''Forever Pure'' () is a 2016 UK-Israel

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 ...

, by Maya Zinshtein. The film is directed by Maya Zinshtein, and produced by Geoff Arbourne and Maya Zinshtein, co-produced by Torstein Grude and Alan Maher, and executive produced by John Battsek and Nicole Stott. The film was released on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

on 6 July 2017 and went on to win a

News & Documentary Emmy Award The News & Documentary Emmy Awards, or News & Documentary Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the National Academy of Television Arts and Scien ...

in 2018. The film was produced by Inside Out Films and Maya Films.

Production

Production for the film began in 2012 when Zinshtein, who was working as a journalist, made on short segments for the investigative program Uvda ("Fact"). Zinshtein, who was freelancing for the Israeli show, was assigned to follow two Chechen players for a few hours on their first day in Israel. After four days of filming, she realised that the story wasn't going to end there. After the short TV segment had been shown, she decided to do it by herself and started a four-year journey of making the feature documentary.

Synopsis

Beitar Jerusalem F.C. Beitar Jerusalem Football Club (), commonly known as Beitar Jerusalem () or simply Beitar (), is an Israeli professional association football, football club based in the city of Jerusalem, that plays in the Israeli Premier League, the top tie ...

is the most popular and controversial football team in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, the only club in the Premier League never to sign an Arab player. Midway through the 2012–13 season, a secretive transfer deal by the owner, Russian-Israeli oligarch Arcadi Gaydamak, brought two Muslim players from

Chechnya Chechnya, officially the Chechen Republic, is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia. It is situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, between the Caspian Sea and Black Sea. The republic forms a part of the North Caucasian Federa ...

. The deal inspired the most racist campaign in Israeli sport that sent the club spiralling out of control. One season in a life of this famed club is a story of Israeli society, personal identity, politics, money and a window into how racism is destroying a team and society from within.

Release

Maya Zinshtein at Other Israel Film Festival 2016

''Forever Pure'' premiered at the

Jerusalem Film Festival The Jerusalem Film Festival (, ) is an international film festival held annually in Jerusalem, It was established in 1984 by the Director of the Jerusalem Cinematheque and Israeli Film Archive, Lia van Leer, Lia Van Leer, and has since become th ...

on , 2016. The film competed in the documentary section, and it won The Van Leer Award for Best Director of a Documentary, The Haggiag Award for Best Editing and The Jewish Experience Awards – Honorable Mention. The film then went on to have its International première at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

Reception

Critical reception

''Forever Pure'' received critical acclaim. Review aggregation website

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 ...

certified the film as "fresh" with a score of 94%. Wendy Ide found the film to be an "''eye-opening documentary that traces the tumultuous 2012-13 season, during which the political affiliations of a vocal group of the team's loyal fans threatened to tear the club to pieces... high quality-piece of factual filmmaking.""

Accolades

After airing in the United States on the PBS series ''

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 ...

'', ''Forever Pure'' won a

in 2018 for Outstanding Politics and Government Documentary.

References

External links

Official Website for the film
* * * {{authority control 2016 documentary films 2016 films 2010s Hebrew-language films Israeli independent films Football in Israel Israeli documentary films 2016 independent films Documentary films about association football Films scored by Stephen Rennicks