1 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:17,800 Hello everyone and welcome back to people Jew want to know 2 00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:20,360 podcast. Today's conversation features 3 00:00:20,360 --> 00:00:24,840 one of our community's most underrated dark horse badass 4 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:28,440 individuals, Neil Friedman. Neil is the founder and 5 00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:31,600 president of Minutia Films, AUS based distribution and 6 00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:34,920 international sales company, as well as High Flix, the world's 7 00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:37,600 largest streaming platform dedicated to Jewish content 8 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:40,400 around the globe. You might be thinking, wait, we 9 00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:43,360 have a separate streaming service just for Jewish TV and 10 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:45,480 film? And the answer is yes, it's High 11 00:00:45,480 --> 00:00:47,240 Flix. If you'd like to try out High 12 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:50,440 Flix, I have a special promo code in the show notes of this 13 00:00:50,440 --> 00:00:53,840 episode where you can redeem a whole year of the service for 14 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:56,840 just $36. It's a great way to support an 15 00:00:56,840 --> 00:00:59,680 up and coming Jewish business and see what amazing Jewish 16 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:03,040 shows and film we have. I was skeptical myself at first, 17 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:06,240 like why we need a separate streaming service, but now that 18 00:01:06,240 --> 00:01:08,880 I've had it for three months, I want to say it's somewhat of a 19 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:11,480 hidden gem. And this is generally Neil's 20 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:14,080 claim to fame. He discovers hidden gems and 21 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:18,440 masterpieces and develops them. Neil has had Menemsha since 1998 22 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:21,760 and has set a record by representing 5 Academy Award 23 00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:25,120 nominees five years in a row. Those nominees are all 24 00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:28,160 international, including films from Canada, Argentina, Czech 25 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:31,160 Republic and others. High Flix was founded in 2020 26 00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:34,560 and showcases exclusive content featuring Jewish life in all its 27 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:37,720 ways, with award-winning and critically acclaimed series such 28 00:01:37,720 --> 00:01:41,040 as The New Black, The Lesson, Stissel The Chef and many 29 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:43,120 others. I have to say that I was really 30 00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:47,120 inspired by this episode. Firstly, Neil has kind of the 31 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:50,360 same effect that Julie Smelansky had on me when I spoke to her. 32 00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:54,760 They pushed me to like have this inner drive to just hustle. 33 00:01:55,160 --> 00:01:58,400 Neil is emblematic of Jewish ingenuity, creative problem 34 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:01,800 solving, and a desire to do what's right, even when it 35 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:04,240 sometimes means swimming upstream, if you will. 36 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:07,480 We often talk about Hollywood and how they've let the Jewish 37 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:10,240 community down. Thankfully, we have people like 38 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:12,960 Neil holding down the Fort for us and representing us in a 39 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:16,080 steadfast way in Hollywood. Would love your thoughts on this 40 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:18,280 episode. I really enjoyed it so much and 41 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:20,680 I hope you do too. Hey Neil, welcome to people. 42 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:24,240 Do you want to know podcast? Thank you, Margarita, very happy 43 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:25,840 to be here. Where are you based? 44 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:27,080 You look like you're in an office. 45 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:30,400 Yeah, I'm in Los Angeles. I'm originally from New York, 46 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:33,440 but I've been here since 1988. Oh wow. 47 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:37,280 Yeah, so it's hot Hollywood. OK, amazing. 48 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:39,200 That's what brought me here, Hollywood. 49 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:42,040 Makes sense. Please tell us about yourself. 50 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:43,600 What do you do and how did you get there? 51 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:48,120 I started out as a lawyer in New York on Park Ave. as a corporate 52 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:50,080 lawyer and then it became an entertainment lawyer. 53 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:54,480 Has worked for the first four or five years of my my career as a 54 00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:56,800 lawyer. And then I was hired by film 55 00:02:56,800 --> 00:03:00,720 companies to to run business affairs for for those companies. 56 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:04,320 Two of which one is Vestron, which is based in Connecticut, 57 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:08,560 was the premier DVD distributor when DVD was at his high point. 58 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:13,240 And then I moved over to New Line Cinema, which people know, 59 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:16,360 and spent about a year and a half there. 60 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:20,800 But on one of my trips to Los Angeles for work, I got 61 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:24,240 approached by a lawyer that I had just recently done a deal 62 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:26,520 with, who asked if I'd be interested in working at 63 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:30,600 Columbia Pictures slash Tristar Pictures and running Frank 64 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:34,520 Price's company at Tristar. And I said yes. 65 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:41,320 And I got on a plane and moved 3000 miles first day at the 66 00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:44,560 studio, which I hadn't been and never been to a studio prior. 67 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:48,320 I drove into what I thought would be my parking area and 68 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:50,800 then I looked down and I saw my name on the on the on the 69 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:52,680 parking spot. So I knew it was in the right 70 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:54,440 area. That's very fancy. 71 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:57,920 Yeah, and I had a bathroom with a phone in it that's probably as 72 00:03:57,920 --> 00:03:59,720 big as the office that I'm working in now. 73 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:03,320 It was just, you know, it was too much for me, really. 74 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:06,680 You know, the studio world is so different from the independent 75 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:09,640 world. And I stayed there for four or 76 00:04:09,640 --> 00:04:13,320 five years working with Frank in this independent company. 77 00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:17,720 And then when Frank was made head of Columbia Pictures, after 78 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:22,640 Guber Peters and Sony bought Columbia Pictures, I stayed with 79 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:24,440 him as a business affairs executive. 80 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:28,560 From there, I I was hired by Ed Pressman Films to run his 81 00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:32,200 company for 5 1/2 years when we made 16 movies with a very 82 00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:34,840 strong period. I financed every one of those 83 00:04:34,840 --> 00:04:38,600 movies. We had a it was a terrific 84 00:04:38,840 --> 00:04:42,280 period of time when, you know, independent was really at its 85 00:04:42,280 --> 00:04:44,880 height. Then I, William Morris reached 86 00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:48,240 out to me and I worked there for two years as Co head of the 87 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:51,440 independent film division. And then I had a big choice to 88 00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:54,440 make Margarita. I was, I think I was in my late 89 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:59,880 40s and I said to myself, well, this is the time you're going to 90 00:04:59,880 --> 00:05:02,360 either work for, continue to work for somebody else for the 91 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:04,520 rest of your life or you're going to start your own company. 