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A feature impact documentary project, directed by Harvey Stein Produced by Jerusalem NewYork Productions To help us finish, contribute any amount here. Thanks! Will premiere globally in June, 2024 |
At a time when Israel is often misrepresented in schools, communities, and online, “Green Rebel” will help change the way people think about one of the world's most innovative and humanitarian countries…this movie will infuse people with a new sense of pride in the only Jewish country on the planet.
- Roz Rothstein, CEO, StandWithUs International
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Green Rebel
The Adventures of Kaptain Sunshine Can an ambitious American-Israeli guy living in Jerusalem bring solar generated electricity to millions in neighboring Africa? “Green Rebel – the Adventures of Kaptain Sunshine”, our feature documentary project, is an Israel/Africa story. We follow the struggles of American-Israeli solar energy visionary and impact businessman, Yossi Abramowitz - AKA “Kaptain Sunshine”, and his African partners, to provide on the ground solutions to both global climate change, and to inequality in Africa. Can they work with the power brokers of their worlds, and try to close successful business deals on solar fields costing upwards of $25 million each - without losing their souls? Our story is shot primarily in Israel, Rwanda, and Burundi. Abramowitz and his family immigrated to Israel from Boston in 2006, and soon after, Arava Power, his first Israeli solar energy company, inked the first deal to sell solar-generated electricity to Israel’s electric grid. His vision? For Israel to be a “sustainable Light unto the Nations.” Kaptain Sunshine had arrived. |
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A few years later, his company finished the first commercial scale solar field in sub-Saharan Africa (in Rwanda) – it now supplies 6% of the nation’s energy needs. Touchingly, it is situated in Agahozo Youth Village (which benefits from the sale of electricity), where several hundred orphans of Rwanda’s own genocidal war have studied and lived. Abramowitz’s Jerusalem company is now negotiating with 10 additional African countries for solar fields (everywhere from Burundi to Ethiopia to northern Nigeria).
We have been filming Abramowitz’s adventures for over five years, and have exclusive filming access to all of his activities. Our team shot video throughout Burundi in 2022 - where Abramowitz successfully finished his second African solar field last year. Burundi has tested Abramowitz and his company: can obstacles of government corruption, violence, terrorism, and entrenched energy interests be overcome – Burundi is one of Africa's poorest nations. Can Abramowitz bring solar energy to a substantial number of Africa’s 600 million people without electricity - and win the competition against the highly polluting gas and coal electric plants planned by the greedy multinational petro interests? Right now, “energy poverty” in many African countries means most schools and health clinics have no electricity. Most homes don’t either – so all cooking and lighting comes from burning wood or charcoal in the home. Such “indoor air pollution” in Burundi causes more than 10,000 deaths (mostly children) every year. And there may be no trees left in Burundi by 2040, because of the huge numbers of trees cut down yearly. Abramowitz’s work, and our movie, can be a powerful model for a major way to fight climate change globally. |
At the Rwanda solar field
w. Sarah Silverman, his wife Susan Silverman, & Shimon Peres
A Burundian family cooks by indoor fire
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About half of our story is shot in Africa (the remainder in Israel and the United States), showing Abramowitz in action, courting allies there by appealing to common spiritual/religious values. We also feature local supporting characters, such as a mother struggling, like mothers everywhere, to feed her children and keep them happy and healthy in such primitive conditions – how might her life be affected by a simple thing like the arrival of electricity?
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Abramowitz talks about Golda Meir visiting five African countries, in 1958, and that she later wrote:
“Independence had come to us, as it was coming to Africa, not served up on a silver platter, but after years of struggle.” And he regularly quotes Ben Gurion, “The largest source of energy in our world, a source so unused by man – is the sun.” |
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With Bono at the Rwanda solar field, 2015
With Zambian bishop Scott Mwanza
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At home in Israel, Abramowitz and his wife’s children include two adopted Ethiopian sons. An additional supporting character will be his wife, Rabbi Susan Silverman – “Green Rebel” director Stein documented her well-known struggle for women to be able to pray at the Western Wall).
