​
A 55 minute creative documentary
Languages spoken and sung: Hebrew, Arabic, English.
Dutch, English, French and German versions are now available!
North American rights represented by NCJF
Award winning documentary!
Monte-Carlo Television Festival, Monaco, February 2001 Winner of the URTI Grand Prix for Documentaries, Prix Arman and the Gold Medal
Golden Chest Television Festival, Bulgaria, September 2001 Winner of the Grand Prix
Atlantic City Film Festival, USA, 2001 Best Foreign Documentary
RIFF - Roma Independent Film Festival, Italy, February 2002 Winner of the First Prize
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Can you grasp Israel by its rock and pop bands? Can you see through them the complexities, the tribulation and the dreams of this young country? Can you sense through song and music the divisions among its people, their craving for peace, their pain and their disillusionment of war?
That's exactly what ISRAEL ROCKS! is about.
Hearing the band of the rocker Rabbi Tuvia Bolton who sings of the Messiah who'll come and fix everything while Shalom Hanoch sings that the messiah will never come and he will not even phone, one can perceive the clash between the religious and the anti-religious Jews that came to a head with the killing of prime minister Rabin by a religious Jew.
Shlomo Artzi, the Israeli pop singer, sings of that event wondering who's next to be killed in this country of fear.
And through the Palestinian pop singer Amal Murkus and the choir of the Jewish settlers in the Golan Hights, one can sense the struggle between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
The Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shimon Peres, who surprisingly wrote a peace-song titled "She Was Born Out Of a Dream" sung by Shlomo Gronichand "Sheba" his choir of Jewish Ethiopian teenagers, puts war and peace in perspective. He says: "Wars were relevant when the survival of people was based on land, but now that the survival is based on the human mind, wars have become irrelevant."
Each one of the revealing songs in ISRAEL ROCKS! depicts the major problems facing the people of Israel from politics to poverty, and their dreams for, and their attempt to create a better future.
And meaningful songs can make us understand the deep feelings of people in a troubled country and reward us with an awareness we all need.
There are some 20 singers, bands and choirs in this TV documentary, playing and singing in various styles: pop, rock, blues, folk and rap.
Among others are:
The choir of The Disabled War Veterans of the Israeli Army singing "From the Fires of War."
The rock band White Flag which surprisingly combines Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs from the Gaza Strip who sing in English and Arabic the Beatles' song "Oh, Darling."
Aviv Gefen who sings "We're a Fuckud Up Generation"
The rock group The Joys, a mixture of a religious Jew, an Arab, two Russian immigrants and a non-religious Israeli, that sing "Let's Share the Moon."
Ping-Pong the Israeli choice for the Eurovision 2000 sings the song "Sameah" (Happy) with a young woman who sings: "I Have a New Boyfriend From Damascus."
The Cubes, who protest against the enormous gap between rich and poor with their song "To Burn the Money."
The young rap group Snake Fish with their protest song "We're No Suckers" about their disillusionment from the policies of the Israeli politicians.
The Israeli pop singer from Yemenite extraction Marglit Tzanani who asserts the voice of the voiceless with her song "Walls of Clay" and "Absolut" the singers of the new Russian immigrants.
"The Platinum" with their anti-religious song "Opium for the Masses."
"Israel" the Anarchist rock band with their song "In the First Daylight."
"The Mind Church" with their song "What's Left That Doesn't Hurt."
The composer Nurit Hirsh in a sing-along concert with The Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra.
And the world famous singer Noa with her song "Homemade Religion."