92 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:08,960 And I had a grandfather that came in from Germany in the 93 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:13,720 191880 era era who started a family business. 94 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:15,960 And you know, that was in my stomach. 95 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:18,920 And I said, OK, I'm going to, I'm going to start Minamsha 96 00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:23,320 Films. And we started in 1998 Minamsha 97 00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:25,080 Films. And then the first five years we 98 00:05:25,080 --> 00:05:26,880 were international sales company. 99 00:05:28,280 --> 00:05:30,960 Crazy enough, each of the five years that we were an 100 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:34,040 international sales company, we had an Oscar nominated film. 101 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:38,080 That's, you know, probably mostly luck in some good sense 102 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:41,560 on my part. My daughter was growing up and, 103 00:05:41,920 --> 00:05:43,400 you know, I wanted to stay off airplanes. 104 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:48,360 So I flipped into being a North American distributor and I had 105 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:51,360 sold every film that we were working on internationally to 106 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:53,880 Sony classics. And I sort of watched their 107 00:05:53,880 --> 00:05:55,920 pattern and how they released art films. 108 00:05:56,680 --> 00:05:59,360 And I, I just taught myself once we started. 109 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:02,480 And I was very lucky to get a film called Gloomy Sunday in the 110 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:07,080 second year of our existence that did $1.5 million at the box 111 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:08,400 office. I don't know how I did it, but 112 00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:10,800 it was a big success. I guess I chose the right movie. 113 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:12,680 Oh my gosh. Yeah. 114 00:06:13,560 --> 00:06:18,520 This is so fascinating because what are the skills that like? 115 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:20,800 At some point you have to pivot your skill set because what you 116 00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:24,040 learned in law, you had to learn a bunch of new skills to do what 117 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:25,600 you do now. It's more like business 118 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:28,800 development is deal making. It's intuition around what's 119 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:31,640 going to make good art. How do you think you learn this 120 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:34,000 along the way? It's a perfect question to ask 121 00:06:34,080 --> 00:06:38,000 because I was always asking myself that question, am I going 122 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:42,080 to go move from being a business person to be being a creative 123 00:06:42,080 --> 00:06:44,600 person? And obviously I had my doubts 124 00:06:44,600 --> 00:06:48,040 because I've never done that. I think the big transition for 125 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:49,880 me was the experience of William Morris. 126 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:54,080 You know, that was reading scripts, that was working with 127 00:06:54,200 --> 00:06:56,560 people in the, in the independent film industry, 128 00:06:56,880 --> 00:07:02,720 putting films together. And I allowed myself to that 129 00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:07,480 period to, to grow. And I financed a couple of 130 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:10,880 films, one for Bruce Willis. And, you know, so it made some 131 00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:15,240 sales at Sundance. And I started to think that, you 132 00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:17,440 know, this is something that I maybe could do. 133 00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:20,840 And the first step I took when I started the company was very 134 00:07:20,840 --> 00:07:24,080 much what I did for AD Pressman, which was to finance a film, 135 00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:26,440 mostly internationally. I mean, we sold The Crow. 136 00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:29,280 Remember that film of Brandon Lease, you know, obvious 137 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:31,680 horrible passing during the film. 138 00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:36,520 I financed the film by getting on the phone and calling, you 139 00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:39,160 know, different companies in Europe because we had a sales 140 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:40,880 company that was going to work on that film. 141 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:44,840 And all of a sudden we realized that we, we, we hired somebody 142 00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:47,360 who wasn't getting the job done. So I picked, I had to pick up 143 00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:51,280 the the ball from there and I was able to finance the crow. 144 00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:54,760 And from there, I started to develop relationships in the 145 00:07:54,760 --> 00:07:58,640 International Film business where I could be very successful 146 00:07:58,640 --> 00:08:01,640 in terms of financing films. That was really my expertise 147 00:08:01,640 --> 00:08:05,040 because I did that for 5 1/2 years there and I did that at 148 00:08:05,040 --> 00:08:08,200 William Mars. But in selling those, those 149 00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:11,400 international, the films to international, you, you got, you 150 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:15,120 start reading scripts because you need to be able to sell and 151 00:08:15,160 --> 00:08:19,320 soft sell is what I, I do and present the film in a way that 152 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:22,680 somebody would be comfortable, you know, putting your money 153 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:26,680 where their mouth is. So and then I, instead of going 154 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:30,640 right into the US distribution, I, I just picked up and became a 155 00:08:30,760 --> 00:08:34,640 international sales agent mostly of European films because that 156 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:39,360 was where my heart was. And through that process I 157 00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:44,080 developed again into learning more about the creative side of 158 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:48,480 the business. And when I picked up in 2003 and 159 00:08:48,480 --> 00:08:53,080 became AUS distributor, I slowly, quickly needed to grow 160 00:08:53,080 --> 00:08:55,400 as a creative executive. I think I had crossed the line 161 00:08:55,400 --> 00:08:58,720 by that point. And I would watch film and read 162 00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:03,160 scripts and, and teach myself. And what's interesting about 163 00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:07,200 that was I was, I was very good at art house distribution, but I 164 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:10,600 realized one thing, I was going to be really good at art house 165 00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:12,440 distribution of Jewish films. What? 166 00:09:12,440 --> 00:09:13,840 Was that why do you think? Yeah. 167 00:09:14,120 --> 00:09:18,480 I think it's just family. My, you know, it's funny, I come 168 00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:21,320 from a very middle class family in, in Little Neck, NY in New 169 00:09:21,320 --> 00:09:23,160 York. And my parents would go to a 170 00:09:23,160 --> 00:09:25,400 different art film every day of the weekend. 171 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:28,240 And when I was beginning the business, I would actually go to 172 00:09:28,240 --> 00:09:31,000 my parents and send them four or five links to films that I was 173 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:33,000 considering. And they were the ones that said 174 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:35,680 you should, you've got to release this film Gloomy Sunday. 