On April 2002 I started my photographic journey with Alpha company. The holiday just began and we all had our plans for the free days to come. But after a shocking terrorist attack on Passover eve, the government issued a special order to recruit the reserve units and send them into the Palestinians towns. The military operation was called “Defensive Shield”. My regiment was sent into Bethlehem, where we fought for three weeks. When I had my first chance to take the camera with me I started filming our actions, and I kept doing it for 5 years.
In 2007 I took all the stock of footage and made it into a documentary called “The Alpha Diaries”. This documentary was shown on television channels all over the world, and participated in many film festivals. Now I made a new HD copy of the movie and placed it on YouTube for everybody to watch and to experience how it is to leave everything and become a soldier for one month, every year.
Credits:
Producer: Avi Kleinberger
Director: Yaniv Berman
Editor: Ronit Porat, Gabi Shihor
On-Line: Serg Bezrukoff
Music: Gad Emile Zeitune
Camera: Yaniv Berman
Stills and more video footage: Omri Takoa
Sound Design: Michael Goorevich
June 3rd, 2012 at 2:39 pm
“Raw, edgy & hard hitting!” Awesome movie… I can now relate to when some of my Israeli colleagues would take off for “miluim” in the middle of work… but would never talk about what they did during the time when they got back. BTW there are a couple of screens where the background is white and the subtitles aren’t visible (for people like me who don’t speak Hebrew)
June 3rd, 2012 at 5:36 pm
Thanks! I really appreciate your comment.
January 12th, 2013 at 7:04 am
Just watched ‘The Alpha Diaries’. Ran across it by pure accident. I am Jewish and a former photographer in Arizona US. As a photography enthusiast, I wanted to tell you I was ‘Captivated’ by the imagery of your film as well as its content. I have seen countless documentaries/visual logs in my time and this stands out. Will be exploring your website and looking forward to future photographic/video projects from you. Shalom
January 12th, 2013 at 8:11 am
Thanks Paul! I’d love to see your work. Arizona is amazing place…