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- New film to feature Netanyahu corruption probe recordings
New film to feature Netanyahu corruption probe recordings
According to US reports, "The Bibi files," which will be screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, documents Netanyahu's investigations and reveals details under gag order in Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to star in a new documentary, "The Bibi Files," produced by Oscar winner Alex Gibney and directed by Alexis Bloom, US media announced Tuesday.
The two-hour documentary film, which will be screened as a work in progress at the Toronto International Film Festival, presents previously unseen police investigation footage of Israel's prime minister. Bloom and Gibney, who obtained the never-before-seen footage, conducted in-depth interviews with a wide range of figures, including from the senior ranks of the Israeli government. While the film uses thousands of hours of interviews given more than eight years ago, Israel has barred their public use because of its privacy law.
"Netanyahu’s character comes through very strongly in the recordings," Bloom told Variety. "I would say the difference between this film and a news item or something that you might see on PBS about the Israel-Palestine conflict is that this is a very human look at the people in the news headlines."
The film connects Netanyahu's present to his past, and according to Gibney, "reveals something Shakespearean about the man in the sense that his slow corruption of character and his desperate need to stay in power led him to do terrible things that we’re now seeing evidence of." The festival will be held September 6-15.
The recordings were made between 2016 and 2018 as part of evidence collection to determine whether to file an indictment against Netanyahu for bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. In 2023, the tapes were leaked to producer Gibney, and they feature extensive interviews with Netanyahu, his wife Sara, his son Yair, his friends and close associates, as well as household staff.