175 00:09:35,880 --> 00:09:40,160 That's the one in 2004. So I take credit my parents for, 176 00:09:41,640 --> 00:09:45,520 you know, getting us started by picking the right film and you 177 00:09:45,520 --> 00:09:47,600 know, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. 178 00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:50,760 And I saw in the marketplace for art house films that there 179 00:09:50,760 --> 00:09:56,200 really wasn't anybody doing that really knew as what I thought I 180 00:09:56,200 --> 00:10:00,160 knew more than anybody else, which was the Jewish market. 181 00:10:00,920 --> 00:10:04,440 And then in 2012, we became exclusively a Jewish distributor 182 00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:05,640 and have been ever since. I. 183 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:08,200 Want you to tell me a little bit about High Flex. 184 00:10:08,880 --> 00:10:12,720 Yeah, this is a very interesting concept, You know, a streaming 185 00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:16,200 platform dedicated to just Jewish film. 186 00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:19,760 Talk to me about that. Didn't happen with the idea that 187 00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:24,040 I wanted to be a conglomerate or, or you know, a big guy. 188 00:10:24,480 --> 00:10:30,520 It came out of the fact that we had three films in 2018 and 2019 189 00:10:30,720 --> 00:10:32,240 that we distributed from Minamsha. 190 00:10:32,760 --> 00:10:38,160 That crossed $1,000,000, which is, you know, quite phenomenal 191 00:10:38,280 --> 00:10:40,280 for, you know, three films in a row by the way. 192 00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:44,280 And the third that was the threshold for making a deal to 193 00:10:44,280 --> 00:10:47,200 Netflix. That was the known in the 194 00:10:47,200 --> 00:10:50,120 marketplace and the 1st 2 sold to Netflix. 195 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:53,840 And the third film, which is 1945, which is a black and white 196 00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:58,160 Hungarian film that we went over $1,000,000 with, which is 197 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:00,720 incredible to think that you can do that with a Hungarian black 198 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:03,280 and white film. It was the best of the three, 199 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:06,280 you know, in terms of quality. They had already evolved to the 200 00:11:06,280 --> 00:11:10,200 point where they were interested less in independent films for 201 00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:13,040 the channel. And I love this film so much. 202 00:11:13,040 --> 00:11:16,840 I said I'm not going to rely on Netflix where they say yes or 203 00:11:16,840 --> 00:11:20,440 no, a thumbs up or thumbs down. I want to start my own streaming 204 00:11:20,440 --> 00:11:22,680 service and I want to start a Jewish streaming service as an 205 00:11:22,680 --> 00:11:24,240 adjunct to what I was doing at Minutia. 206 00:11:24,360 --> 00:11:29,360 So when we had about 120 Jewish themed movies in our library and 207 00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:32,800 immediately the first week of the pandemic we started High 208 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:35,360 flex, we put up 40 of our minutiae titles. 209 00:11:35,360 --> 00:11:37,840 And such good timing. What were people doing? 210 00:11:37,840 --> 00:11:39,480 They were sitting at home. Right. 211 00:11:39,480 --> 00:11:41,800 We were ready. In other words, we didn't react 212 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:44,520 to the pandemic. We were ready to go and we have 213 00:11:44,520 --> 00:11:46,440 business plans. We were ready to go anyway. 214 00:11:46,440 --> 00:11:49,440 And when the pandemic hit and said we got to do this now. 215 00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:53,920 So that's what started High Flex in 2021. 216 00:11:54,200 --> 00:11:58,920 This is like such an interesting story of prudent business sense 217 00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:04,400 and also luck and divine timing. It's really incredible to hear 218 00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:07,840 you talk about. And the more you learn about, 219 00:12:08,040 --> 00:12:12,120 you know, people like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates and Elon Musk, 220 00:12:12,160 --> 00:12:15,240 all of them will say definitively, it's always having 221 00:12:15,280 --> 00:12:17,040 good business sense. But also. 222 00:12:17,040 --> 00:12:19,320 Luck. I say it every single time. 223 00:12:20,400 --> 00:12:25,680 See, the thing for me was that, you know, streaming is mostly TV 224 00:12:25,680 --> 00:12:28,600 series and I had never been in the TV business. 225 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:30,760 I've been in a little a little bit in the TV business because I 226 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:34,880 handled the Crow as ATV series for for Ed Pressman. 227 00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:38,400 But in essence, I knew nothing about the TV business. 228 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:42,400 So, and I needed to know not only TV business, but I needed 229 00:12:42,400 --> 00:12:46,000 to know the Jewish TV business, you know, Jewish subject matter. 230 00:12:46,520 --> 00:12:49,040 And I spent like 6 months watching everything I could 231 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:51,360 watch, you know, from Israel and from around the world. 232 00:12:51,680 --> 00:12:55,160 And I felt that after about six months, I just go with my 233 00:12:55,160 --> 00:12:57,200 stomach. And, and what had been 234 00:12:57,200 --> 00:13:01,080 successful for us at Menemsha, having seven films that did over 235 00:13:01,080 --> 00:13:06,760 $1,000,000 transferred over in terms of my talent to TV series 236 00:13:06,760 --> 00:13:09,800 that I thought would, you know, be successful on, on High Flix. 237 00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:13,120 We're very lucky. Margarita, the first acquisition 238 00:13:13,120 --> 00:13:16,400 we made after those Manemptia films went on is a series from 239 00:13:16,400 --> 00:13:18,560 Israel called Shabbat Nakimo, the New Black. 240 00:13:19,600 --> 00:13:21,880 It's like Entourage in a, in a yeshiva. 241 00:13:22,560 --> 00:13:26,040 And I think we have three, if not Four Seasons of that. 242 00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:29,240 And it was the first acquisition and it's still the biggest hit 243 00:13:29,240 --> 00:13:32,280 we have on the Chi Flicks. The first time I came across 244 00:13:32,280 --> 00:13:35,440 Menemsha films because I don't operate in this world, so it's 245 00:13:35,840 --> 00:13:38,360 my own lack of knowledge, not because it's not, you know, out 246 00:13:38,360 --> 00:13:40,760 and about. Was I watched bad Shabbos 247 00:13:40,760 --> 00:13:45,520 because it was on Netflix and I had seen a couple like 248 00:13:45,520 --> 00:13:48,120 influencers I follow post about or maybe there was a release 249 00:13:48,120 --> 00:13:51,640 party and this wasn't typically something I gravitate towards. 250 00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:54,520 I don't watch a lot of films and TV to begin with. 251 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:59,680 I try to like create more than I consume and I I watched this 252 00:13:59,680 --> 00:14:03,400 movie with no expectations and I was so blown away. 253 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:06,880 And I was trying to leading up to this conversation with you 254 00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:09,400 and I was thinking about like, what was it about Bad shop? 255 00:14:09,400 --> 00:14:12,600 Is that like I liked so much? Aside from the fact that the 256 00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:17,560 comedic writing is strong, what meant the most to me that I 257 00:14:17,560 --> 00:14:21,720 often feel gets overlooked by like General Hollywood if you 258 00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:26,440 will, is the Jews were not portrayed as victims. 259 00:14:26,800 --> 00:14:32,560 They were not portrayed as weak, in need of a righteous Gentile 260 00:14:32,560 --> 00:14:36,800 to step in and give them a safety net, which was a contrast 261 00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:39,560 to what I had seen on Nobody Wants This. 262 00:14:39,560 --> 00:14:44,080 Where these Jewish characters have like no identity of their 263 00:14:44,080 --> 00:14:48,200 own and Shabbat is just a feeling and being Jewish is, you 264 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:51,120 know, eating holla. Something about Bad Shop is 265 00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:55,560 there's just an anchor, a clear, unapologetic Jewish anchor that 266 00:14:55,560 --> 00:14:59,720 I saw that I think rings true through almost every piece of 267 00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:02,640 content that you have on high flicks and the audience that you 268 00:15:02,640 --> 00:15:05,360 reach. It's not just they ask for Jews. 269 00:15:05,360 --> 00:15:09,760 You have meaningful content for Orthodox Jews, for anywhere in 270 00:15:09,760 --> 00:15:13,600 the world, for European Jews. And this is exactly kind of like 271 00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:17,400 the way I see the future of Jewish storytelling being told. 272 00:15:18,440 --> 00:15:21,800 I'm wondering what's your take like looking at Hollywood for so 273 00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:25,040 many years, how do you think Jewish storytelling should look 274 00:15:25,200 --> 00:15:27,880 in 2026? Well, I think Bad Chavez is a 275 00:15:27,880 --> 00:15:31,280 very good example what Jewish storytelling should be it 276 00:15:31,400 --> 00:15:34,960 obviously it should be diverse. I mean, we acquire films from 277 00:15:35,040 --> 00:15:38,320 every part of the globe. I think we're in acquired films 278 00:15:38,320 --> 00:15:41,640 from six of the seven continents, Antarctica being the 279 00:15:41,640 --> 00:15:43,840 one we haven't yet acquired film from. 280 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:46,640 And the idea is never do the same thing twice. 