Liev and Naomi’s Israeli vacation

June 16, 2009 - 2:46 PM by Jessica · 5 Comments
Filed under: General, Israeliness, Movies, Pop Culture 

Liev, Sacha, Naomi and baby Samuel under a diaper

Liev, Sacha, Naomi and baby Samuel under a diaper

The Jewish National Fund (or KKL as its known in Israel) has some fun guests this week. Hollywood stars Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts are in Israel with their two young children, Sacha and Samuel, for the first time. According to KKL, the family is in Israel for several days, seeing Christian and Jewish sites as well as enjoying Tel Aviv’s beaches, restaurants, and, of course, planting some trees.

The itinerary was planned by KKL-JNF, “caretakers of the land of Israel for more than 107 years,” and the family’s first official stop was planting a tree up north in the Galilee. According to the JNF spokesperson, Naomi read the tree planting blessing, while Liev looked to place the pistachio sapling in the ground but first had to remove his two-year-old son Sacha who had placed himself in the hole.

Schreiber said his grandfather was a strong Zionist who had always begged him to go to Israel. His grandfather died before he could make that happen, so this trip resonates for him. It may also have additional meaning following his most recent role as Zus Bielski in “Defiance,” the Holocaust movie recounting the Bielski brothers, Jewish partisans who lived and rebelled against the Nazis from a Bellarussian forest with a band of fellow refugees.

I grew up in the Lower East Side of New York, and I’m half-Jewish. Anything that has resonance for me about my family history, because I don’t know much about it, I’m drawn to. That’s part of why I think I choose projects like this. Less because I’m right for them, but because I want to know if I’m right for them.”

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Aye aye sir – Israeli guards fight piracy on the high seas

May 6, 2009 - 12:32 PM by Nicky · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Crime, General, Life, War 

Piracy – just the word sums up visions of cannons, rigging, cutlasses and eye patches. But as shipping companies worldwide know only too well – piracy didn’t end in the 19th century, but continues to be an increasingly well-armed modern-day plague.

Piracy just ain't what it used to be.

Piracy just ain't what it used to be.

Now there’s a new weapon in the fight against 21st century pirates – Israeli security guards.

It’s hardly surprising is it? Security forces worldwide are turning to Israel to learn how to protect themselves, and Israeli bodyguards are the security of choice for all the Hollywood superstars.

Out on the high seas, Israelis are proving to be just as successful in protecting their charges from the 1,000 or so Somali pirates holding the world’s ships to ransom on the Indian Ocean. (Last year alone 100 ships were attacked, and pirates are currently holding at least 16 ships and more than 250 seamen to ransom.)

Not long ago, Israeli guards repelled a pirate attack on an Italian cruise ship, the Melody, off the coast of Somalia. There were 1,500 people on board the cruise liner, and pirates tried to storm it, firing automatic weapons at the ship.

As the pirates tried to clamber up the sides of the ship on ladders, the Israeli security staff employed by Israeli maritime security company Mano International, opened fire and sprayed them with fire hoses, driving the attackers away after a 10 minute battle. Surprisingly, given the situation, it was the first time a ship’s crew actually fought back.

In an Israeli newspaper, the head of the Italian cruise line said he hired the Israelis because they were the best-trained security agents.

Mano has been operating covertly in this area for 22 years, and the company’s owner told the press he has no interest in exposure. This is the same company, however, that extracted passengers from the Italian ship Achille Lauro when it was hijacked and set alight in 1985 by Palestinian terrorists.

With two other Israeli companies operating in this area, it’s nice to know that Israelis are helping keep the world’s waterways safe from modern day Blackbeards. Oh Arr me hearties.

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The filmmakers’ visit

January 2, 2009 - 9:42 AM by Harry · 1 Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Business, General, Movies, Pop Culture 

The Sixth SenseThere’s plenty of buzz surrounding the possibility that Israeli animated documentary Waltz with Bashir may end up nominated for a Foreign Language Oscar. The official Academy Award nominations won’t be announced until January 22, leaving us plenty of time to focus instead on how the movie has already helped a great deal with putting Israeli film on the international award map, and how the global movie industry and Israel have been going had-in-hand more and more.

Israeli lawmakers took major steps towards enabling Hollywood “runaway production” here this past summer.

More recently, studio mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg organized for Ben Stiller, Chris Rock and Jada Pinkett Smith to attend the Netanya premiere for Madagascar 2, whipping local fans and less local media outlets into a celeb-feeding storm.

And last month, William Morris Agency senior Motion Picture Department executive David Lonner teamed up with the Los Angeles Jewish Federation to bring several top movie execs to Israel to check out the scene here. Lonner organized a similar trip two years ago, but this time, he managed to bring big names like director Peter Sollett (Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist) and producers Nathan Kahane (Juno), Darren Star (Sex and the City) and Roger Birnbaum (The Sixth Sense, pictured). The Jerusalem Post recounts the experience in detail, with coverage including these moguls’ advice for how ambitious Israeli filmmakers can make it big overseas:

“They’ve got to cross the bridge,” says Kahane. “Make films inside the system, like some directors from Mexico have recently – Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Alfonso Cuaron and Guillermo del Toro. They came and conquered Hollywood, then they can go back and work at home again. But they’ve branded themselves in the international community. It creates the opportunity to grow and play in the A-game. And it broadens the conversation on cultural identity outside the film industry as well.”

Birnbaum agrees, saying, “If they want to be competitive in the world marketplace, they need to tell stories that are more universal and make movies that work all over the world.”

Moreover, the trip included visits to tourist hotspots, a Q/A session at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque and a meet-and-greet dinner with local industry luminaries like actress Ronit Elkabetz, the Oscar-nominated writer-director Joseph Cedar and writer Etgar Keret. “They were very eager, very knowledgeable, a talented and diverse group of people,” Kahane says of the group.

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From Vision to Reality

September 21, 2008 - 8:51 AM by David · 2 Comments
Filed under: General, Holidays, Movies, Pop Culture 

Here, in Jerusalem’s Old City tourist traps, they sell those T-shirts bearing an image of a fighter jet and the title ‘Don’t Worry America, Israel is behind you’.

I guess they could add a new version now saying ‘Don’t Worry Israel, Hollywood is behind you’.

beatty2.jpgThursday night’s gala celebration of Israel’s 60th birthday – titled marquee style ‘From Vision to Reality’ – which took place at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, brought out a bunch of A-lister, some oddities and some perennial friends of Israel in a show of strength for our humble, little country that could.

Folks from the ‘hood like Warren Beatty and his wife Annette Bening (looking more like Diane Keaton every day, no?), Seal, tennis star Serena Williams, Jason Alexander, and music producer David Foster, mingled with Israeli Consulate officials and helped to honor the evening’s guest of honor (besides Israel), movie producer Arnon Milchan, who received a lifetime achievement award from the Citizens’ Empowerment Center in Israel, a nonprofit that promotes democracy and civic involvement.

According to an AP report, the Israeli-born former fertilizer salesman Milchan, who has produced films like Pretty Woman and LA Confidential, originally declined the offer, then reconsidered.

“I realized for Israel, you can’t say no,” he said.

Milchan brought out Williams during his acceptance speech, a connection evidently forged years ago when the Hollywood mogul helped the young tennis star broker an endorsement deal with Puma.

Adam Sandler, rumored to be a possible MC for the event, was a no-show, but his comedy cohort Howie Mandel sent in a video presentation in which he discussed a recent vacation to Israel. Former Seinfeld star Alexander also praised the country and disclosed that he’ll be making a visit here next June, and for the first time bringing his sons. Fans should look for him registered, of course, as Art Vandelay.

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