This film biography began shooting in close cooperation with Mr. Peres in early 2016, several months before his death. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate, two-time Prime Minister and ninth President of the State of Israel, gave Academy Award® winning writer and director Richard Trank, executive producer of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Moriah Films, and his crew more than 50 hours of archival interviews examining his life.
Peres walked the crew through his childhood in Belarus and his teenage years in British Mandate Palestine, the years he first became involved in politics, meeting his mentor David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister, and more.
Among the topics President Peres discussed in depth were the period in which he helped to build Israel's military and nuclear program; the Six Day and Yom Kippur wars; the role he played in 1976 organizing Israel’s heroic rescue of hostages in Entebbe; and his many hours focused on the Oslo Peace Accords. Peres also reflected on his legacy, on his belief that Israel's advances in technology and science will ultimately bring peace to the Middle East and why his optimism never wavered.
