We seek funding in the amount of $500,000 for the film production of HOW HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM. This proposal answers questions posed by a Foundation whose goal is to cultivate a better world.
WHAT IS THE PROBLEM YOU ARE SEEKING TO ADDRESS--SCOPE, SIGNIFICANCE, IMPACT?
The need to reconcile Israelis and Palestinians, and to dissolve the death-grip in which each is held by the other. My heart breaks as I see majorities of good people on both sides longing for peace for decades, yet unable to achieve it for generations. The scope, significance and impact of this problem are now so great, not only for those immediately involved, but for the entire world, that it is not possible to exaggerate its importance. Humanity is truly in the balance. My proposal is no grand solution; but a distinct work that will help, and will answer “What can I do?” in a world and a time that needs all of our best efforts.
RELEVANT TO THE ABOVE PROBLEM, WHAT SPECIFIC CHANGES ARE YOU SEEKING TO BRING ABOUT?
When I was asked to write a play about this conflict, I said “Impossible.” A drama must move its whole audience together, and make them one. A play about this intractable struggle always becomes a debate, and as a debate, divides people, and both sides are right, both sides are wrong, each with his claims and grievances going back forever, like shackles that will forever lock-down their future.
How could a simple play make them forget, let go, and come to know to their core that the only way forward is together. Could I write a story that would bring both sides into the same space, and let them experience all of life’s possibilities, let them be joyful, and let them weep…together? So they could leave that space with new hope, new compassion, and a fresh determination to resolve their peoples’ conflict.
This is the recurring change I seek. Huge, but also human. And needed, beyond words, desperately. And it cannot happen until we begin to try.
WHAT ARE THE ACTIVITIES YOU WISH TO CARRY OUT FOR WHICH YOU ARE SEEKING FUNDING?
I wrote a play in which two young enemies intersect on a terrifying day, and, each learning the heart of the other, change their world. And it worked. Many more requests to hear this play, especially by groups working for peace, dialogue, and reconciliation, in scattered locations, led me to recreate it as a screenplay. To maximize its reach, ease, and economy of access for people everywhere, The ABRAHAM FILM PROJECT is seeking funding for the production of How His Bride Came to Abraham as a feature film, to be shot during five weeks in Fall of 2007.
Joining the celebrated Israeli and Palestinian actors, Amir Babayoff and Maya Serhan, who perform Abraham, will be cinematographer Nara Garber and Palestinian/American director Muhammed Rum of Topiary Production’s award-winning feature JIHAD! Howard S. Shulman Productions will produce, while Israelis Yahel Herzog and Yuval Sussler of Open Windows Productions continue to shoot their documentary PLAYING PEACE, that chronicles the journey of Amir and Maya at work on Abraham; and Phil Lee of Full House Productions completes his radio-drama version of Abraham with the same artists.
WHY DO YOU BELIEVE YOUR EFFORTS, IF SUCCESSFUL, WILL ACHIEVE THE CHANGES YOU OUTLINED ABOVE ?
Is it foolish to imagine a film can inspire opposed peoples with compassion for the other? Perhaps. But simple human stories, when they grab the heart, can empower the will and alter the soul for a lifetime. All Quiet on the Western Front is my touchstone. I believe Abraham will do its work because of the clear way it was given; it poured through me in a more powerful rush than anything I’ve ever written. And I believe because of the extraordinary talents and humanitarians who’ve clustered around it, and give me courage. And I believe because I have seen it work, seen it shake audiences profoundly, and fill their hearts – both Israelis and Palestinians have stood weeping while they thanked me; at a 10AM matinee in New Jersey, packed with rowdy muli-ethnic high-schoolers, with front rows of gray-haired retirees, where all sat riveted and breathless, together. A college class at the University of Massachusetts surprised me by identifying so strongly with the characters in Abraham that it drew them into complex discussions of international issues they’d suddenly discovered. Twice the Israel/Palestinian Working Group has requested readings of Abraham at the United Nations Quaker House neutral sanctuary for private diplomatic discussions. Twice Abraham has been published. I have written many plays and screenplays on social, cultural, and cross-cultural topics, but no project has ever felt so essential. The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs called Abraham “a force for reconciliation;” Plays International called it “one of the most powerful anti-war plays ever penned.” No company of actors can take Abraham everywhere. But their film can.
WHAT CRITERIA WOULD YOU USE TO EVALUATE THE EXTENT TO WHICH YOU HAVE ACHIEVED YOUR GOALS?
Of course, the criteria for evaluating the achievements of a film are multiple – is it popular, is it artistically of a high order, does it last – and I believe all these criteria are relevant to the likihood of achieving my goals. If the film of Abraham is not artistically of a high order, though it could become loved, even popular, for its story, it will always fall short of the full achievement it could have had. If it is as affecting as it seems likely to be, then it will appeal to people of all ages and kinds, and they will tell other people, and the numbers of people who choose to see it, and share it, is my bottom line criteria. And if it is true – to the way humans feel, and to values they share – and it also achieves a high mark artistically, then…it will also last.
In the short run, I would sit with every audience I could, and listen to their talk afterwards – for at first they will be stunned, silent, and then they will want to talk. If I could not be there, I would ask others to listen. More important than their talk is how they behave – is their emotion apparent, do they seem softer, more compassionate? Those on the fringe, who still want to fight, may argue one side or the other – but them I’d ask about the characters, for they will remember how much they were engaged, and realize Abraham has touched them.
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