'Til Kingdom Come (film)
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'''Til Kingdom Come'' is a 2020
documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...
directed by
Maya Zinshtein Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a po ...
. The film explores the alliance between Christian Zionists in the United States and Jewish Israeli settlers in the West Bank. It received generally positive reviews.


Synopsis

'''Til Kingdom Come'' focuses on International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ) director Yael Eckstein, a Jewish Israeli, along with William Bingham III and Boyd Bingham IV, father and son
pastors A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicis ...
in
Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...
. It documents large donations made to the IFCJ by the Binghams' church despite the poverty of many of their congregants, using this phenomenon as a case study for
Christian Zionism Christian Zionism is a political and religious ideology that, in a Christianity and Judaism, Christian context, espouses the return of the Jews, Jewish people to the Holy Land. Likewise, it holds that the founding of the State of Israel in 1948 ...
, the common belief in
Evangelicalism Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...
that the gathering of Jews in Israel will bring about the
Rapture The Rapture is an Christian eschatology, eschatological position held by some Christians, particularly those of American evangelicalism, consisting of an end-time event when all dead Christian believers will be resurrected and, joined with Chr ...
or the
Second Coming The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is the Christianity, Christian and Islam, Islamic belief that Jesus, Jesus Christ will return to Earth after his Ascension of Jesus, ascension to Heaven (Christianity), Heav ...
for Christians while sending Jews to Hell. In the film, Zinshtein argues that this "unholy alliance" between evangelicals in the United States and Jewish settlers in the
West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
provides political and material support for the establishment of
Israeli settlements Israeli settlements, also called Israeli colonies, are the civilian communities built by Israel throughout the Israeli-occupied territories. They are populated by Israeli citizens, almost exclusively of Jewish identity or ethnicity, and hav ...
, leading
right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...
Israelis to ignore the religious beliefs that underlie Christian Zionism.


Production

'''Til Kingdom Come'' was directed by Jewish Israeli filmmaker
Maya Zinshtein Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a po ...
and written by Mark Monroe. Production began in 2017; shooting for the film lasted 100 days. Producers included Zinshtein, John Battsek, and Abraham Troen, who was also
director of photography The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera ...
; the executive producer of the film was Maxyne Franklin. The film was edited by Elan Golod and music was composed by Miriam Cutler. Production companies included Ventureland,
Passion Pictures Passion Pictures is a British film production company established by Andrew Ruhemann in 1987. The company has studios in London, Melbourne, Paris, Toronto, and New York City. Film production The company's core business is in commercial and anima ...
, and the
Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation The Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation is the national broadcaster of Israel. It carries the blanket branding Kan in Hebrew () and Makan in Arabic (). Its news division, Kan News, is the third biggest brand in Israeli newscasting, after Ha ...
. The North American distributor for the film is Abramorama; in Israel it is distributed by MetFilm. The
documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...
has a runtime of 76 minutes.


Release

'''Til Kingdom Come'' was released in Israel in 2020, and in the United States on February 26, 2021. In 2020 it was shown at
Docaviv Docaviv (), also known as the Tel Aviv International Documentary Film Festival, is the only film festival in Israel dedicated to documentary films, and the largest film festival in Tel Aviv. It is run by a non-profit organisation of the same name ...
, the
Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...
,
Doc NYC Doc NYC (stylized as DOC NYC) is an annual documentary film festival in New York City. Co-founded by Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen, the festival is the country's largest documentary film festival with over 300 films and events and 250 specia ...
, and the
International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) is the world's largest documentary film festival held annually since 1988 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Description IDFA is an independent, international meeting place for audiences ...
. It was additionally shown in February 2021 at the
Atlanta Jewish Film Festival The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival is the largest film festival of any kind in the state of Georgia and is the largest Jewish film festival in the world. The 23-day festival is held in late winter at multiple venues in Atlanta, Georgia and in the s ...
. The documentary was scheduled to make its United States broadcast debut on
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
's prime-time ''
Independent Lens ''Independent Lens'' is a weekly television series airing on PBS featuring documentary films made by independent filmmakers. Past seasons of ''Independent Lens'' were hosted by Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Susan Sarandon, Edie Falco, Terrenc ...
'' platform in March 2021, but it did not air. A PBS blog post later stated that executives had cancelled the showing due to the film's editing of a speech by
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
unveiling his peace plan for Israel–Palestine; the editing suggested that Trump had described the West Bank as part of Israel when he had not explicitly done so. As a result, PBS stated that they had initiated an independent review of the film to determine whether it was suitable to be shown. The
Jewish Telegraphic Agency The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) is an international news agency and wire service that primarily covers Judaism- and Jewish-related topics and news. Described as the "Associated Press of the Jewish media", JTA serves Jewish and non-Jewish news ...
reported that the editing of the quote was likely reported to PBS by the Zionist
Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA), formerly the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, is an American non-profit pro-Israel media-monitoring, research and membership organization. ...
.


Reception

While controversial, '''Til Kingdom Come'' received generally positive reviews.
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
reported an approval rating of 100% from 15 reviews, with an average rating of 7.7/10. A review in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' found Zinshtein's approach effective, writing that her "patient, observant approach catches her subjects in moments of damning irony". It concluded that Boyd Bingham's "seeming good will cannot disguise his troubling convictions". Also in ''The New York Times'', an article noted that the film brought about "a wave of guilt and soul-searching" in Israel but predicted that it would also "teach Christian and Jewish audiences in the United States a great deal about subjects they may have thought they already understoodincluding how American politics really work". In ''
Screen Daily ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company which also owned '' Broadcast''. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involv ...
'', a positive review stated that the film provides "not only a disturbing picture of how extremist political and religious agendas are connected, but also a sense of the contradictions involved", concluding that it is "a well-researched, sharply organised exposition of a strange and disturbing set of alliances". Jonathan Feldstein, who assisted Zinshtein with background information and contacts for '''Til Kingdom Come'', wrote a column for ''
Jewish News Syndicate Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) is a news agency and wire service that primarily covers Jewish and Israel-related topics and news. While officially nonpartisan, compared to its older competitor, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, JNS is considered to be ...
'' in which he criticized the film. Feldstein described the film as "a one-sided, biased perspective of Christian support" for Israel, accusing Zinshtein of creating a "caricature" of Christian Zionists and characterizing one section of the documentary as having
antisemitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
undertones. IFCJ director Yael Eckstein stated that she believed the film reflected the political positions of its creators.


See also

* '' Forever Pure''


References


External links

* *
Interview with Maya Zinshtein
by the ''Jewish Telegraphic Agency'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Til Kingdom Come 2020 documentary films 2020 films Christian Zionism in the United States Israeli settlement Documentary films about the Israeli–Palestinian conflict Television controversies in the United States