 |
This 92-minute documentary is Marc Levin's firsthand exploration of resurgent anti-
Semitism in the wake of 9/11. Starting with the examination of
a long-discredited piece of 100-year-old propaganda, Levin's
film was inspired by an encounter he had in a New York taxi, in
which his driver, an Egyptian immigrant, made the disturbing
claim that Jews had been warned not to go to work at the
World Trade Center on the day of the attacks. The driver
added that "it's all written in the book," referring to The
Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a notorious forgery created 100
years ago, purporting to be the Jews' master plan to rule the
world.
Armed with his camera, Levin engages in a free-for-all
dialogue with Arab Americans, Black nationalists, Christian
evangelists, White supremacists, Kabbalist rabbis, Holocaust
survivors, and even the founder of the astonishingly popular
"Jew Watch" web site. Levin's genuinely curious, sometimes-
humorous, often-confrontational conversations combine to form
a probing and provocative portrait of our so-called modern
civilization caught in the grips of a most ancient hatred.
Discredited as a fake long ago, the book The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was a
crucial influence on Hitler, and has fueled hatred, violence
and genocide through the first half of the 20th Century.
Mark Levin discovered that today, The Protocols seems as
popular as ever - the book is sold on major web retail
sites; it was just removed from the official web site of the
Palestinian Authority; and a few years ago, a
dramatization of the book aired to great success on
Egyptian television. Deeply disturbed by this
phenomenon, Levin (who is Jewish) embarked on a
personal odyssey to learn more.
Levin is joined on part of this journey by his father Al
Levin, who is also a filmmaker. Marc, who says he never
really experienced anti-Semitism growing up, wanted to
include his father in part because of Al's parents, who
came of age in the 1930s, when anti-Semitism was much
more prevalent than it is today. The film includes several
scenes that honor Marc's grandfather, including a touching
closing visit to the grave of Levin's grandfather, who lived
by the basic philosophy that God means, "go do good."
Protocols of Zion premiered to much acclaim at the
Sundance Film Festival in January 2005, and was featured
at the Berlin Film Festival in February 2005. Variety wrote,
"Filmmaker Marc Levin fearlessly faces down his
adversaries as he strolls from one lion's den into another."
Levin and his film partner Daphne Pinkerson have
produced ten acclaimed films for HBO over the years,
including Mob Stories, Prisoners of the War on Drugs,
Execution Machine: Texas Death Row, Soldiers in the
Army of God, and Gladiator Days. Thug Life in D.C. won
the 1999 Emmy® for Outstanding Non-Fiction Special.
Gang War: Bangin' in Little Rock won the CableACE Award
for Best Documentary Special of 1994. The sequel, Back in
the Hood, premiered last summer on HBO. The team also
produced 2004's Heir to an Execution, a documentary
feature following Ivy Meeropol's journey on the 50th
anniversary of the execution of her grandparents, Julius
and Ethel Rosenberg.
Directed by Marc Levin; Produced by Marc Levin and Steve Kalafer; Co-Producer: Jennifer Tuft; Supervising Producer: Daphne Pinkerson; Executive Producer: Jeff Herr; Edited by Ken Eluto; Director of Photography: Mark Benjamin; Music by John Zorn. For Cinemax: Associate Producer: Danielle Schleif; Supervising Producer: Nancy Abraham; Executive Producer: Sheila Nevins.
|
|
|
    |