281 00:15:46,760 --> 00:15:49,800 They had Shabbos, the two writers or Modern Orthodox. 282 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:53,560 It's so so they they knew the territory and there's some very 283 00:15:53,840 --> 00:15:57,600 religious side aspects of the film that are specific to 284 00:15:57,800 --> 00:16:00,720 someone knowledge having gone to yeshiva. 285 00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:03,920 Yeah, like it'll go over your head if you don't know it. 286 00:16:03,920 --> 00:16:06,080 Exactly. So it's the real deal. 287 00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:09,960 You know, it's, it's a level beyond just a, any of the TV 288 00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:13,360 shows that are light and fluffy. But the, the thing that I think 289 00:16:13,360 --> 00:16:15,600 there's two things that really work for bad shops. 290 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:19,080 It was very funny. And it was a family and it was a 291 00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:22,680 real family where not everybody got along with the parents. 292 00:16:22,680 --> 00:16:25,440 Everybody had a different personality, but they sort of, 293 00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:28,320 they loved each other. And there was this, you know, 33 294 00:16:28,320 --> 00:16:31,120 kids and each of them were different and they each had 295 00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:33,520 different relationships with their parents and they each had 296 00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:36,040 different, you know, partners, girlfriends or boyfriends. 297 00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:39,440 And obviously it's about an interfaith marriage, which is, 298 00:16:39,520 --> 00:16:42,520 you know, shocking to Kyra Sedgwick as the mother of the 299 00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:45,000 family. And the obviously the leader of 300 00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:48,840 the of the if you see the film, she's the strongest parent in of 301 00:16:48,840 --> 00:16:52,000 the two. And she did a fantastic 302 00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:55,280 performance. But that that was luck. 303 00:16:55,520 --> 00:16:57,520 OK. I love the film. 304 00:16:57,720 --> 00:16:59,720 That's the first thing you have to say to yourself. 305 00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:03,320 I had it. And also I had a very, I had 306 00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:05,680 done this with many Jewish films. 307 00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:08,680 I wanted to start in South Florida because in the winter 308 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:12,280 months when the population double s in the winter months. 309 00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:15,800 So we started in December and we ran all the way through into 310 00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:19,720 Pesach in South Florida. The great news about and we ran 311 00:17:19,720 --> 00:17:23,359 17 weeks in the same theater and in other theaters as well. 312 00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:26,720 The great thing about that strategy is that those people go 313 00:17:26,720 --> 00:17:30,880 up north, you know, just for Pesach or just after Pesach. 314 00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:34,840 So when we released the film in May in New York, Boston, 315 00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:37,560 Chicago, Philadelphia, etcetera, etcetera, the word of mouth had 316 00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:40,920 already been there and they had, we had played the film festivals 317 00:17:40,920 --> 00:17:44,960 there. And there's a great idea behind 318 00:17:45,040 --> 00:17:49,360 the success of Badshah was the world is tough these days and is 319 00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:53,320 mostly bad news for going on around, especially for the 320 00:17:53,320 --> 00:17:58,160 Jewish world with the troubles, you know, in Israel, other 321 00:17:58,160 --> 00:18:00,480 issues that you know, I don't have to get specific about. 322 00:18:00,760 --> 00:18:05,160 So people needed the release and laughter is a release and one 323 00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:07,560 when people get together in a cinema. 324 00:18:08,920 --> 00:18:13,080 Laughter is contagious and that's what made this film 325 00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:16,560 really work. We played 19 weeks consecutive 326 00:18:16,600 --> 00:18:19,960 at the Quad, the second highest grossing film in the history of 327 00:18:19,960 --> 00:18:22,240 the Quad. And you know, it's like, you 328 00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:23,360 know, who would have thought this? 329 00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:27,720 You know, we did $1.5 million with the film, which you know, 330 00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:30,040 is the highest grossing film we've ever had. 331 00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:34,920 I never expected that, but it caught on like wildfire, you 332 00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:38,200 know, everywhere. And people just enjoyed it and 333 00:18:38,200 --> 00:18:41,640 they, they really needed that relief from the day-to-day news 334 00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:45,560 cycle and, and to be, to be able to get away from it. 335 00:18:46,440 --> 00:18:49,000 I think of that, all those musicals that were made in the 336 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:53,000 30s, you know, during the Depression that got you, you 337 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:55,520 know, not thinking about the reality. 338 00:18:55,520 --> 00:18:58,680 That's what laughter does, too. It really is like, you know, 339 00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:01,120 when you think about post Holocaust, when all those Jews 340 00:19:01,120 --> 00:19:04,360 came to New York and they were discriminated against and they 341 00:19:04,360 --> 00:19:06,280 started their own. Like that's how Hollywood was 342 00:19:06,280 --> 00:19:07,920 built. You're building the next 343 00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:10,720 iteration of that just for our generation. 344 00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:14,760 You know, when certain doors close, you go and you make your 345 00:19:14,760 --> 00:19:17,800 own streaming platform. When streamers don't want to 346 00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:20,760 stream films or shows, you go and you start something 347 00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:22,760 independent. And it's really like, it's so 348 00:19:23,040 --> 00:19:25,080 inspiring. As you were talking, I was 349 00:19:25,080 --> 00:19:29,000 thinking about like, so I come from an Eastern European family 350 00:19:29,600 --> 00:19:32,480 where my dad, for example, he's a very quintessential Eastern 351 00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:34,760 European man. Like he's not going to say I 352 00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:37,680 love you. Maybe he'll give you a hug, but 353 00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:41,000 very warm on the inside. But like outwardly Eastern 354 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:46,720 European and the love language that I have with my dad is 355 00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:51,680 anytime he wants to show me that he cares about me, he calls me 356 00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:55,480 to recommend a movie he's seen that he's liked and I do the 357 00:19:55,480 --> 00:19:57,320 same. So anytime I'm like, I'm 358 00:19:57,320 --> 00:19:59,800 thinking of you. If I've seen a movie that I 359 00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:04,160 would like, I call him. And so bad Shabbos was a film 360 00:20:04,160 --> 00:20:07,560 that I called my dad about to say you and mom got to sit down 361 00:20:07,560 --> 00:20:09,600 and watch this. It was one of the few times that 362 00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:13,080 I audibly laughed recently watching something, and that 363 00:20:13,080 --> 00:20:15,360 movie will forever have kind of that like. 364 00:20:16,280 --> 00:20:19,760 A little bookmark or I guess side note that that was one of 365 00:20:19,760 --> 00:20:21,800 the films that I called to ask my dad about. 