HOW HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM

CREATORS CHAT ABOUT HOW IT HAPPENED

KAREN SUNDE: An Israeli/Palestinian play? “Impossible!” I said. “Real dramas make all sides feel together, their shared humanity, but these political plays turn into debates, where the grievances of both sides become chains that lock-down their future.”

YAHEL HERZOG: But you wrote it anyway?

KAREN SUNDE: Because ABRAHAM poured from me in a more powerful rush than anything I’ve ever written – two enemies intersect on a terrifying day and, each learning the heart of the other, change their world? That I could buy. Kept me up all night.

YAHEL HERZOG: Growing up in Israel, living side by side with our Palestinian neighbors, I realized how simple peace should have been. But witnessing deaths, terror, and family tragedies on both sides, and seeing how quickly a  trigger is pulled and fear overwhelms empathy made me want to participate in a project that could foster the possibility of peace, of reconciliation, of knowing how effortless it really can be.

SUNDE: After a performance of ABRAHAM, Israelis and Palestinians stood side by side and wept while they thanked me. That stays with you.

HERZOG: When my Israeli friend Amir Babayoff told me he was involved in a peace play, HOW HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM, with the Palestinian actress Maya Serhan, I was thrilled, and wanted to participate. I started filming the documentary about their collaboration, about what each – having gone through lives similar to the characters they were portraying – brought to the process. It’s called PLAYING PEACE.

SUNDE: We’ve a preview on the website. Click TRAILERS, then “Documentary.”

HERZOG: Then when Karen adapted her play into a screenplay and asked me to co-direct a trailer of it, I was very excited imagining the increased exposure it could mean for the story. That trailer is a precursor to the feature film.

SUNDE: In shooting it, Yahel and I got the chance to put our characters in nature to evoke the story’s healing metaphor. Most moving to us is the passion for peace in people from many countries who came to help us film the trailer.

HERZOG: We’re thrilled. I hope our viewers see and sense the importance of carrying forward the message of partnership for peace.

SUNDE: We hope our trailer will find us the perfect producer for the feature.

Click TRAILERS