A RHINO'S TALE
Shalom the Rhinoceros is the starring attraction of Jerusalem’s Biblical Zoo.
The visitors all love him, and so do his loving caretakers, Rushdi, a Muslim Palestinian citizen of Israel
from East Jerusalem, and Gilad, an Israeli Jew from the western half of the city.
But all the care in the world can’t stop the ravages of time. As Shalom ages, the zoo decides
that the kindest thing that they can do for him is to let him die with dignity.
Perhaps more cynically, they also start thinking about a young rhinoceros to replace him.
As a bloody war rages all around them, Rushdi, Gilad, and the rest of the zoo’s staff wonder about
the ultimate morality of zoos, and whether it is fair to the animals to be kept in cages.
This resonates with Rushdi, who has grown up behind fences and under occupation, but also with Gilad,
the son of Iraqi immigrants, whose own parents felt coerced to adapt themselves to a foreign environment.
This is the story of a remarkable zoo. Set in wartime in a divided city, it asks whether we, the visitors
to the zoo, see our own lives, questions, and worries mirrored in the animals trapped behind the fences,
in cages. Can they ever feel free? And trapped as we are behind fences
and cages of our own making, can we really be free too?
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Meital ZvieliDirectorThe Camera of Doctor Morris
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Avigail SperberProducer
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Meital ZvieliWriterThe Camera of Doctor Morris
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Meital ZvieliEditorThe Camera of Doctor Morris
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Project Title (Original Language):שלום
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Project Type:Documentary
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Runtime:1 hour 30 minutes
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Completion Date:January 1, 2026
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Production Budget:375,000 USD
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Country of Origin:Israel
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Country of Filming:Israel
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Language:Arabic, English, French, Hebrew
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Shooting Format:DIGITAL 4K
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
Distribution Information
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CinephilSales AgentCountry: FranceRights: All RightsCountry: IsraelRights: All Rights
Meital Zvieli graduated from Jerusalem's Sam Spiegel Film & Television School screenwriting program with honors. She has over 25 years of experience as a freelance editor, screenwriter, producer, director, and television format developer for all Israeli broadcast channels.
Her feature-length directorial debut, which she also produced and edited with Itamar Alcalay, THE CAMERA OF DOCTOR MORRIS, won the Oscar-qualifying Best Israeli Film Award at Docaviv 2022. Most notably, Meital was the Head of Research for the animated documentary WALTZ WITH BASHIR by Ari Folman, a Golden Globe and Cesar winner for Best Foreign Film and Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film. She was editor and screenwriter for THE LAST LEAGUE, a docu-series about Jewish and Arab football players competing in the last league of Israeli football. She wrote and edited for DESIGNING A NATION, a docu-series about Israel's design history. Along with writing and editing, Meital directed ADRENALINE, a docu-series examining Israelis' struggle with technology's takeover of everyday life. She is the editor of THE SOUTHERN SEA, a docu-series portrait of Eilat, the most remote city in Israel.
Walls and fences have intrigued me, ever since I was a young girl. Growing up in Israel, there were borders and fences everywhere I turned, separating me from my Palestinian neighbors. Serving in the army, I realize that the fences are there to protect me, but also that this comes at a cost to the people living on the other side. Then, October 7 proved that the very notion of being protected by a fence is just an illusion. If anything, fences exacerbate animosity on both sides of the barrier.
While making my last film, The Camera of Doctor Morris, I visited Jerusalem Biblical Zoo. Although I had been there before, this time, the sight of animals kept behind fences for the visitors’ safety reminded me of the reality a few kilometers away. In the zoo, like in the Occupied Territories, we often assuage our guilt by creating an illusion of autonomy and freedom, but that’s all it is – an illusion. There are captives and captors, animals and caretakers, Palestinians and Israelis. Shalom, an elderly rhinoceros, offered me hope. He seemed to transcend the ethnic and cultural differences that separate Israelis and Palestinians. Like this country, he was loved equally by both. His caretakers are Rushdi, a Muslim Palestinian citizen of Israel, and Gilad, a Jewish Israeli, who live on opposite sides of a divided Jerusalem.
There is something poignant in the fact that the name Shalom means “peace.” If there was one thing at the zoo, which caused Israelis and Palestinians to bridge their differences and live in shalom even in wartime, it is their love for that elderly rhino. Perhaps the two peoples have more in common than we think. This is a film about the world I live in, with all the acrimony that comes from fences and contentious boundaries. But it is also the story of my belief that we can one day tear down the walls of distrust for the sake of shalom, for the sake of peace.