366 00:20:21,800 --> 00:20:24,040 And actually, as I'm thinking about it, I spoke to him on the 367 00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:27,160 phone the other day and he was like, what movies have you 368 00:20:27,160 --> 00:20:28,480 watched recently? Right. 369 00:20:29,360 --> 00:20:31,600 Right, yes. So the, the, the point you're 370 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:35,240 making is exactly what we hoped for with the Jewish film because 371 00:20:35,240 --> 00:20:37,200 people, you know, Jews have their own, you know, 372 00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:39,960 conversations with other Jews and family members. 373 00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:43,440 But we never expected to go that far where it became, you know, 374 00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:48,240 extra special, you know, I had targeted $1,000,000 box office 375 00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:52,480 and we end up at 1,000,005, which it sounds like it's close 376 00:20:52,560 --> 00:20:55,760 1,000,005 and a million. But realized today people don't 377 00:20:55,760 --> 00:20:58,600 go to the cinema generally speaking, especially the older 378 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:02,640 audience. So $500,000 more is, is really a 379 00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:06,200 lot now because you got to get people off their couches to get 380 00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:08,120 into the cinema. And, and it was mostly played to 381 00:21:08,120 --> 00:21:10,440 an older audience, some younger audience. 382 00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:13,960 But we're working to, to have a younger audience, by the way, 383 00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:16,680 because we know we need to have a younger audience both at 384 00:21:16,680 --> 00:21:19,520 Menemsha and in Highflex. But I have another film we're 385 00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:22,080 releasing called We Met at Grossingers, which is all about, 386 00:21:22,160 --> 00:21:26,080 you know, the Catskills and why. And when Jews couldn't were not 387 00:21:26,400 --> 00:21:30,400 accepted at resorts in the Adirondacks in New York, they 388 00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:33,040 started their own resorts. It's the same idea. 389 00:21:33,520 --> 00:21:37,160 And what the Grossinger family did is shown in this film that 390 00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:41,480 we're releasing in in next year, the end of this year actually, 391 00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:43,600 And it's the same thing all over again. 392 00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:47,680 Instead of, you know, say woes me, you know, I'm getting all 393 00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:50,520 this anti-Semitism. So you pick up yourself by the 394 00:21:50,520 --> 00:21:53,040 boots, by your bootstraps and and you go and make something 395 00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:55,280 happen. As an immigrant, that really, 396 00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:57,680 really resonates with me. I completely agree. 397 00:21:57,720 --> 00:22:01,040 And it's really going to take each one of us to step up 398 00:22:01,040 --> 00:22:03,680 because that that's how the Jews do it. 399 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:05,840 I wish there was an easier path, right? 400 00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:08,920 I wish it didn't have to be this way, but this is our 401 00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:11,840 responsibility to our community and to ourselves. 402 00:22:12,560 --> 00:22:17,280 You have kids, and I'm curious to know how you're talking to 403 00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:21,240 them about this historic time that we're in as a Jewish 404 00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:23,360 people. I mostly do it through film. 405 00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:26,360 Do you also call your kids and tell them to watch certain? 406 00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:29,320 Movies. My daughter lives in Brooklyn. 407 00:22:29,320 --> 00:22:32,680 She's a set designer, so and I think our tastes are pretty 408 00:22:32,680 --> 00:22:35,280 similar. Some, you know, and her mom is a 409 00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:38,680 director. I'm a film distributor, so I 410 00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:40,280 didn't want her to go into the film business. 411 00:22:40,280 --> 00:22:43,760 But it sounded like with those two people as your parents and 412 00:22:43,760 --> 00:22:47,560 having seen a lot of films with your parents, it was absolutely 413 00:22:47,560 --> 00:22:49,960 destined that she was going to be in be part of the film 414 00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:52,760 industry. So, you know, she's a production 415 00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:56,040 designer, slash set designer, and she loves what she does, 416 00:22:56,040 --> 00:23:00,280 which she learned I think from each of us that the best thing 417 00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:02,120 you could do for a living is something you're really 418 00:23:02,120 --> 00:23:04,440 passionate about. And I, you know, you can tell 419 00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:06,520 from talking to me how passionate I am about this. 420 00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:08,080 And I, I feel like I'm on a mission. 421 00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:10,440 What do you think is next? What are you working? 422 00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:13,360 What are you hoping to achieve like in this next era? 423 00:23:13,480 --> 00:23:16,800 We want to grow high flex, OK, more and more. 424 00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:21,040 We're only in the English language world, US, Canada, UK, 425 00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:24,760 Australia, New Zealand, we're going to go worldwide for one. 426 00:23:25,360 --> 00:23:29,400 And we also have the same idea about high flex as we do about 427 00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:32,480 Minamsha. Just as an aside, Margarita, I 428 00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:35,080 think we have a film from every Eastern European country, 429 00:23:35,120 --> 00:23:40,440 Minamsha that were distributed. And that is part of my quest in 430 00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:43,960 finding, you know, wonderful films that other people are not 431 00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:47,320 looking at. I was interested in Hungarian 432 00:23:47,320 --> 00:23:49,640 Polish. We've got so every Eastern 433 00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:52,400 European country, you know, had been Oscar nominated, 434 00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:56,480 shortlisted. And, you know, it's just a style 435 00:23:56,480 --> 00:23:59,000 of filmmaking that you don't see in the US, generally speaking, 436 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:01,280 because it's, you know, historical in a lot of senses. 437 00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:04,800 And it tells me about my past, where I came from. 438 00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:08,560 That's really what you know the the part of this job is to 439 00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:10,120 understanding where you came from. 440 00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:14,080 There's something that feels flat about a lot of Hollywood, 441 00:24:14,520 --> 00:24:19,640 and I don't know when it went that way, but I think you're on 442 00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:22,120 to something with the fact that films that are made in other 443 00:24:22,120 --> 00:24:26,280 parts of the world, they perhaps have more substance and they 444 00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:30,400 demand more. They have less on the nose kind 445 00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:33,480 of messaging where you really have to pay close attention to 446 00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:36,560 see the through line. How I got lucky about that is 447 00:24:36,560 --> 00:24:39,680 the first three years of Minamsha we had a foreign 448 00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:44,760 language film that was nominated, one from Argentina 449 00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:49,640 and two from Czech. I've got about Czech and so I 450 00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:52,160 was introduced to that world very quickly. 451 00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:54,240 I was always interested in European cinema more than 452 00:24:54,240 --> 00:24:56,400 American cinema anyway, I'm old school. 