Ilan and I talk about his new film An Eye for An Eye, hate, racism, and forgiveness, why the future may not be so bright, where hope fits in and why developing a positive narrative is essential.
More info about the film and Ilan here.
Synopsis
The subject of a new documentary out in theatres beginning October 28th, “An Eye For An Eye” by Israeli director Ilan Ziv, tells the story of shooting victim Rais Bhuiyan , the only survivor of a post 9-11 hate crime by Texas native Mark Stroman who would became known as the “Arab Slayer” and whose life Ziv and Bhuiyan worked tirelessly to save.
Ilan Ziv’s 8-year journey and friendship with Stroman helped guide him to his final revelation: to seek forgiveness and a deeper understanding of the origin of his hate and racism, providing a unique and provocative insight into the mind of a racist turned serial killer.
Ziv and Bhuiyan came together on this project to open hearts and minds around the culture of hate and the politics of revenge post 9-11, a rhetoric actively revisited in the current presidential election campaign being presented by Donald Trump.
Ziv and Bhuiyan are available to speak in-person about lone-wolf terrorist attacks and the climate of hate that created the conditions for Mark Stroman to do what he did. The lone-wolf terrorist is a concept that we have now associated with Jihadist extremists, and yet the climate of hate created one in the white supremacist Mark Stroman.
The current divisive rhetoric can and will inevitably lead to more hate and distrust, and can create the perfect storm for the kind of lone-wolf attacks we have seen.
They witnessed in Mark Stroman the ways in which such a transformation is needed on a global scale now.
Rais Bhuiyan, a Hillary Clinton campaign surrogate, can speak directly to the ways in which the message of the film echoes the messaging of the Clinton campaign, that as Americans we are, “Stronger Together”.
Biography
Ilan Ziv was born in Israel in 1950 and came to the United States after fighting in the Yom Kippur (The October) War in 1973.
Ilan Ziv is a graduate of New York University film school, and in 1978 he co-produced New York’s first Middle East Film Festival.
That same year he founded Icarus Films, a documentary film distribution company, which he left in 1980 in order to devote himself to making documentary films, and since then he has directed dozens of documentaries dealing broadly with issues of human rights and investigations of contemporary history.
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