The Story of the digging of a 1,500 year old church and monastery at Ramat Beit Shemesh:
A golden Muslim coin and a Jewish candle found at the Galilee:
A first temple period finds at the old city of Jerusalem:
Author Archives: Royalrat
About Royalrat
Under Jerusalem
(Rockfeller Museum, the headquarters of the Israel Antiquities Authority in Jerusalem)
Archaeological excavation are always exciting. Especially so when done under the most historical acclaimed city in the world – Jerusalem. I was very happy to have the chance to work with the Israel Antiquities Authority, and to make their video on the new archaeological findings under the Western Wall Tunnels. Apparently this place is full of surprises, and the latest one is a Roman theater, buried just under the Wilson Arch. This video tells the story:
Edgybees
Edgybees is an amazing start-up company who made drones not only fun to fly around, but also a gaming consul that uses drones and augmented reality. We had the privilege to make this video for them and enjoy the ride in the sky.
Palais des Thés Israel
In recent years I’ve been turning from coffee to tea. I still love coffee, but I think it interferes with my sleeping habits so I’ve decided to let it go. It took some time to find a new hot drink that will fill the gap. In our warm climate middle-eastern weather, drinking hot beverages might sound a little strange, but like the Bedouin are saying – there is nothing like a hot sweet tea in the middle of the desert to cool the body. It wasn’t love in first taste, but I’ve started drinking tea. After a few months I’ve got used to it, and by now I’m completely taken over. Good Earl-Gray tea in the morning, an herbal mix after lunch and a nice rooibos in the evening are just wonderful, tasty way of life.
When I’ve discovered that in the middle of Tel-Aviv we have Palais des Thés – a store that specializes in tea, I was surprised and thrilled. I didn’t realize how much there is to learn about the art of tea making, and how many different wonderful kind to tea and herbs are waiting for me to try them out. After meeting with the owner, Charles Peguine it was settled that a whole series of shorts how-to-commercials should be made and tell some of the secrets of the tea. I’m sorry that the videos are only in Hebrew, but the charm and magic of Charles and Sara can’t be denied even when you can’t understand what they say.
How to make the perfect cup of tea:
How to make cold tea:
How to make Matcha Tea:
Trailer for Land of the Little People
The words “trailer”, “festival” and “screening” are definitely good signs — the completion of my feature film project “Land of the Little People”. With more than 7 years in the making, I can’t even start to explain my excitement, which is enormous. So, here it is, the trailer for Land of the Little People:
CoffeeStation
I love coffee, I really do (Although I can’t drink too much of it..). Not only do they have a wonderful taste and smell, they also have this special quality of magnificent tasty look, which adds a lot to the overall experience. That’s why I was so happy to make commercial videos for CoffeeStation. They have great coffee, professional baristas and top-notch design made by Lee-ran Shlomi Gidron & Itay Gidron and special tailored aprons made by Anat Berman. Making these videos was a real celebration of all the right colors and flavors.
Abandoned Israel and the story of the Mysterious Rifle Casing
A new project of mine led me to be a tour guide to “Abandoned” Israeli sites. I offer these tours FREE of charge. Why? Because these rarely visited places should be seen by people who could appreciate them. So last Friday I led a little guided tour to one of my favorite places. On the way back, when walking on the dunes up the Hof Hasharon cliff, I’ve stumbled upon a completely hard-sand covered rifle casing. I know that not so far from this place there was a mandate British Police post, which task was to watch over the coast line and prevent illegal (Jewish) immigration in the 30th and the 40th of the 20th century. I was curious whether this casing could be that old.
After putting it in water and scratching the base of the casing, me and my friends could read the engraving in the metal: US 15 VII.
Searching for these signs over the internet, led us to a correspondent at the International Ammunition Association:
So… A Lewis automatic machine gun. And yes, it was used by the British army. I guess they had some field training, firing range to calibrate the gun or maybe even an actual warning shooting toward an immigration ship which tried to approach the beach. More then 70 years the casing was buried in the sand, and now it had some of its story told.
More interesting stories are waiting for us out there, and you are welcome to join me in revealing them. Check it out and sign in for a tour: derelictisraelfreetour
Ros Plazma
I had the privilege to document Ros Plazma when he volunteered to paint for the ‘Land of the Little People’ crowd funding campaign. He did a great job in imagining a shot we’ve produced on video half a year later. In this shot the children are standing on top of a well and looking inside. What are they seeing? That is yet to be discovered…
(Ros Plazma painting. February 2014)
(a frame from work in progress ‘Land of the Little People’. July 2014)
(Ros painting video)
A few days ago Ros called me and asked if I would like to come and document a ‘wall painting’ work he is doing. How could I refuse?
Crowd Funding Land of the Little People
After a lot of work we’ve launched our crowd funding campaign!!!
Join our gang by pledging to our campaign:
Geppetto from South Tel-Aviv
A year ago, while filming a movie at the Neve-Tzedek quarter in south Tel-Aviv, I “accidentally” picked through one of the house’s window. I know it’s not a very polite thing to do, but the next thing I did was even ruder: I knocked on the window and asked the interesting looking man inside the room if I could possibly take his picture. The man raised his head from the thing he was doing and luckily agreed. That was my first encounter with Anton Avramov. “What are you doing?” I asked him with growing curiosity, and he pointed his finger toward the hangers hanging over his head and said: “I create figures from metal wire”.
After that coincidental meeting I couldn’t just leave things for chance and scheduled a meeting with Anton where I was going to document him during his work. When we met again, Anton wanted to sculpture a whole band of musicians. He arranged his working tools on the floor of the workshop’s yard and started working with an amazing pace. While I was filming him working, the little figures started to round on the table: A pianist, a trumpeter, a drummer, a harmonica player and a guitarist. “How did you come up with working with a metal wire?” I’ve asked him, amazed. Anton kept his fingers working and told me his story.
Anton grew up in Bulgaria, and as a little child he liked playing at his uncle yard. He was especially drawn to the copper wires his uncle stacked at the back of the shed, but it was out of his reach, and his uncle forbade him from touching the material since it was very expensive. In 2002 Anton immigrated to Israel and lived in Kibbutz Ein-Hashofet. As a youth Anton worked at the Kibbutz factory where they manufactured chokes for light bulbs. Anton was very happy to discover that chokes are made from copper wires. The turning point was when his boss gave him a pliers as a present, and he started to play with the desired material. But the pliers had no cutter in it, so Anton had to work with the wire without cutting it. “I can’t really say, it’s very natural for me” Anton told me, “When I see objects I imagine them as one continuous line”.
Anton discovered his art by chance, after looking for it in architecture and acting studies. From the acting he probably got his unique and dramatic appearance and his love for inventing characters. Since he began sculpturing with metal wire he made a large variety of artifacts: little delicate figures, portraits and even gigantic objects made with vice, welder and metal chain cutter.
Anton finished his band of musicians and set them on the table. Suddenly, it seemed as if they were coming to life and started playing music. You are welcome to watch the clip and judge for yourself:
Video: Yaniv Berman
Artist: Anton Avramov
Music: Old Fish Jazz Band
