In 2008, we were commissioned by Six Point Films, the production company of entrepreneur Phil Blazer and Academy-Award winning Producer Branko Lustig (Schindler's List, Gladiator) to a pen a historical script entitled "Falasha". "Falasha" told the true story of a complex and charismatic man, French explorer Jacques Faitlovitch, and how he "discovered" the black Jews of Abyssinia, whom he believed to be the Lost Children of Zion. Faitlovitch was a provocative figure, and his story raised a lot of interesting questions about colonialism, adventurism and Jewish identity.
But instead of exploring the political elements, we sought to construct a deeply spiritual and religious film. One that was always on level with the orthodox ideologies of our protagonist.
Unfortunately, after a year of research, writing and editing, the script was done, but the financing (a co-production of Israel and Ethiopia) suddenly dropped amidst the global financial crisis.
We'd already grown so close to this world however - the world of turn of the century Africa, and the place of the European colonialist within it - that we wanted to do something to bring our imaginings to life.
I thusly present our next short-film project --
"Look Not at the Mountains!"
