Welcome to the Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive Blog. The purpose of this blog is to present the stories behind the frames, telling of  the people who are in or making the films. In this first blog entry I would like to give a quick run down on some of the achievements  of the archive and the people who work here. 

First off, congratulations to Michal Aviad on winning the Van Leer award for the Best Israeli Documentary film on his production  "Dimona Twist". The film is the story of 7 women  who  arrive in Israel by ship in the 1950s and 1960s and are sent straight to Dimona. The archive is proud to be a co-producer of this movie. Here's a link to one of the films used in the making of "Dimona Twist"  - First Days. Feel free to check out the actual film on  Yes  in the near future as well as here in the archive.

We would also like to congratulate Yariv Mozer and Yael Perlov on the exceptional job done recreating one of the last filmed interviews with David Ben Gurion in 1968. the reproduction was accomplished using visuals found in the archive and the soundtrack located at the  Ben Gurion Research Institute for the Study Israel & Zionism. These interviews were the basis of the famous drama "42:6" directed by David Perlov. This weekend saw this article  in the Yediot newspaper about the subject. Feel free to check out the actual film on HOT in the near future as well as here in the archive.

With  regards to matters of workersl  we would like to congratulate Benny Bar Yehuda and Chaim Green on receiving a letter of commendation from the World Zionist Organization for their work on Generation 1948. This project is a massive documentation of interviews with people present during the tumultuous days of the founding of Israel, allowing these unique individuals to tell their stories and experiences of that time. Much of the project is available online through our Virtual Cinema and we welcome you to check it out.

Finally, we are happy to inform you that both our English and Hebrew websites are now complete. We would like to thank Yuval Lubin for designing and recreating the archives's website in English and in Hebrew.

We encourage you to keep updated with this blog, which will try and give you a unique insight into the world of film through the various projects the archive is party to as well as engaging stories of those people who promote films through their work.

Deborah Steinmetz