MANILA, Philippines - From emerging Israeli directors, brothers Yoav and Doron Paz, comes the award-winning film Jeruzalem, winner of the Audience Award and Best Editing at the recent 32nd Jerusalem International Film Festival.
Jeruzalem follows two American girls on vacation who meet an attractive student studying anthropology during their trip to Jerusalem. A trip planned to be their best vacation ever, the girls, Sarah (Danielle Jadelyn) and Rachel (Yael Grobglas, Israel’s budding scream queen) do the rounds of the tour with newfound friend Kevin in tow and partying hard in Jerusalem’s ancient sites. The trio unexpectedly find themselves in the midst of a religious conflict followed by a series of horrifying biblical apocalypse.
Inspired by a line from the Talmud that states “There are three gates to hell: One in the desert, one in the ocean and one in Jerusalem,” the movie unleashes a chain of demonic events that bring about terror as the three try to escape between ancient walls of the Holy City.
“We wanted to give the audience a chance to feel and experience this dark, mystical and religious city through the eyes of our characters. To see up close what the resurrection may actually look like, in the most reasonable place on Earth to start the apocalypse,” says Yoav and Doron on introducing the film.
The brothers are the sons of Israeli filmmaker Jonathan Paz (Waiting for Surkin) and grew up in Netanya. Their filmmaking careers began when they were around 10 or 11 years old. Filmed in found footage style through a smart digital glass, Jeruzalem gives the audience a rich detail of the city’s culture and history as read from the Bible.
Yoav and Doron Paz first gained acclaim with their arthouse film Phobidilia, an official selection at TIFF and the Berlin International Film Festival. Their latest film, Jeruzalem marks a radical new turn as they submerge themselves full-on into hyper-visceral horror storytelling.
“For years we thought to ourselves ‘How come nobody did an apocalypse movie about Jerusalem,’ when it’s the perfect set up for it. You’ve seen movies about the apocalypse in cities all around the world: Bostin, then you have REC — everywhere, but nobody’s been dealing with Jerusalem itself. Though the Bible, and its scriptures are set there, so that’s where we took it,” further shares Yoav on the concept of the movie.
Jeruzalem opens in theaters nationwide on Jan. 20 from Pioneer Films. Check out the film’s trailer at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNZcLIhn5lg.