453 00:24:56,400 --> 00:24:57,720 That's how I fell in love with cinema. 454 00:24:57,720 --> 00:25:01,480 So it's in terms of high flex. We want to have a series from 455 00:25:01,480 --> 00:25:03,760 every country in the world. We have Argentina, we have 456 00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:07,440 Switzerland, obviously we have a lot of Israeli series that's 457 00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:12,400 been very successful for us, Germany, France, Austria. 458 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:17,400 So it's part it has to be fun for for us too and searching 459 00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:21,000 around the world for, you know, Israel, I almost said the wrong 460 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:23,720 word. Jewish series and being a 461 00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:28,840 diaspora focused individual about storytelling from all over 462 00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:31,920 the world. That's something that I'm, you 463 00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:35,640 know, it's part of my growth in my in my education as I do this 464 00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:38,880 work and I and it's a learning. It's wonderful. 465 00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:41,480 You feel you start to understand more and more about where you 466 00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:43,200 came from. And one other thing that's 467 00:25:43,200 --> 00:25:46,200 really important for me, and I want to get this in, is that my 468 00:25:46,200 --> 00:25:50,880 great grandfather emigrated from Germany in 19801880. 469 00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:59,880 His first job was walking up fridges to ice boxes to the 470 00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:02,920 tenements as a salesman. So he would sell ice boxes to 471 00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:04,360 the people living in the tenements. 472 00:26:04,680 --> 00:26:06,440 Then he finally, this is a great story. 473 00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:11,520 He finally said, I wanted to get an office and it was very close 474 00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:13,480 to Chinatown. And they, they rented this 475 00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:16,960 office in, lo and behold, in the cupboards in Chinatown, in this 476 00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:20,680 new office for them, they opened up the cupboards and all it was 477 00:26:20,680 --> 00:26:24,960 all this China, you know. So they expanded into kitchen 478 00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:28,840 equipment supplies across the board and they became the 479 00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:31,600 biggest kitchen equipment supplier in the United States. 480 00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:34,520 Every kitchen equipment supplier is on the Bowery. 481 00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:37,120 And they were on what, Cooper Square? 482 00:26:37,720 --> 00:26:40,280 And I said, you talk about luck, OK? 483 00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:45,440 And so the Friedman storyline for my great grandfather was 484 00:26:45,800 --> 00:26:47,800 that. And I love the entrepreneur 485 00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:49,920 aspect of that. And that's what I always reach 486 00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:51,400 back to. I think of myself as an 487 00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:53,920 immigrant, no different than my great grandfather, and that's 488 00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:57,360 what motivates me a lot. You're an immigrant to LA from 489 00:26:57,360 --> 00:27:01,480 East to West. I'm wondering if there's a quote 490 00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:04,480 UN quote bad Jewish movie that you secretly love. 491 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:08,320 You know, I was thinking about that a long time, thinking that 492 00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:11,680 you might bring that up. I can't think of that of 1. 493 00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:15,080 You know, I, I, there's films that I love and and therefore I 494 00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:18,120 want to work on them, but I don't know that I've I've ever 495 00:27:18,120 --> 00:27:22,480 seen a what you would call a bad movie and that I secretly love. 496 00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:26,080 I'm not, you know, I think of myself as a curator, film 497 00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:28,640 scholar. So I can't, I couldn't come up 498 00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:30,960 with one actually in thinking about that. 499 00:27:31,160 --> 00:27:33,480 I was thinking about that question myself, honestly, like 500 00:27:33,480 --> 00:27:38,240 how I would answer it. So when nobody wants this came 501 00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:42,800 out with their second season, my Instagram page went viral 502 00:27:42,800 --> 00:27:47,080 because I tore into them. I will be honest with you, like 503 00:27:47,120 --> 00:27:50,400 it went really viral for the account size I had at the time. 504 00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:54,480 It was shared thousands of times what I posted and I talked 505 00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:57,680 about. Nobody wants this being like the 506 00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:00,520 modern day. Keeping the Faith with Ben 507 00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:06,360 Stiller and I referred to it as some Jewish guys wet dream about 508 00:28:06,680 --> 00:28:10,360 what they wish it was like to end up with a beautiful blonde 509 00:28:10,360 --> 00:28:14,480 bombshell whatever and not actually invest in understanding 510 00:28:14,480 --> 00:28:16,440 what is this heritage that somebody comes from. 511 00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:20,360 But I have to tell you, I enjoyed both Nobody Wants This 512 00:28:20,360 --> 00:28:24,240 and Keeping the Faith, and those are bad quote UN quote Jewish 513 00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:27,880 movies that I kind of liked. I didn't see keeping the faith, 514 00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:31,040 but I've seen nobody wants this. I couldn't keep up with it, so I 515 00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:32,640 watch everything. I think Jewish, by the way. 516 00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:34,600 You have to. It's like market research. 517 00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:37,920 Exactly, exactly. So anything on any channel or 518 00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:41,480 any streamer other than in addition to iflex, I'm going to 519 00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:44,320 watch just so I know what what the market is and and what's 520 00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:47,160 what's out there. I didn't respond to that series, 521 00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:50,080 but that's just just me. You know, I couldn't get through 522 00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:51,880 it, so I didn't watch the second season. 523 00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:55,600 So I'm not going to make any assumptions, but the reason that 524 00:28:55,600 --> 00:28:59,320 you, you and I probably had the same rationale, but I had to 525 00:28:59,320 --> 00:29:01,360 watch it because I wanted to make commentary on it. 526 00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:03,560 It makes for great content. So that's why I continue. 527 00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:05,360 And I understand. Yeah. 528 00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:07,840 If I I wanted to have a strong opinion on something, I needed 529 00:29:07,840 --> 00:29:09,920 to be able to say, like, I watched it start to finish. 530 00:29:10,600 --> 00:29:14,160 The other thing I was curious about is on your syllabus of, 531 00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:19,080 like, great film that young Jews need to see, kind of like 532 00:29:19,160 --> 00:29:21,120 reading, you know, great literature. 533 00:29:21,120 --> 00:29:23,320 What would you say? Well, I have a long list. 534 00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:25,280 OK, great. It doesn't have to be 3. 535 00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:27,240 Let's let's hear it. Yeah, I mean, we had a 536 00:29:27,240 --> 00:29:32,280 documentary called Rape Europa in 2007 or 6 or something like 537 00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:34,120 that. It was the first time that a 538 00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:39,280 film showed another side of the Nazi era which was theft, not 539 00:29:39,280 --> 00:29:41,360 killing. And art, right? 