Jerusalem the Movie and My Current Challenge

My timing couldn’t have been better! I officially started working on the documentary film, Jerusalem a few weeks ago as a Marketing Consultant. It is a great project and of course I am passionate about the content which is what makes it all the more exciting.

However, it seems that my timing has coincided with increased violence and tensions in the region. Wow, that sounds very understated. In fact, there will be a ground war any day (not that I am psychic but this is the natural pattern of things in Israel and its territories).

So, working on the marketing of the film is a bit of a challenge these days only because people I would normally be hearing back from are pre-occupied with more important issues…like how many sirens went off today in Tel Aviv to how many bombs were destroyed by the Iron Dome to how many casualties there were.

I don’t blame these people. After all, this is a documentary with no hard launch date. A potential war, well, this does have far larger ramifications. So, I can deal with that. What the challenge is for me however is how to address the social media platforms-what type of messaging to you give, if any?

This is not a film about the political situation in Jerusalem, although that always plays a part if indirectly. If looking at the Jerusalemthemovie profile page on Facebook, most of the updates reflect the activities of the film, cultural and historical tidbits. However with such a sensitive subject, by saying anything, it could open up a can of worms. Already one person posted awhile back a political comment on Palestine which was a bit out of left field considering that the conversation really had nothing to do with the political situation at all.

People will say what they want to say and use any opportunity to say it. So the challenge is for us on the film is: do we simply not address the current situation which makes us look indifferent OR do we say something in hopes that the audience on our page will appreciate and not use the opportunity to create a political platform and voice their opinions?