Documentaries on Right-Wing Israeli Leaders, Global Adoption Scandal Score Pre-Sales for Java Films (EXCLUSIVE)
Global crises and a scandal of international proportions are among the hot topics attracting documentary buyers ahead of the Unifrance Rendez-Vous TV market in Le Havre, where Java Films is presenting a compelling and timely lineup.
Set against the backdrop of Israel’s destruction of Gaza that followed Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, “Israel: Ministers of Chaos” focuses on the most right-wing government in Israel’s history and the two men who embody its most radical initiatives, national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich.
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Commissioned by Arte, Java has pre-sold “Israel: Ministers of Chaos” to Spain’s TV3 and expects to confirm more sales in the coming weeks.
The film, directed by Jér?me Sesquin and Nitzan Perelman and produced by Yuzu Productions, examines the impactful roles Ben-Gvir and Smotrich have had in Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, in deepening the internal divisions of Israeli society and in leading the country towards its most dire existential threat since its establishment in 1948.
Followers of once marginal extremist ideologies, Kahanism and religious Zionism, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich now champion an ideological agenda that includes the imposition of Jewish supremacist legislation and re-founding biblical Israel with the annexation of Gaza, the West Bank and beyond, from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea.
“We’re proud to be continuing our longstanding collaboration with Yuzu after the release of ‘Tax Wars’ and ‘The Click Trap’ earlier this year,” said Kathryn Bonnici, Java’s head of acquisitions and development.
Java is also launching “Haiti: The Iron Grip of the Gangs,” directed by Catherine Norris Trent and Roméo Langlois for France24.
In Port-au-Prince, armed groups now control more than 80% of the city, where nearly 3 million people are living in the grips of all-out gang war. Shooting the film “under truly exceptional circumstances,” in and around the Haitian capital, the filmmakers spoke to many of the residents held hostage by the ongoing crisis as well as to Jimmy Chérizier, the notorious spokesman of a powerful gang alliance known as Viv Ansamn.
Instead of fighting each other, the armed groups have united and turned their firepower on the state, forcing Prime Minister Ariel Henry to resign during an overseas trip in March.
“Haiti: The Iron Grip of the Gangs” is Java’s second title from France24 after “Your Face is Ours: The Dangers of Facial Recognition,” which it acquired last year.
Java has scored a number of pre-sales for “International Adoptions: A Global Scandal” from Tangerine Productions and filmmakers Sonia Gonzalez and Christine Tournadre.
The film looks at the plight of many of the more than a million “orphans” from around the world who were adopted by Western families over the past 60 years who have since discovered their pasts were lies.
“From the children who were stolen from their mothers during the Pinochet dictatorship to Africa’s fake orphans, international adoption is at the heart of an unprecedented scandal,” Java noted.
The film follows investigative journalists, activists and researchers in South Korea, Sweden, France, Chile, Germany, Holland and Switzerland as they try to find out how this colossal, lucrative market has continued to prosper. “Even today, women are still being manipulated, threatened or tricked into giving up babies – often with the blessing of government authorities,” the distributor added.
Java has pre-sold “International Adoptions: A Global Scandal” to Switzerland’s RTS; RTBF and DPG Media in Belgium; and Poland’s TVP.
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