I ENTERTAINMENT I

The Universal Studios Of Israel

Photo by WZP S/Sa m my Avn isan

DANNY BEN-TAL

Special to The Jewish News

estled in the Judean
Hills just off the
Jerusalem-Tel Aviv
highway, the Globus
Group (G.G.) film stu-
dio complex at Neve
Ilan looks innocuous
from the outside. But
inside its factory-like
exterior lies one of Is-
rael's most unpre-
dictable — and poten-
tially lucrative — com-
mercial media projects.
The largest film studio out-
side Hollywood, the opening
of the Neve Ilan complex is a
giant leap forward for the lo-
cal tele-media, said G.G. Is-
rael President Uri Porat,
former director general of the
Israel Broadcasting Author-
ity, which oversees all the
country's electronic media.
"If peace comes, we'll be in-
undated by foreign produc-
tions. I can foresee the day
when international television
and film producers will clam-
or to use our state-of-the-art
facilities," he predicts.
But it's been less than
smooth sailing. In 1987 the
facility, originally a hotel com-
plex abandoned in mid-con-
struction, served as the
location for a series of money-
making children's movies pro-
duced for the home video
market. But that boom year
was followed by the intifada,
higher insurance rates,
tougher completion bonds and
the undercutting of produc-
tion costs by third-world coun-
tries, especially Thailand.
In the late 1980s, the wide-
ly publicized split between
company owner Yoram
Globus and his cousin Men-
achem Golan resulted in the
site sitting dormant for three
years. Mr. Porat's appoint-
ment last summer prompted
the project's completion. He
supervised construction of the
$35 million complex, which of-
ficially opened in January.
Ten full-length feature
films are scheduled for the
studio's first year of activity,

P NIT PP TA P N T

Yoram Globus' newly opened 'movie city' is finally in
business.

Vee Friessner (in white T-shirt) directs a Globus Group, Israel-produced German television series.

four of them Israeli and two
involving those irrepressible
Ninja Turtles.
"Ninja Turtle films have
taken the Western's place as
the most popular movie
genre," says G.G.'s Public Re-
lations Director Ami Doron.
The first project to be com-
pleted was Prison Heat, a
thriller about a group of
American women thrown into
a Turkish jail. The movie was
produced by Alan Greenblatt,
an independent American
film producer presently in Is-
rael making his fourth movie
with G.G.
"Neve Ilan is comfortable
and convenient for both exte-
rior and interior shots and
has everything one could wish

for in a film studio," Mr.
Greenblatt says. "The location
is good, the costs low and the
crews as good as you'll find
anywhere in the United
States."
Another American action
packed war thriller called
Deadly Dozen, and a futuris-
tic sci-fi movie Skyball, are
being shot this summer, while
negotiations are progressing
with Disney Productions to
produce First Strike, a film
based on the 1981 bombing of
Iraq's nuclear reactor.
With its four fully-equipped
film studios, ranging from a
relatively cozy 300 square me-
ters to a cavernous 2,300
square meters, a 120-room
fully computerized adminis-

trative office block, carpentry
and metalwork shops for con-
structing sets and a 120-room
on-site hostel for actors and
technical staff, Yoram Globus'
"movie city," will provide a
much needed shot in the arm
for the local industry, and jobs
for some 4,000 people.
"Israeli cinema has never
been commercially viable,"
Mr. Porat explains. "It has
been forced to live off public
handouts and philanthropy.
Now this could all change."
Actually, it was television,
rather than cinema, that was
responsible for kick-starting
the project. Israel's second TV
channel is due to go commer-
cial this summer and G.G. is
Continued on Page 80

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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