to Auschwitz survivor Branko Lustig for his work in such films as Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, Black Hawk Down, Fiddler on the Roof, and Schindler's List.

Actor, Jon Voight- 'agenda-driven, liberal-media has distorted real threat of Islamism'

New cast-addition to FoxTV's "24" series, actor Jon Voight encourages the public to understand the "grace under fire" of the Israel he knows & loves.

At the celebrity-studded 23rd Israel Film Festival Gala in Hollywood, Academy-award winning actor, Jon Voight, spoke candidly about his experience of the true character of the 60-year-old State of Israel.

Recently-returned from a visit to Israel for its 60th birthday, Mr. Voight feels that Israel has borne the brunt of the mainstream-media's misunderstanding of Islamist imperialism's rejection of an autonomous, Jewish-led democracy in a region dominated by Islamic supremacism.

The true nature of Israel and its challenges- which Mr. Voight has experienced first-hand- isn't accurately presented by mainstream news-reportage, he asserts.

To obtain a truer understanding, he encourages people to visit Israel themselves- or begin by viewing some of the Israeli films featured in the Festival.

The Israel Film Festival would run in Los Angeles from June 11-26, in New York from Nov 5-20, and in Miami from December 10-18.