{"id":14643,"date":"2015-09-11T00:24:04","date_gmt":"2015-09-11T07:24:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=14643"},"modified":"2015-09-09T14:47:35","modified_gmt":"2015-09-09T21:47:35","slug":"nuclear-comedy-to-be-a-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2015\/09\/11\/nuclear-comedy-to-be-a-hit\/","title":{"rendered":"Nuclear comedy to be a hit?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Atomic Falafel<\/em> poster. (photo from <\/em>Atomic Falafel PR via israel21c.org)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

While world headlines focused on the landmark Iranian nuclear deal, an enormous billboard outside a Tel Aviv building announcing the upcoming opening of an Iranian embassy in Israel in August had the local social media community wondering whether it was an art installation, an anonymous peace group\u2019s campaign or someone\u2019s idea of a joke.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
The billboard announcement that had Tel Avivians talking. (photo from <\/em>Atomic Falafel PR via israel21c.org)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Hebrew billboard included pictures of the two countries\u2019 flags, a local phone number and the text: \u201cOpening here soon \u2013 embassy of Iran in Israel.\u201d It was erected at Rabin Square, the favored site for political peace rallies.<\/p>\n

The mystery was solved in the last days of August by the people behind the sign. It was a public-relations stunt to drum up publicity for the new Israeli comedy Atomic Falafel<\/em>, a madcap film about a nuclear conflict between Israel and Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cA satirical comedy mocking ultra-militarism\u201d is how producer Avraham Pirchi explained the film, which was scheduled to open in Israel on Sept. 10.<\/p>\n

Atomic Falafel<\/em> is the latest from director Dror Shaul, winner of the 2007 Sundance World Cinema Jury Prize for his semi-autobiographical film Sweet Mud. It tells the story of two girls \u2013 one in Israel, one in Iran \u2013 who spill their countries\u2019 most valuable secrets on Facebook to prevent a nuclear crisis. The movie pits a wifi-connected younger generation against old-school warmongers in an effort to stop a preemptive Israeli attack on Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeenagers around the world today are much more similar than different to each other. They dress the same, listen to the same music and are not really interested in wars. I hope that the sane, logical side of Israel and the world will overcome the irresponsible one, and that my little boy born just two weeks after the end of shooting will be rewarded with a safe future,\u201d said Shaul.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we started to make Atomic Falafel<\/em>, we didn\u2019t know we would be releasing the film when Iran\u2019s nuclear power would be so relevant. But that\u2019s what\u2019s happened,\u201d Pirchi told variety.com, adding that the film is \u201cpro-peace and optimistic.\u201d<\/p>\n

The film is co-produced by New Zealand\u2019s General Film Corp. and Germany\u2019s Arden Film, Getaway Pictures and Jooyaa Film. It stars Israeli actors including Shai Avivi, Mali Levy, Yossi Marshak and Zohar Strauss, as well as Germany\u2019s Alexander Fehling (Inglourious Basterds<\/em>).<\/p>\n

\"screenshot<\/a>
Tara Melter, a German actress of Iranian descent who plays a supporting role in the film, raps the soundtrack\u2019s title track, \u201cHitchki<\/a>.\u201d (screenshot)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tara Melter, a German actress of Iranian descent who plays a supporting role in Atomic Falafel<\/em>, raps the soundtrack\u2019s title track, \u201cHitchki.\u201d The song, composed by Bahar Henschel, is addictive.<\/p>\n

Production company United Channel Movies (UCM) announced on Facebook that Atomic Falafel<\/em> has all the makings of a hit, citing that the movie\u2019s trailer (in Hebrew only) racked up more than 100,000 views in its first two hours online. UCM says it is in talks with international agents to secure wide distribution of the movie following its Israel release.<\/p>\n

Israel21C<\/strong> is a nonprofit educational foundation with a mission to focus media and public attention on the 21st-century Israel that exists beyond the conflict. For more, or to donate, visit israel21c.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Atomic Falafel poster. (photo from Atomic Falafel PR via israel21c.org) While world headlines focused on the landmark Iranian nuclear deal, an enormous billboard outside a Tel Aviv building announcing the upcoming opening of an Iranian embassy in Israel in August had the local social media community wondering whether it was an art installation, an anonymous […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[787],"tags":[4547,4553,4552,4550,2462,4330,2463,4551,4549,4548],"class_list":["post-14643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv-film","tag-atomic-bomb","tag-avraham-pirchi","tag-dror-shaul","tag-hitchki","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-nuclear","tag-tara-melter","tag-ucm","tag-united-channel-movies"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}