540 00:29:41,360 --> 00:29:43,200 Theft of art. Theft of art. 541 00:29:43,280 --> 00:29:46,360 And it all started in a book that was written in the 1990s by 542 00:29:46,360 --> 00:29:48,640 Lynn Nicholas. And then there was a documentary 543 00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:51,120 that acquired the rights to that book. 544 00:29:51,640 --> 00:29:54,400 And it was something that no, nobody knew about. 545 00:29:54,760 --> 00:29:56,600 Almost everybody didn't know about it. 546 00:29:57,080 --> 00:30:00,880 And it did $1.2 million at the box office and shortlisted for 547 00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:03,160 Oscar. And because everybody was so 548 00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:06,080 focused on the camps and the killing, they didn't know this 549 00:30:06,080 --> 00:30:10,600 other side of the Nazi era. And my eyes were just wide open 550 00:30:10,600 --> 00:30:12,560 about it. And I think it's a film that 551 00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:15,360 everybody should see because it's it's new information. 552 00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:19,280 Obviously Monuments Men, George Clooney did a film Monuments 553 00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:19,800 Men. After that. 554 00:30:19,800 --> 00:30:23,960 I take a little credit for Monuments Men being having been 555 00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:27,680 been financed and made because we crossed $1,000,000 with Rape 556 00:30:27,680 --> 00:30:30,440 Europa. And so it became something in 557 00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:33,040 the zeitgeist a bit. I have a film called, What I 558 00:30:33,040 --> 00:30:35,480 really love is a Mexican film called Nora's Will. 559 00:30:35,960 --> 00:30:40,520 It's about a Passover dinner prepared by a woman who used to 560 00:30:40,520 --> 00:30:44,760 be married to somebody who prepared it before she passed. 561 00:30:45,240 --> 00:30:49,040 And these all these clues around the apartment about how much 562 00:30:49,040 --> 00:30:51,800 family meant to her. It's a precious film. 563 00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:55,000 That's what I looked look to find these hidden gems. 564 00:30:55,080 --> 00:30:58,680 I mean, it's it's a small movie that we did I think $800,000 565 00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:00,920 with because it was so good. Obviously bad shot. 566 00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:03,760 Assuming that, you know, you don't get something just so 567 00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:05,120 straight down the middle like that. 568 00:31:05,240 --> 00:31:07,720 And you know, I'm proud of, I'm proud of other films. 569 00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:10,920 We have film, you probably should, I would recommend to 570 00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:13,920 you, Margarita, called Live and Become about the Ethiopian 571 00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:17,520 migration to it's a narrative film, the Ethiopian Jewish 572 00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:20,440 migration to Israel in 1990, Operation Moses. 573 00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:23,520 You know, it's a French film. You know, it's epic in scope. 574 00:31:23,840 --> 00:31:27,040 And that's also something I didn't know about until I saw 575 00:31:27,080 --> 00:31:28,600 that film. I had no idea about the 576 00:31:28,640 --> 00:31:30,720 Ethiopian. Now we're into all these Jewish 577 00:31:30,720 --> 00:31:33,880 communities in Africa that we're starting to be aware of that 578 00:31:33,880 --> 00:31:37,080 we're fascinated by Uganda and other places. 579 00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:40,160 So you know, you start to you learn more and more about your 580 00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:41,760 heritage. There was that one. 581 00:31:42,040 --> 00:31:44,920 It was either a show or a movie. It came out maybe 10 years ago, 582 00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:50,240 15 years ago, where the Israeli, the IDF soldiers pretended to be 583 00:31:50,240 --> 00:31:55,440 scuba dive instructors to rescue people on the border of either 584 00:31:55,440 --> 00:31:58,640 Egypt or somewhere in Africa. And that was so cool and I. 585 00:31:58,640 --> 00:31:59,880 Know the film you're talking about? 586 00:31:59,880 --> 00:32:02,320 I don't remember the title, but I know the film that you're 587 00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:04,520 talking about, you know, because I watch everything, right? 588 00:32:04,920 --> 00:32:08,120 So, and that was wonderful. You know, there's other films 589 00:32:08,120 --> 00:32:13,720 like Here's a Funny Story. We had the Israeli entry for 590 00:32:13,720 --> 00:32:17,440 Academy Awards this year, movie called The Sea, which is a 591 00:32:17,440 --> 00:32:22,000 Palestinian story, and it got a lot of Flack in Israel because 592 00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:26,040 it was a Palestinian story that became voted in as the Israeli 593 00:32:26,040 --> 00:32:29,680 entry. That never changed my opinion 594 00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:31,960 one iota. It was just the best film. 595 00:32:32,080 --> 00:32:35,280 It's the merit. That I'd ever seen, and I still 596 00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:38,200 abide by that. You know, one of the films that 597 00:32:38,200 --> 00:32:41,680 I saw in college, but The Bicycle Thief that got me 598 00:32:41,680 --> 00:32:44,360 excited about, you know, international or European films. 599 00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:46,880 This is along the lines of the Bicycle thief. 600 00:32:46,880 --> 00:32:51,520 That's how good, great it is. And, you know, we tried our best 601 00:32:51,520 --> 00:32:54,760 to get on the shortlist and and be be nominated and the film 602 00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:56,560 deserved that. Obviously it was an uphill 603 00:32:56,560 --> 00:33:00,880 struggle with with, you know, the, the taint on Israeli in the 604 00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:03,080 Academy, but it doesn't change my opinion. 605 00:33:03,400 --> 00:33:06,200 I I think the film is one of the greatest, you know, best films 606 00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:09,120 we've ever worked on. And by the way, raping Europa, 607 00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:12,840 when we started, we didn't get into any festivals and the film 608 00:33:12,840 --> 00:33:15,320 makers were saying to me, what's going on here, Neil? 609 00:33:15,320 --> 00:33:17,320 We didn't get into can, we didn't get into Berlin, we 610 00:33:17,320 --> 00:33:20,840 didn't get into to Telluride. What's, what's the story? 611 00:33:20,840 --> 00:33:24,960 I said, just take it. Trust me, this is a great film 612 00:33:25,560 --> 00:33:27,320 and it's going to find its level. 613 00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:30,800 Lo and behold, the film did $1.2 million and shortlisted for 614 00:33:30,800 --> 00:33:32,840 Oscar. So you know, you believe, you 615 00:33:32,840 --> 00:33:35,120 know, you do enough of this. You sort of, you have your 616 00:33:35,120 --> 00:33:38,240 opinion about what you think is, you know, viable and also what, 617 00:33:38,240 --> 00:33:40,160 what is great. And that's what you're trying to 618 00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:42,920 do all the time. Tell me, what is your message to 619 00:33:42,920 --> 00:33:45,280 Jewish people? It's all about storytelling. 620 00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:49,120 And every time you know, the Band's Visit, OK, that's, that's 621 00:33:49,120 --> 00:33:51,640 a story that, you know, that's a great example. 622 00:33:51,640 --> 00:33:54,440 We didn't distribute that movie, but it's it's a different story. 623 00:33:54,640 --> 00:33:57,080 So the diversity of the storytelling. 624 00:33:57,080 --> 00:33:58,600 Why? Because because Jews live in 625 00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:03,040 every part of the world, you know, we have Bulgarian films on 626 00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:07,520 our on high flex. We have a Argentinian series on 627 00:34:07,520 --> 00:34:11,719 high flex called Family Therapy. So we're still discovering and 628 00:34:11,719 --> 00:34:16,040 it'll never end. There's so many stories to tell. 629 00:34:16,719 --> 00:34:21,199 And one thing I have to say now is the Israeli television 630 00:34:21,400 --> 00:34:26,080 production and business is pound for pound, the best television 631 00:34:26,560 --> 00:34:28,239 production business in the world. 632 00:34:28,239 --> 00:34:31,639 I mean, the stories that come out of Israel and the series 633 00:34:31,639 --> 00:34:33,719 that have come out of Israel. And we all know the big ones, 634 00:34:34,280 --> 00:34:38,239 Schnitzel and Fauda. That's what got me to really, by 635 00:34:38,239 --> 00:34:42,199 the way, the notice that Fauda was so big, I guess on Netflix 636 00:34:42,199 --> 00:34:45,639 and and Schnitzel also, it gave me the courage to start Kai 637 00:34:45,639 --> 00:34:47,960 Flix. And I think, you know, we didn't 638 00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:52,080 do bad with Shabbat Nakim as as a starter, so we got lucky there 639 00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:53,080 too. And it is luck. 640 00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:57,680 Neil, this has been amazing. How can people connect with you 641 00:34:57,680 --> 00:35:00,080 and keep up with your work? Well, we have two companies. 