Bethlehem News

Bethlehem bows in Germany

After an incredibly successful run in Israel, where it was the top local film in 2013, Bethlehem is now coming to cinemas in Germany. Director Yuval Adler and Co-Writer Ali Waked presented the film to full houses at premieres in Cologne, Hamburg and Berlin before the national release on January 9th. The first German reviews are overwhelmingly positive: 'powerful and authentic' - Der Spiegel, 'stark and gripping' - die Welt, 'gripping and nuanced' - Hamburger Morgenpost, 'brilliant' - der Tagesspiegel.

Bethlehem is the Israeli submission to the Oscars

Bethlehem is the Israeli submission for the 2014 foreign-langauge Oscar^®, having won the Israeli Academy Award, or Ophir, for Best Film from the Israeli Film Academy. At the awards ceremony in Haifa on September 28th, Bethlehem won six Ophirs, including Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, Best Editing, and Best Casting - as well as Best Film - from a total of 12 nominations. Previously, Bethlehem also won Best Film and Best Actor at the Haifa Film Festival.

Bethlehem premieres at the Venice Film Festival, winning Venice Days

Bethlehem has crowned off its world premiere at the 70th Venice Film Festival by winning the prize for the Best Film in the Venice Days section. The winner was announced by the Federation of Film Critics of Europe and the Mediterranean (FEDEORA). Following the Venice premiere on 30th August, Bethlehem has celebrated its North American premiere at the Telluride Film Festival before screening in the Discovery section of the Toronto Film Festival.

Bethlehem wraps, WestEnd takes on international sales

Congratulations to director Yuval Adler, who has now finished shooting on Bethlehem, his political thriller about an Israeli intelligence officer and his teenage Palestinian informer amidst the violence and terror of the occupied West Bank. In the meantime, London-based sales agent WestEnd has come on board, and will begin international sales shortly.

Bethlehem shoot begins in the West Bank and Israel

All our best wishes to director Yuval Adler, who has just begun shooting on his debut feature Bethlehem in Israel and the West Bank from the fantastic script he wrote together with Arab-Israeli journalist Ali Waked. GRINGO is co-producing alongside Entre Chien Et Loup’s Diana Elbaum and Pie Film Limited’s Talia Kleinhendler (Ajami, Human Resources Manager).

Production Support for Bethlehem

The Film und Medien Stiftung has come on board GRINGO’s latest international co-production, Bethlehem, investing €99,720 in production finance. Portraying an Israeli intelligence officer’s desperate attempts to keep his teenage Palestinian informant on-side amidst the terror and violence of the occupied West Bank, Bethlehem is written jointly by director Yuval Adler and journalist Ali Waked. Serving members of both the Israeli secret services and the Palestinian Al-Aqsa Brigades acted as consultants on the screenplay. Bethlehem is a co-production with Pie Films Ltd (Israel) and Entre Chien Et Loup (Belgium). German theatrical and DVD rights have been picked up by RealFiction.