"Fauda" on Netflix shows complexities of Israel's wrestling with jihadist aggression

Israeli TV panelists: Tsakhi Halevi (Fauda), Udi Segal (Mossad 101)
Michael Gordon (C.A.A.) and Danna Stern (YES TV Israel)

YES-TV's Fauda and Reshet 13's action drama television series Mossad 101 had their second season premieres at this year’s 31st Israel Film Festival in Los Angeles on November 15th and 16th. Each screening was followed by a panel discussion which featured creators, actors, and distributors of Israeli shows discussing the effects of these programs going international. 

In “Mossad 101” (“Hamidrasha” Hebrew for “The Academy”) cadets from every level of Israeli society undergo intense training to join their country’s elite, classified intelligence service, the Mossad.

Fauda, which means “chaos” in Arabic, follows a close-knit unit of Mista’arvim, the commando unit of the Israel army whose soldiers are trained in the language, dress and mannerisms of Palestinians, and whose undercover work is hailed in Israel for scuppering terror attacks and guiding military operations. The show won six Ophir Awards, including Best Drama Series, at the Israeli Academy Awards. 

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Two-years ago, Israel Film Festival organizer Meir Fenigstein introduced "Fauda" to American audiences- which led to C.A.A.'s TV agent, Adam Berkowitz, selling the subtitled action/suspense series' rights to Netflix.   This year, the Fest debuted the 2nd season opener to Israeli series "Mossad 101," which of C.A.A. TV intends to sell the format rights to internationally. 



Video playlist includes interviews with Fauda actors Lior Raz and Tsakhi Halevi- and classic Israeli-American actor/director Mike Burstyn. The Fauda actors are joined for a post-screening panel discussion moderated by Itay Hod, entertainment editor of Hollywood's The Wrap news-site, leading a discussion with Fauda co-founding producer Avi Issacaroff, actresses Laetitia Eido (Dr. Shirin), Rona-Lee Shimon (Nurit), composer Gilad ben Amram, director Rotem Shamir. The panel was introduced by Sam Grundwerg, Consul General of Israel in Los Angeles.

Iconic Israeli actor, Mike Burstyn, says that the Israeli TV and film productions are as good as any international productions- and for a fraction of the Hollywood budget. Productions like these, he says, have made greater international recognition of Israel's predicament in the past 5-years than in the previous 50-years.