JFI 2020 Completion Grant Awardee
West Coast Premiere
Millions of American Evangelicals are praying for the State of Israel. Among them are the Binghams, a dynasty of Kentucky pastors, and their Evangelical congregants in an impoverished coal mining town. They donate sacrificially to Israel’s foremost philanthropic organization, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, because they fervently believe the Jews are crucial to Jesus’s return. This film traces this unusual relationship, from rural Kentucky to the halls of government in Washington, through the moving of the American Embassy in Jerusalem and to the annexation plan of the West-Bank. With unparalleled access, the film exposes a stunning backstory of the Trump and Netanyahu administrations, where financial, political and messianic motivations intersect with the apocalyptic worldview that is insistently reshaping American foreign policy toward Israel and the Middle-East.
Recipient of an inaugural JFI Completion Grant
This film is geoblocked to the United States
Maya Zinshtein is an Emmy award winning Israeli documentary filmmaker and journalist with a BA in Cinema and French studies and an MA in Security and Diplomacy from Tel Aviv University.
Among numerous prestigious awards, Zinshtein was named best director at the 2016 Jerusalem Film Festival for her acclaimed documentary FOREVER PURE which later went on to win an Emmy award for Outstanding Politics and Government documentary in 2018 (Independent Lens/PBS). For the last ten years she has directed and produced documentaries broadcast on Israeli TV and abroad including by Netflix, BBC, ARTE/ZDF, and PBS, and screened at over 100 festivals around the world. For years as an investigative journalist (Haaretz newspaper) she covered many of the crucial issues facing Israeli society and directed investigative stories for Israeli TV channels. An alumna of Sundance Institute, she teaches at Sam Spiegel film school in Jerusalem and serves on the jury of Israeli and International film festivals.
Abie Troen is an award winning Israeli documentary filmmaker and cinematographer. He has lead documentary projects in Israel, Kenya, India, Mexico, and the US, and his work has screened at the American Pavilion at Cannes, TIFF, SXSW, Doc NYC, and online for National Geographic, Vanity Fair, and Conde Nast’s them. He currently resides in Los Angeles and films on both sides of the Atlantic.
NOTE: This film is available for streaming anytime during WinterFest. The suggested viewing time is Friday 2/26 at 4pm