This program, a co-production with the AVRO television, was made possible with the help of:
Stimuleringsfonds Nederlandse Culturele Omroepproducties, NCDO and Stichting Co-productiefonds Binnenlandse Omroep
The artists who participate in the film are:
Shlomo Artzi,
Meir Israel, Avi Singolda, Gil Feldman, Ami Ofir, Arie Volinitz, Zili Yanko, Nitzan Ein Habar, Shai Meiri, Shai Dagan, Adi Meiri, Uri Chonstkovski, Ilan Berkovitz
"Kol Barama":
Chaim Sapiria, Yona Binyamin, Shosh Romi, Noa YaÕari, Mindi Horvitz, Sara Dagan, Ronit Gofer, Dina Marans, Benny Eitan, Rinat Attia-Gillis, Rutey Bochnik, Vardina Shnurman, Yoram Bass, Ron Ravid, Irit Israeli
Amal Murkus,
Naseem Dakwer, Ramsi Ibsharat, Elmar Fel
"The Equator":
Rabbi Tuvia Bolton, Eliezer Bluman, Josy Dov-Cohen, Itamar Malciel
Shalom Hanoch,
Roy Martin, Ray Peterson, Rony Peterson, Moshe Levi
"Mind Church":
Mik Golan, Moti Joseph, David Rasad, Ran Almaliach, Yoram Hazan
Aviv Geffen
"The Platinum":
Shlomy Kanean, Oded Shahar, Gabriel Gabi Pollak, Eran Zilberberg, Gil Plotnik
The Choir of the Disabled War Veterans of the Israeli Army
"Israel":
Gavriel Ben-Horin, Nevo Svorai, Ilana Tzabari, Eli Shargarotzki (DJE), Gadi Blori
"The Cubes":
Koby-Moshe Valach, Gilad Ariel, Asaf Zinger, Ilan Sheary
"Snake Fish":
ShaÕanan Street, Amir Ben-Ami, David Klemes, Yaya Cohen-Harounoff, Yaron Mohar, Guy Margalit, Moshe Assaraf
"The Joys":
Israel Bright, Tzahi Zaki Har Nevo, Sami Badra, Vitali Podolski, Elad Cohen-Bonen, Sania Kroitor
"White Flag":
Gani Tamir, Katia Kuper, Zaher Abed El Gavad, Mark Smulian, Shadi Haj, Jhonatan Shapiro
"Absolut":
Anna Fishkin, Victor Knoskin, Dmitry Greenberg, Felix Greenberg
Shlomo Gronich & The Sheba Choir
performing Mr. Shimon Peres' song
Margalit Zanani,
Marco Cohen, Ronen Rahamani
Noa
"Ping Pong":
Yifat Giladi, Chicky, Guy Guy, Ahal
Sarale Sharon
Nurit Hirsh and the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra
And an interview with Mr. Shimon Peres
Camera
Daniel Babczyk
Sound
Ashi Milo
Research
Livat Netz
Footage
The New Generation
Beni Mor
Script
Izzy Abrahami
Off-Line Editor
Erga Netz
On-Line Editor
Bert Rasink
Associate Producer
Robert Stel
Producer
Erga Netz
Director
Izzy Abrahami
Produced by Abrahami-Netz TV Productions
in co-production with the AVRO
We wish to thank:
Hava Alberstein
Jozien Screuder
Enid Abrahami
Armand Kies
AVIS
Zafrir Kochanovski
TTV
Dani Sanderson
Ronit Kertzner
Family Netz
Eva Bodner
Eitan Ulman
Eran Litwin
Udi
Lilach Shoshani
Meir Kotler
Jos Dumont
Mohammed Akbar
"Gaya"
Ayelet Zioni, Gili "fretless" Liber
Michael Amar, Zohar Atar,
Yishay Gazit, Noam Chen
"The Drummers Circle"
Eyal Davidov
Broadcasts:
AVRO TV in The Netherlands (Channel 1) NHK in Japan TSR in Switzerland SF DRS in Switzerland NRK in Norway SVT in Sweden World Link in USA ORB in Germany ARD in Germany BNT in Bulgaria
Screenings:
De Lindberg,Nijmegen, The Netherlands, May 2000 Rialto Cinema, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, September 2000 Woodstock Film Festival, USA, September 2000 Atlanta Jewish Film Festival USA, (November 2000 Jewish Historic Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, December 2000 FIPATEL, Biarritz, France, January 2001 Monte-Carlo Television Festival, Monaco, February 2001 Winner of the URTI Grand Prix for Documentaries, Prix Arman and the Gold Medal JCC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, March 2001 Vancouver Jewish Film Festival, Canada, May 2001 Golden Prague, Czech Republic, May 2001 ArtsFilm, Slovakia, June 2001 Hong Kong Film Festival, July 2001 Atlantic City Film Festival, August 2001 Cinema Arts Center, USA, September 2001 Golden Chest Television Festival, Bulgaria, September 2001 Winner of the Grand Prix Barcelona Television Festival, Spain, November 2001 Atlantic City Film Festival, USA, 2001 Best Foreign Documentary New Paltz Synagoge, USA, February 2002 RIFF - Roma Independent Film Festival, Italy, February 2002 Winner of the First Prize Brooklyn Jewish Film Festival, USA, April 2002 Washington DC Jewish Music Film Festival, USA, May 2002 Pitsbourg Jewish Film Festival, March 2003 Golden Prague, Special Presentation, May 2003 Boston Israeli Film Festival, USA, June 2003 Jewish Film Festival of Girona in Besalœ, Spain, Special Screenings, September 2003
