'Hunky Dory' Director to Helm 'Birthright'

LONDON -- Welsh film director Marc Evans (Hunky Dory) has signed on to direct the Israel-Palestinian comedy Birthright, to be made by New York-based BoomGen Studios.

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Producer and CEO of BoomGen Studios, Mahyad Tousi presented the project at last week's Pixel Pitch at the Cross-Media Forum held during the BFI London Film Festival.

Birthright features a series of intersecting narratives that unfold across multiple media platforms, including an interactive graphic novel, a mobile game, and a feature comedy.

The movie is penned by Ari Issler and Ben Snyder, after the duo went on an extended "Birthright" trip to Israel.

The film tells the story of a shy Jewish-American kid who follows the girl of his dreams on a free trip to Israel only to wind up lost in Palestine. Further trouble ensues when the boy falls for a Palestinian girl and finds himself the primary subject of a media circus and minor political fiasco.  

BoomGen Studios is a producer and marketer of commercial entertainment focused on the greater Middle East and has worked on projects including Disney’s Prince of Persia, Julian Schnabel’s Miral and most recently, the TLC television series, All-American Muslim.

Evans, whose resume boats Snow Cake which screened in competition at Berlin, My Little Eye and Patagonia.

Hunky Dory was written by Laurence Coriat and starred Minnie Driver and Aneurin Barnard. It was selected for SxSW and is set for a US release in the first quarter of 2013.

He is currently shooting Doors Open for British commercial broadcaster ITV, an adaptation of the Ian Rankin novel starring Douglas Henshall and Stephen Fry.

Birthright will shoot in Northern California, Israel and the West Bank, is slated to go into production in 2013.

Tousi describes Evans as a "rare director who has continuously experimented with genre throughout his career and we are excited to have him at the helm of the centerpiece of the franchise."

The project will also feature Katie Miranda’s personal graphic novel, Tear Gas in the Morning, the true story of a Jewish-American artist volunteering with a Palestinian nonviolent resistance movement in the West Bank.

Birthright will shoot in Northern California, Israel and the West Bank, is slated to go into production in 2013.

Evans is represented in the U.K. by Jane Villiers at Sayle Screen (London) and in the US by David Gersh at The Gersh Agency (L.A.).