Jerusalem, Take One!

Alan Rosenthal presents a behind-the-scenes look at the life of a documentary filmmaker. Rosenthal has made over 60 films, including Day of Peace, Out of the Ashes and A Nation is Born, and through this, he has witnessed much of Israeli history over the last part of the 20th century. Rosenthal studied law at Oxford before beginning his work in television directing. In the 1960s he was part of a team invited by the Israeli government to set up the first television network there, and here he stayed for more than 30 years. Over this period, the Eichmann trial, the Oslo Agreement, the search for the menorah from the Second Temple, the Yom Kippur war and Project Renewal are but a few of the moments of Israeli history that Rosenthal and his camera have witnessed. In this text, he recalls these events with humour and wit, but Rosenthal himself is the true subject of this intensely personal history.