642 00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:03,760 I hope that people understood that because I didn't really 643 00:35:04,040 --> 00:35:06,320 walk you through that. Minimptia Films is a North 644 00:35:06,320 --> 00:35:11,360 American theatrical distributor. So it's Minimptia films.com and 645 00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:13,720 we acquire Margarita. I hope you're sitting down. 646 00:35:14,200 --> 00:35:16,520 We acquire 17 to 20 movies a year. 647 00:35:16,840 --> 00:35:19,280 That's crazy because there are 17. 648 00:35:19,280 --> 00:35:22,600 That's how we want. We do it based on quality, so if 649 00:35:22,600 --> 00:35:26,440 one year there was only 13 films that we want to release, then 650 00:35:26,440 --> 00:35:28,800 we'd only pick up 13. But this past year we picked up 651 00:35:28,800 --> 00:35:32,040 17. And on High Flix, you know, it's 652 00:35:32,320 --> 00:35:37,320 high flix.com, you know, that's we, we've acquired a new series 653 00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:40,800 that we're really excited to announce and present to the 654 00:35:40,800 --> 00:35:42,840 world. And we're growing our marketing 655 00:35:42,840 --> 00:35:45,880 capabilities and we're going to go worldwide. 656 00:35:45,880 --> 00:35:48,960 And, you know, we're following in the footsteps of what 657 00:35:48,960 --> 00:35:52,640 Minamsha did, where it grew and grew its knowledge over years 658 00:35:52,640 --> 00:35:54,560 and years. And, you know, got to the point 659 00:35:54,560 --> 00:35:57,160 where, like I said, just before the pandemic, where we had three 660 00:35:57,160 --> 00:35:59,760 films in a row to $1,000,000. It's going to be a long, it's OK 661 00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:02,960 to go slow and grow a little bit at a time. 662 00:36:03,160 --> 00:36:05,000 And that's what we're doing. And we have more and more 663 00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:09,680 quality films and series. And the great part of my job is 664 00:36:10,720 --> 00:36:13,440 it's fun and it's, it's, I don't, I don't think of his 665 00:36:13,440 --> 00:36:16,120 work. I think of it as part of my, you 666 00:36:16,120 --> 00:36:20,880 know, my college PhD in Jewish studies, which by the way, I got 667 00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:22,280 a little quick little story to tell you. 668 00:36:23,040 --> 00:36:24,560 And people make fun of me for this. 669 00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:27,000 When I was at the University of Pennsylvania as a as an 670 00:36:27,080 --> 00:36:31,440 undergraduate, I made, I was a double major in ethnicity and 671 00:36:31,440 --> 00:36:36,360 film at the age of 19. I'm now 72 years old. 672 00:36:36,720 --> 00:36:38,480 I'm doing exactly the same thing. 673 00:36:38,720 --> 00:36:41,600 And the ethnicity and film. So it was. 674 00:36:41,600 --> 00:36:45,680 It was in my soul. Wow, out of curiosity, how many 675 00:36:45,720 --> 00:36:47,880 how big's your team like? How many people do you have 676 00:36:47,880 --> 00:36:49,400 working? For you, for high flex is a 677 00:36:49,400 --> 00:36:52,160 little bigger, we have 7 or 8. For minamsha, it's a little 678 00:36:52,160 --> 00:36:54,720 smaller, 5 or 6. And you know, you really have to 679 00:36:54,720 --> 00:36:56,400 work hard. You know, the Jewish niche is a 680 00:36:56,400 --> 00:36:59,880 small niche, so over you want to be conscious of overhead. 681 00:37:00,480 --> 00:37:04,320 But everybody's been here, has been here for 15 years because 682 00:37:04,320 --> 00:37:06,080 they love what we do and they love working. 683 00:37:06,200 --> 00:37:08,760 We're like a family and you have to love what you do. 684 00:37:08,800 --> 00:37:11,880 And that's the way it works. Why we have such a we punch 685 00:37:11,880 --> 00:37:13,800 above our weight is what I'm saying to you. 686 00:37:14,200 --> 00:37:17,120 I feel like you would have a good philosophy on hiring. 687 00:37:17,160 --> 00:37:19,160 Like how? What do you look for? 688 00:37:19,240 --> 00:37:23,880 Heidi, who's my partner in both companies, We have our head of 689 00:37:23,880 --> 00:37:28,320 marketing, Ben, Sorry, who went to NYU film school, but he was a 690 00:37:28,320 --> 00:37:30,880 Boy Scout as a, as a young person. 691 00:37:31,280 --> 00:37:34,520 And that's what made her think that we had somebody who was 692 00:37:34,520 --> 00:37:36,720 going to really work hard. And we hired him. 693 00:37:36,720 --> 00:37:39,240 And now 17 years later, he's, he's still with us. 694 00:37:39,240 --> 00:37:42,800 And you know, by the way, I give him a, you know, a lot, if not 695 00:37:43,200 --> 00:37:46,000 more credit than me for the success of Bad Shabbos. 696 00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:48,240 I mean, he did an amazing job with that. 697 00:37:48,680 --> 00:37:51,480 And, you know, he's a very skilled marketer now. 698 00:37:52,200 --> 00:37:55,960 And you know, we're, we're coming out with influenced new 699 00:37:55,960 --> 00:37:58,960 film. Yes, I had gel like last week. 700 00:37:58,960 --> 00:38:01,000 We meant to record. Exactly. 701 00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:05,760 So we're we're opening at the Quad at on May 8th and I flew in 702 00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:10,560 for 24 hours to see the film in front of an audience at 92nd St. 703 00:38:10,560 --> 00:38:14,760 Y weekend before last. So I can do my homework for for 704 00:38:14,760 --> 00:38:16,480 the film. And we're looking forward to to 705 00:38:16,480 --> 00:38:19,400 releasing that film and, and being as successful as we can 706 00:38:19,400 --> 00:38:23,320 be, which is what we do. We, the idea is, is to do better 707 00:38:23,320 --> 00:38:27,000 than do the most, the best you can do with a film. 708 00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:29,320 And you know, we take it very seriously. 709 00:38:29,320 --> 00:38:33,880 Everyone is like a child. And we isolate the film and we 710 00:38:33,880 --> 00:38:35,760 think about it each film differently. 711 00:38:36,280 --> 00:38:40,360 And we think through from without looking at other films 712 00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:43,760 that we released, thinking about how best to release each film. 713 00:38:44,120 --> 00:38:46,760 And I think that's been a, we were able to do that. 714 00:38:46,760 --> 00:38:50,280 And I think that's been a big reason for our success that's. 715 00:38:50,320 --> 00:38:53,240 Absolutely amazing. I have one final question for 716 00:38:53,240 --> 00:38:54,600 you. It's one that I ask every guest 717 00:38:54,600 --> 00:38:57,360 and perhaps after hearing you speak, this question might be 718 00:38:57,360 --> 00:39:00,560 the most important, which is who would you like to nominate for 719 00:39:00,560 --> 00:39:01,600 people? Do you want to know? 720 00:39:01,800 --> 00:39:05,080 Easy, Daniel Robbins, filmmaker of a bad Shabbos. 721 00:39:05,240 --> 00:39:06,200 Perfect. Thank you. 722 00:39:06,280 --> 00:39:10,840 And the reason why he's, he's a Mensch and he's very talented 723 00:39:10,840 --> 00:39:13,800 and he's a wonderful guy. And he gets a lot of the credit 724 00:39:13,800 --> 00:39:17,200 for the success because he was available for Q&A when the film 725 00:39:17,200 --> 00:39:20,320 was in theatrical release. And, you know, I think a lot of 726 00:39:20,440 --> 00:39:24,960 theatrical releasing is connectivity with the people 727 00:39:24,960 --> 00:39:27,240 that made the movie, sort of event programming. 728 00:39:27,680 --> 00:39:30,680 And the fact that people got to know Daniel made them even love 729 00:39:30,680 --> 00:39:33,760 the film even more. So that's my, that's my, that's 730 00:39:33,760 --> 00:39:35,640 my nomination. That's perfect. 731 00:39:35,960 --> 00:39:37,720 And I will do the set that up for you by the way. 732 00:39:38,000 --> 00:39:39,000 Thank you. Thank you. 733 00:39:39,320 --> 00:39:41,480 It has been such a delight to speak with you. 734 00:39:41,800 --> 00:39:46,160 I have so much energy just in hearing your story and I can't 735 00:39:46,160 --> 00:39:50,360 wait to dive into High Flix. I've so much travel in the month 736 00:39:50,360 --> 00:39:54,760 of May and that is exactly when I'm going to pop off on High 737 00:39:54,760 --> 00:39:57,960 Flix and watch everything that you suggested and it's going to 738 00:39:57,960 --> 00:39:59,880 be legendary. Thank you so much for doing. 739 00:39:59,920 --> 00:40:01,880 3000 programs, so if you don't like something. 740 00:40:02,040 --> 00:40:03,320 Just switch over to something else. 741 00:40:03,320 --> 00:40:04,960 Yeah. Thank you. 742 00:40:05,160 --> 00:40:06,760 Thank you so much. Pleasure. 743 00:40:07,160 --> 00:40:10,200 If you've enjoyed this podcast, please go ahead and rate US five 744 00:40:10,200 --> 00:40:12,000 stars. Be the first to hear our 745 00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:14,320 episodes by subscribing to PEOPLE Do You Want to Know? 746 00:40:14,320 --> 00:40:17,840 Wherever you get your podcasts? And for exclusive content, 747 00:40:17,960 --> 00:40:19,600 follow us on Instagram at PEOPLE. 748 00:40:19,600 --> 00:40:20,280 Do You Want to Know?