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“Incitement,” about the promising Israeli law student who became an ultra-nationalist obsessed with assassinating Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. WestEnd Films is producing and will also launch sales on the picture at TIFF.
Rabin was serving his second term as Israel’s prime minister when he was shot and killed by Yigal Amir in 1995. The first still released from the film shows Yehuda Nahari Halevi (“Wedding Doll”) as Amir, burning a picture of Rabin at a protest.
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The film is from Yaron Zilberman (“A Late Quartet”) and has been generating buzz on home turf, scoring 10 nominations in the Ophir Awards, the Israeli Oscars, including For best film. It was written by Zilberman with Ron Leshem, the Israeli-American award-winning writer behind the original Israeli “Euphoria” series, which has been successfully remade for HBO in the U.S. Both are also producers.
“The assassination of Yitzhak Rabin is arguably the most traumatic event in the history of Israel,” said Zilberman. “The murder of a Jewish prime minister by an Orthodox Jewish law student was impossible to comprehend, and the circumstances leading to it were not – at the time – investigated in full, perhaps to avoid a civil war.
“Although ‘Incitement’ focuses on the assassin, I want it to be a lament for Yitzhak Rabin, and an homage to his courageous vision for peace. I hope the film will also serve as an alarm to society, especially nowadays, for what happens when nationalism and fundamentalism are incited by politicians and religious leaders.”
“Incitement” marks is the second recent collaboration between WestEnd and Zilberman and Leshem after they teamed on Israeli TV series “Valley of Tears,” set against the backdrop of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. “‘Incitement’ is an incredibly powerful film that is not only cinematically innovative but also globally relevant today, more than ever, depicting how the language of hate, political atmosphere and bullying can lead to extreme consequences,” said Maya Amsellem and Sharon Harel-Cohen, WestEnd’s managing director and chairman, respectively.
Harel-Cohen produces for WestEnd, David Silber for Metro Communications, Tamar Sela for Opening Night Productions, Ruth Cats for Sunshine Films, and Moshe Edery for United King Films, which will release the film in Israel.
Dalia Rabin, Yitzhak Rabin’s daughter, will attend the world premiere at TIFF as guest of honor.
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