Comedian Sarah Silverman, Susan's sister, has agreed to contribute a cameo on climate change - she has already made several comedy shorts on the subject. Another friend of Abramowitz's, singer Neshama Carlebach, will contribute two songs to the "Green Rebel" soundtrack. And we are now in talks with several well-known African-American Jewish actors to possibly do our narration, and appear in several scenes. Africa boasts 11 out of the 20 fastest-growing economies on the planet, has 700 million cell phones, and its billion-plus population will double by 2050. Can Abramowitz be the on target “impact businessman” whose business chutzpah helps make a better world? Can he successfully work with the power brokers of his world – including assorted African ex-dictators – without losing his soul? |
Our ultimate goal: a powerful impact film. We plan to premiere "Green Rebel" globally in December, 2023. We will not only show it in theaters worldwide and on streaming services, but also bring it directly to hundreds of schools and universities, houses of worship, non-profits, corporations, green conferences, and elsewhere. These impact screenings – most followed with discussions – are designed to educate and inspire about Jewish social change and fighting the climate crisis. These events (available via Zoom and in person) will include participation by “Green Rebel” director Harvey Stein, and often, by Abramowitz himself. We are creating an engaging Discussion Guide, adaptable for anything from a single event, to an in-depth workshop of several sessions. It will be a tool to use our impact screenings to train community and campus leaders, who will be able to tailor their impact events to their own specific communities and community goals.This movie invites maximum participation – you are welcome to contact us with any questions, or if you are interested in hosting a future impact screening event, email us at: [email protected]
The ”Green Rebel” preview I saw paints a picture that is both humorous and very uplifting, and ultimately transforms audiences in their connection to both Israel and Africa.
- Rabbi Riqi Kosovske, Beit Ahavah Synagogue, Greater Northampton, MA
- Rabbi Riqi Kosovske, Beit Ahavah Synagogue, Greater Northampton, MA
Director Harvey Stein’s recent Times of Israel blog post:
Kaptain Sunshine, Builder of Almost Impossible Bridges
Kaptain Sunshine, Builder of Almost Impossible Bridges
BIOGRAPHIES of key members of our team:
Harvey Stein (director, producer) is an Israeli-American filmmaker/teacher from New York City, now living in Jerusalem, where his impact film company, Jerusalem New York Productions (http://www.jerusalemny.com) is based. His last feature documentary, “A Third Way - Settlers and Palestinians as Neighbors”, about Rabbi Menachem Froman (the notorious “settler rabbi for peace”), Ali Abu Awwad, and others, has been shown extensively in impact screenings in both in the United States and Western Europe. It has also been shown in multiple Jewish Film Festivals.
Vered Post (producer, co-writer) is an Israeli-American producer, writer and educator. She co-produced Stein's last documentary, "A Third Way", including supervising the impact campaign. She has co-written several Israeli feature films, was a co-writer for the original Israeli/Palestinian Sesame Street, and has presented a variety of workshops using films and filmmaking, in Israeli schools and other institutions, as well in New York State.
Kid-Fleury Ineza (Burundi producer) - lives in Bujumbura, Burundi, where he is a member of both ATSA Creative (a production company) and PNUD Burundi (an NGO dedicated to sustainable development in Burundi). Kid-Fleury considers himself a descendant of the Jews who migrated south from Ethiopia many centuries ago. He is very happy to be working on “Green Rebel”, and helping tell the story of green development in Burundi.
Jeff Turboff (co-editor) is a multi-award-winning veteran freelance editor, who has worked in many areas, including documentary, narrative, TV/news, and music videos. His awards include five Emmy, one Peabody, and one Genesis award. His last feature documentary was “Modworld”. His last feature narrative was the award-winning drama, "The Pack" (a.k.a. "Smoking/Non-Smoking") starring Lucie Arnaz. His music video (that he both shot and edited) "Fools Parade" by Trumpeter Swan, garnered immense press, due in part to his early use of iPhoneography.
Alan Stone (Impact Producer) lives in Jerusalem, Israel, and has been working extensively with Jerusalem New York Productions since 2012. He focused on the Jerusalem New York Productions impact screening tour of "A Third Way - Settlers and Palestinians as Neighbors" - which has had over 100 impact screenings in the United States, Western Europe, and in Israel.
Investor inquiries welcome. Business Plan available.
We are also looking for organizational partners to get involved now, and to host impact screening events when our film is finished, in late 2023. Email us for more info.
CONTACT:
Email: [email protected]
Phone/WhatsApp: 972-50-212-8132
