Award-winning ‘Son of Hamas’ documentary to be adapted to Hollywood film

 

Based on Israeli director Nadav Schirman’s Sundance-winning documentary ‘The Green Prince’, “Son of Hamas” will be made for the Silver Screen

 

 

The true story of the son of a Hamas leader who turned against his family in the service of the Shin Bet will be adapted for the silver screen.

Still from 'The Green Prince'

Still from ‘The Green Prince’. – Photo Sundance Institute

The feature film will be based on the award-winning Israeli documentary “The Green Prince,” which tells the story of Mosab Hassan Yousef – the son of a top Hamas leader who turned into an Israeli agent. Directed by Nadav Schirman, “The Green Price” clinched the Audience Award for at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

The film is being developed by Electric City Entertainment along with Richard Harding and Sam Feuer. John Battsek and Simon Chinn (“Searching for Sugar man”) will executive produce along with Schirman, The Warp reported over the weekend.

Yousef gained fame when he divulged in a 2010 interview with Haaretz that he had informed on Hamas’ militant activities from 1997 through 2007. Months after the interview, his memoir “Son of Hamas” was published.

During the time he was living a double life Yousef converted to Christianity. Later he moved to San Diego, where he avoided deportation from the United States largely on the strength of the testimony of his one-time Shin Bet handler. Agent Gonen Ben-Yitzhak revealed his own identity so he could testify on Yousef’s behalf, calling him a “true friend” who “risked his life every day in order to prevent violence.”

Schirman’s previous films include “The Champagne Spy,” which features Mossad agents testifying on camera. It won an Ophir Award, known as the “Israeli Oscar,” for best documentary film.

 

View original HAARETZ publication at: http://www.haaretz.com/life/movies-television/1.585351