Nadav Schirman The Green Prince Interview

Nadav Schirman The Green Prince Interview

Cast: Mosab Hassan Yousef, Gonen Ben Yitzhak, Sheikh Hassan Yousef
Director: Nadav Schirman
Genre: Documentary, Drama, Thriller
Rated: M
Running Time: 95 minutes

Synopsis: Mosab Hassan Yousef always sits with his back to the wall and his eyes on the door. He changes apartments frequently. He has to, if he wants to stay alive. Considered a traitor by his family and his people, Mosab is alone. His only friend is his former enemy.

His father is Sheikh Hassan Yousef, one of the seven founding members of Hamas and one of its most popular leaders. He's in prison now. Mosab put him there; to 'protect" him.

For over a decade Mosab – code name: 'The Green Prince" – was the number one source for the infamous Shin Bet, Israel's secret security service. Recruited at 17, he went on to betray his kith and kin to spy for his former enemy in the heart of his father's organisation.

His Shin Bet handler, Gonen Ben Yitzhak, once considered one of the rising stars of the service, risked everything – including treason – to save him.

The special bond between Mosab and Gonen made for one of the most unlikely but effective partnerships in the history of Israeli intelligence. It led to the arrest of top terrorist masterminds, prevented multiple suicide bombings and revealed crucial secrets that would have a direct impact on major political events.

In a world of lies and deceit they learned to trust one another. Ultimately, though, they had to turn against their own in order to save themselves.

Set against a backdrop of recent events in the Middle East, Nadav Schirman's The Green Prince is a multi-layered psychological thriller that will challenge people's preconceptions of the on-going conflict in the region. Combining exclusive first person testimony, dramatic action sequences and never-before-seen archive footage, this is a powerful cinematic experience - a spy thriller that will have audiences on the edge of their seats.

The Green Prince
Release Date: December 4th, 2014

Interview with Nadav Schirman

Question: What motivated you to make this film?

Nadav Schirman: When I heard Mosab's story I was immediately taken by his insider's depiction of Hamas. It's an organization which is obscure to the world, its inner mechanism never revealed until then, and that grabbed me. But then, I met Gonen, his Israeli handler – and when I understood the unique nature of their relationship, then and today, I was so moved, I felt I had to channel this into a film. Both protagonists have dared to put their lives at risk to do what's right. They each have a very strong moral compass and they are not afraid to go against the tide in order to do what's right. This is so rare in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict where people tend to follow rather than lead. I found their connection so full of hope, in the sense of 'see what happens when people dare trust one another and go against pre-conceived notions". And of course their story had all the elements of a high-octane thriller, which I wanted to do in the documentary form.


Question: What is the film about?

Nadav Schirman: It's about this unique relationship between a handler and a source -- a relationship that is ruled by lies and deceit on both ends, even self-deceit to some extent. But then it's also about the relationship between Mosab and Gonen, the individuals behind those functions of handler and source, and how their humanity defies all the rules and breaks all the boundaries.


Question: What were the main challenges in making The Green Prince?

Nadav Schirman: Dramatically, we wanted to make a film that is gripping from minute one until the end. I always have Billy Wilder's adage in mind 'grab the audience by the throat and don't let go until the end." More than a film about this character or that one, it's a story of a relationship. How the best of enemies become best of friends. It was very challenging to put together such a griping narrative with only two characters. A 'two hander" as Simon Chinn calls it.

The Green Prince is a cinema documentary, so we very much had the audience in mind at every step. I have a lot of respect for the cinema going audience and wanted to create a viewing experience that is both extremely suspenseful and adrenaline releasing, as it touching and cathartic.

Visually, it was clear from the start that we would have two point-of-views: The POV of the machine, the system, seen through the drones and the surveillance cameras, perceiving humans as functions, blips on a map. And the POV of the human, which is fragile and emotional.

It was also very challenging to find rare footage that would give a sense of here and now. We were very fortunate to be able to unearth some real gems, such as footage of Mosab in Ramallah in the years he was still operating undercover.


Question: The spy/special agent subject matter appears like a red line through the documentaries you have directed so far. Are you particularly intrigued by the world of secret agencies?

Nadav Schirman: I am intrigued by what happens to relationships that are put under great pressure. In The Champagne Spy, it's the relationship between a boy and his father, a secret agent of the Mossad who is gradually becoming addicted to his 6 false identity. In my second film, In The Dark Room, both the wife and the daughter of the most wanted man in the world, Carlos the Jackal, struggle to come to terms with their family relationships. In The Green Prince it's the relationship between a Palestinian source and his Israeli handler that is put to the test as the tables are turned in the most unexpected ways. But it's also the relationship between a son who is forced to betray his father and his family to do what's right in his mind.


Question: Would you consider The Green Prince a political film?

Nadav Schirman: Absolutely yes and no. The politics are the grounds from which this story sprouts, they dictated the events that precipitate the narrative, they are the backdrop. But they do not have any part in the narrative or thematic choices I made. It's a film about relationships put to the test, about humans and how they behave under intense pressures.


Question: What kind of security measures did you anticipate and which did you have to respect during the shoot?

Nadav Schirman: When shooting with Mosab in Germany we had to keep very discreet about his travel and lodging arrangements. That's the best security, he always said. Then we had an armed guard on set for the first part of the shoot. When I first met Mosab a couple of years ago, in New York, he was always sitting with his back to the wall and his eyes on the door. We had to move every couple of hours, not stay in the same place. Today it's more relaxed I believe. When we shot visuals in the West Bank we also had to keep a very low profile and it was challenging at times, being a crew of international background, some of us being Israelis. But those light tensions added flavor to the shoot and kept us alert as to the POV of our protagonist who endured much, much, much greater dangers. Real ones, not just imagined ones.


Question: What are you hoping audiences will take from the film?

Nadav Schirman: Hope, for where politicians fail, individuals seem to succeed, even against all the odds. Encouragement to take more personal risks for what they believe is right. Awareness of the fact that things are never what they seem to be, and that one should look deeper behind the surface before formulating an opinion or passing fast judgment. And an appetite for more cinematic experiences that defy the boundaries of known genres.


The Green Prince
Release Date: December 4th, 2014