The Price of Kings | |
---|---|
Directed by | Joanna Natasegara Richard Symons |
Written by | Joanna Natasegara Richard Symons |
Produced by | Joanna Natasegara Richard Symons |
Narrated by | Helena Bonham Carter |
Cinematography | Jake Corbett |
Music by | Tom McFarland Stuart Briner |
Distributed by | Spirit Level Film |
Language | English |
The Price of Kings is a projected twelve-part feature-length documentary film series directed by Joanna Natasegara and Richard Symons. [1] Each film focuses on the life and leadership of a specific world leader. [2] The first film in the series, Yasser Arafat, released in 2011. [3]
The first film in the series focuses on the legacy of the late President of Palestine, Yasser Arafat. Featuring extensive and personal interviews with the people who knew the leader best, most notably with his wife Suha Arafat, the film chronicles Arafat's life from his birth to his mysterious death in a Paris hospital in 2004. [4]
The Price of Kings: Yasser Arafat was released in January 2012.
The second film in the series focuses on the life of the ex-President of Israel, Shimon Peres. Based on interviews with President Peres, his family, friends, colleagues and opponents, the film reveals some of the major events which occurred during Shimon Peres' six decades as an Israeli politician. [5]
The Price of Kings: Shimon Peres was released in March 2012.
The third film in the series focuses on the story of the little-known ex-President of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias Sanchez. Centering on frank and illuminating conversations with Arias himself, his daughter, brother, former colleagues and critics, the film reveals how Arias gained immense popularity in his home country after bringing peace to Central America through the Esquipulas Peace Agreement and then squandered his success by running as President for a second term from 2006 to 2010. [6]
The Price of Kings: Oscar Arias was released in November 2012.
Critical reception for the first film was mostly positive. [13] The Hollywood Reporter praised Yasser Arafat as being "[an] engrossingly edited, celebratory view of PLO leader Yasser Arafat’s personal sacrifices during his political career". [14]
Yasser Arafat, also popularly known by his kunya Abu Ammar, was a Palestinian political leader. He was chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969 to 2004 and president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) from 1994 to 2004. Ideologically an Arab nationalist and a socialist, Arafat was a founding member of the Fatah political party, which he led from 1959 until 2004.
Shimon Peres was an Israeli politician and statesman who served as the eighth prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the ninth president of Israel from 2007 to 2014. He was a member of twelve cabinets and represented five political parties in a political career spanning 70 years. Peres was elected to the Knesset in November 1959 and except for three months out of office in early 2006, served as a member of the Knesset continuously until he was elected president in 2007. Serving in the Knesset for 48 years, Peres is the longest serving member in the Knesset's history. At the time of his retirement from politics in 2014, he was the world's oldest head of state and was considered the last link to Israel's founding generation.
Yasser Arafat, who was the President of the Palestinian National Authority and Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, died unexpectedly on 11 November 2004, 75 years of age, after a short period of illness. The cause of his death has since been debated, and several different theories concerning it have been suggested. However, official investigations by French and Russian teams did not find evidence of foul play.
Jalloul "Chico" Bouchikhi is a French musician and a co-founder of the Gipsy Kings. After leaving the band in 1991, he formed his own group, Chico & the Gypsies.
Leon Charney was an American real estate tycoon, attorney, author, philanthropist, political pundit, media personality and Jewish cantor. He lived in Manhattan in New York City, dividing his time between his residences in Tel Aviv and Boca Raton, Florida. In March 2012, Forbes listed Charney as No. 353 among the wealthiest Americans. He was a graduate of Yeshiva University where he participated in demonstrations to free Soviet Jewry, and Brooklyn Law School.
Persona Non Grata is a 2003 documentary film directed by Oliver Stone for the HBO series America Undercover about the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. It is a highly personal journey in occupied Palestinian territories, including interviews of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, Israeli Prime Ministers Ehud Barak and Benjamin Netanyahu, but also of Hamas and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades militants.
MohammedTaki Mehdi, commonly M. T. Mehdi was an Arab-American based in New York, was one of the earliest pro-Palestinian activists in the United States, and firm in his defense of the Palestinian cause. He held debates on television and radio with many supporters of Israel, including the rabbi Meir Kahane. He said Sirhan acted justifiably in his assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. He died of cardiac arrest at Bellevue Hospital in 1998.
Leon Jacques Gast was an American documentary film director, producer, cinematographer, and editor. His documentary, When We Were Kings depicts the iconic heavyweight boxing match: The Rumble in the Jungle between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. This film would go on to win the 1996 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and the Independent Spirit Award. Gast co-directed the 1977 documentary, The Grateful Dead Movie with guitarist Jerry Garcia. The film captured the band's October 1974, five-night performance at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. Gast also co-directed the 1983 film Hell's Angels Forever, which focused on the notorious motorcycle club Hells Angels. The Angels are believed to have learned that Gast put material in the documentary which they didn't prefer. To this end, Gast claimed that the Angels tracked him down and beat him up. Gast also produced works on B.B. King and Celia Cruz.
Leslie Iwerks is an American producer, director, and writer. She is daughter of Disney Legend Don Iwerks and granddaughter of Disney Legend Ub Iwerks, the animator and co-creator of Mickey Mouse and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. She has directed films including Recycled Life which was nominated for an Academy Award and The Pixar Story which was nominated for an Emmy for best nonfiction special.
Nurit Kedar is an Israeli producer and director of documentary films.
Matthew Kalman is the co-author, with Matt Rees, of The Murder of Yasser Arafat, published in January 2013.
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Sławomir Grünberg is a Polish-born naturalized American documentary producer, director and cameraman.
Clayton E. Swisher is an American former journalist and author, who now works as a geopolitical risk analyst. Formerly the Director of Investigative Journalism for the Al Jazeera Media Network in Doha, Qatar, he now heads Swisher Empirical Studies LLC, headquartered in Doha.
The Prime Ministers: An Intimate Narrative of Israeli Leadership is a 2010 book written by Yehuda Avner and published by Toby Press. It documented events related to 4 Israeli prime ministers—Levi Eshkol, Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin and Menachem Begin. It was first published in Israel on 15 March 2010 and a wider publication was done on 1 September 2010. The book was well received by critics and was one of the finalists for the 2010 National Jewish Book Awards. In 2013, Moriah Films, the film division of the Simon Wiesenthal Center produced a two-part documentary based on the book that features Avner as the narrator, and Hollywood actors as the voices of Israel's prime ministers.
Joanna Natasegara is an English film director and producer. She produced Virunga (2014) and The White Helmets (2016), for which she received nominations for Academy Award in the categories of Best Documentary Feature and Best Documentary, respectively; she won the latter. Both nominations were shared with director Orlando von Einsiedel. She also worked on The Price of Kings, a documentary film series with each film focusing on a specific world leader.
Henrique Cymerman Benarroch is a Portuguese journalist of Israeli and Spanish origin who works as a correspondent in the Middle East for SIC, La Vanguardia and Mediaset España, among others. He works in five languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Hebrew. He is the President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry between Israel and The GCC.
Osama Silwadi is a Palestinian photojournalist, visual storyteller, archivist and folklorist. He started his professional career in 1991. During the first Palestinian Intifada, he faced difficulties and challenges and was in danger as he worked in the conflict areas. In October 2006, Osama was seriously injured by a stray bullet during a march in the center of Ramallah, which resulted in paralysis of the lower limbs. Silwadi has won titles inspired by his work in documenting the Palestinian heritage, including "The Eye of Palestine" and the "Palestinian Heritage documentor".
Moriah Films is the Jack and Pearl Resnick Film Division of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
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