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Idol Smasher, Monopoly Buster The Jewish path of Yossi Abramowitz, solar energy pioneer A feature documentary impact film project |
HELP US MAKE OUR MOVIE
Help us reach our fundraising goal for this phase: $8000
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"Idol Smasher, Monopoly Buster" will follow the visionary struggle of Yossi Abramowitz (aka "Kaptain Sunshine") to provide innovative, on the ground solutions to both climate change and inequality.
Yossi and family moved from Boston to Israel in 2006. After his company was the first to bring commercial solar-generated electricity to Israel, Yossi turned to the needs of Africa (where 600 million people live without any electricity, and many of the others use diesel-generated electricity, the most polluting way to generate it.) His solar company finished the first solar field in East Africa, in Rwanda - it now supplies 6% of the nation’s energy needs. Touchingly, it is situated in Agohozo Youth Village, where several hundred orphans of Rwanda’s own genocidal war study and live (and where the Youth Village profits from electricity sales). He asserts that Israel does not have more solar now because, "they're intoxicated with the gas" - the trillion dollar price tag of the offshore Israeli natural gas". And he knows that in Africa, the fossil fuels industry also reigns king. How to dance around the monopolies, and show the way to a future of sustainable energy? Yossi and his wife, Rabbi Susan Silverman, are also activists for women to be able to pray freely at Israel’s Western Wall (as he says, “Disruptive theologies and disruptive technologies are both idol smashers, and they’re both monopoly busters.” We will follow Abramowitz as his company tries to ink deals (and break ground) in more African nations, as he and his teams Our movie will ask, Can Abramowitz ruthlessly promote his solar energy company, working with the power brokers of his world (from Trump and Netanyahu, to assorted African leaders and ex-dictators) - and still maintain his goal, as he simply calls it, of “doing good”? “Idol Smasher, Monopoly Buster” will be both an intimate, human-level family story; and an international tale of finely-honed, business chutzpah, working very hard to ink multimillion dollar deals in the service of clean, sustainable energy production from the sun. What we need funds for now We have been filming Yossi's activities for about a year. Late this October, he will be a pivotal player in the "Africa-Israel Summit" in Togo - attended by at least 25 African heads of state, along with African, North American, European, and Israeli private sector leaders (as well as Netanyahu). Abramowitz will be there pitching more solar fields to African clients, continuing to bring his image of Israel as a "sustainable Light unto the Nations" to Israel's African neighbors. This funding will allow us to be there all week in Togo with Abramowitz, documenting his activities, as well as his private reflections and other moments. We will follow several of his African partners as well. Then we will return to Jerusalem to edit this footage into our story. We will also start building bridges with many organizations in North America and Europe: synagogues and churches, universities and schools, corporations and non-profits - who will gradually become part of our "impact community", and who will host impact screening events when we finish our film in late 2018. Our vision and plan: The innovative new area of "impact filmmaking" is designed to Movie finished by late, 2018. Impact screenings in xyz....in the U.S.A., Movie are a changer.... Thanks for your energy to our project! As it is said in the Talmud (don't ask for exact citation), "It takes a village to make an independent movie." 
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Contribution Levels and Awards:
$10 - thank you on website...or postcard mailed to you... $25 - $50 (plus $10 postage and handing, total = $60) - digital download + $100 $250 $500 - all the above?? $1000 - All the above, plus an invitation to a Private Screening of our movie, either in Jerusalem or New York City. $2500 - All the above, plus on-screen credit as "Associate Producer" in our movie 
Who We Are: 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. Gidi Avivi (producer) is an Israeli film producer, the founder of Vice Versa Films (http://www.viceversa.co.il). For more than 20 years, Avivi has produced successful Israeli feature documentary and fiction films, and TV series, many of which have been co-productions with other countries. His 2014 film, ”East Jerusalem, West Jerusalem,” which followed the making of Israeli pop star and peace activist David Broza's hit album of the same name, is now streaming on Netflix. Vered Post (co-writer, outreach facilitator) is an Israeli-American writer and educator. She co-wrote an Israeli feature film, 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. |