San Francisco Independent Film Festival - OMG, I’m a Robot!
An overly emotional guy finds out he's a - Robot.
Interview with Directors Tal Goldberg and Gal Zelezniak
Watch OMG, I’m a Robot! on Vudu, Prime Video and iTunes
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Thank you! As two Israelis living in a country in a constant state of conflict, we are surrounded by Israeli movies about wars, the Holocaust, religion and violence. We wanted to create pure escapism, something we don't normally see in most Israeli films - a Hebrew-speaking movie aimed at making viewers smile. Just like our protagonist who lives in a violent world and discovers that underneath his own skin (and later on, underneath the entire world), lies another world, more technological, stranger and funnier than everything the protagonist has known his entire life.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
We wanted to create a smart, feel-good, creative movie that will inspire viewers to think about their sexuality, their emotions, their relationships. We also wanted to remind the viewers that deep down we are all not men or women, but just kids, so we created a homage to our favorite old movies, that we loved as kids, such as “Terminator 2”, “Back To The Future” and the original “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”. Our dream was to make a movie inspired by Japanese anime movies, old computer games and 80’s sci-fi, reflecting a more naive time in our lives, as if we were once again careless children.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Apparently, though we wanted to create pure escapism, we couldn’t totally hide our true origins since the movie still presents a universal question we are forced to ask ourselves each and every day as Israelis: what do you do when someone places you in an impossible position, and how far will you go to protect your loved ones? There is no simple answer. The “bad guys” in this film are not evil; they are just trying to protect their loved ones, but take it a step too far. The film also deals with the question – Who is a “real man”? Is he this “macho-type” man? A sensitive man? Danny, our hero, learns to be a sensitive yet assertive man, who knows that his sensibility is not an excuse to avoid conflict, and this awareness will help him become a better, more decent person.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development and production?
When we wrote the script for this movie, we knew that a film of this kind has never been made in Israel. In fact, this is the first science fiction movie made in Israel for decades, and these kind of visual effects have never been seen in any Israeli film before. The shooting was made with a low-budget strategy and a lot of passion. We found ourselves shooting at 21 locations in 24 days. We gathered Israel’s finest A-list cast and crew. Tzahi Grad (“Big bad wolves”), Dror Keren, Nelly Tagar (“Zero in motivation”) and Hollywood comedian, Rob Schneider, who agreed to dub the character of Robo-Joseph, our “Jewish R2D2”. For the main role of the dorky robot we casted an unknown actor - the funny and talented Yotam Ishay.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
The movie premiered at the world’s biggest fantasy film festival, “Sitges” and was the opening film for “Other worlds” Film festival in Texas. Our sales agents at “Devilswork” made sure the movie is now distributed worldwide, so we receive lots of great feedback daily. It was really exciting to discover that viewers “get it”, they really connect to the film and understand what we wanted to express. It’s about to be screened in “Fantasporto”, Portugal’s fantasy film festival and we are really looking forward it.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
We are proud of our “baby” and want more people to watch and enjoy it. We also want to distribute it as much as possible all around the world. So if you are a distributor, a film festival director, or a journalist, send us an email.
What are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I (Tal Goldberg) am in the process of writing a comedy feature film for Nickelodeon and another feature, a comedy horror for a different production company. Gal Zelezniak is also developing his own concepts.
Interview: February 2017
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
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OMG, I’m a Robot!
An overly emotional guy finds out he's a - Robot.
Length: 75 minutes
Director: Tal Goldberg and Gal Zelezniak
Producer: Amir Manor
Writer: Tal Goldberg and Gal Zelezniak
About the directors:
Goldberg have enjoyed a long career as a scriptwriter and director for international TV stations, Viral YouTube channels and video games. Together with Gal Zelezniak, they created "Offscreen", the Israeli web series. "OMG, I'm a Robot" is the feature debut for both of them.
Key cast:
Yotam Ishay, Tzhay Grad, Dror Keren, Hili Yalon, Inna Bakelman. Yossi Marshak, David Kigler, Nelly Tagar
Looking for : buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists
Made in association with: The Israeli film fund and Tel Aviv film university
Where can I see it in the next month?
“Fantasporto”, Porto, Portugal - 25th of February 2017
“San Francisco Indie Film Fest” - 16th of February 2017