Lights, Camera, Zionism. That’s the way to get Israel’s message out to the world, says Nati Dinnar, president of the Israel Entertainment Fund and founder and CEO of IZZY TV, an Israeli entertainment streaming library.
And it’s also being used as a tool to drive economic growth in Israel’s south, creating a Van Nuys in the Negev.
Dinnar was among those in the Israeli entertainment field who gathered at last month’s Jewish National Fund-USA’s Global Conference for Israel in Hollywood, Fla. The impetus was the screening of the world premiere of “Red Alert” (Israeli title: “First Light”), a four-part television series depicting Israeli civilian heroes during Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel.
But, the larger message was that while Israel is losing the public relations battle globally, its entertainment exports, like “Fauda” and “Tehran,” are more well-received.
“Israel possesses such a wealth of stories and cultures, but we get overwhelmed by the stereotypes and by negative news around the world,” Dinnar told JNS. “Everyone else is seeing less than 2% of what’s really going on in Israel. And for us, it’s important to show positive stories, from innovation to agriculture to the wine industry to the things that we are really doing.”
Last year, Dinnar partnered with JNF-USA on a multi-million-dollar Israel Entertainment Fund to encourage more Israeli TV and film production, with a special commitment to the “Gaza Envelope,” which was devastated on Oct. 7.
“It allows us to create, free of the political pressure” that can come with government funding and can hamper creativity, Dinnar said.
Ofer Hefetz, JNF-USA business development director, said, more than that, “I think that we can bring the Jewish mind and brilliancy into fields that are not high-tech, and we want to show it through TV and through documentaries, from our judo Olympic team, to the watermelons and the date that we’re growing in the desert.”
Hefetz said the entertainment fund matches JNF-USA’s mission to propel growth in Israel’s periphery.
“We don’t build projects. We build vision,” Hefetz said. “Everything that we do should serve the vision of economic and population growth.”
Southern identity
That brings the story to Sapir College, in the northwestern Negev, near Sderot. Sapir is known for its School of Audio and Visual Arts and its involvement in movie production through its degree programs and other initiatives.
The school places an emphasis on Israel’s southern identity.
“Sapir College has a lot of movie and TV students, and we want to help them not only to go through the process during school, but also afterward, to show the place that they’re living in,” Hefetz told JNS. By doing that, and by investing in TV series or documentaries that are being shot in the South, we are investing a lot of money, and bringing a lot of money into the circle of the community.”
Hefetz pointed to a TV series shot recently in the region that brought around a $400,000 local impact, including salaries for things such as security and catering.
“We are trying to help to create more job opportunities, to enlarge the income for the whole population. When you are moving a whole cast of people down south, now you have many more people that are connected, employed, and that’s what you are trying to do,” he said.
Dinnar said that since the fund kicked off, international movie and TV professionals have been reaching out, “and they want to collaborate with us, because they want us to bring them into Israel and help them not only subsidize their production, but also help them to create these scenes in the South, to work with them, so they won’t have any barriers here.”
But how much affection can the desert really attract? Hefetz told JNS there are a few things particularly attractive to film professionals.
“You have to remember the desert in Israel is small. In different countries, when you go to the desert, you have to drive for hours each way,” Hefetz said. “We live in the Israeli desert, and we are growing communities here, and it means that you can shoot right next to where you’re staying,” thereby reducing travel costs and time.
Israel also has the added benefit (and burden) of being a Jewish state, dealing with an industry heavily represented by Jews.
Hefetz told JNS that the Israel Entertainment Fund advisory board drew big names, garnering support by association from Hollywood producers.
“I think that this is the time for these people to take a stand, to join us, to support us, because this is our chance,” Hefetz said. “We need our call to be heard, and this journey so far, even though it’s been short, it’s extraordinary.”
