EXCLUSIVE: Watch Documentaries, a newly launched YouTube channel, is today debuting Amal | Hope, a doc short about a remarkable collaboration between a pair of Israeli and Palestinian piano virtuosos.
The film, which premiered over the weekend in New York at the Steinway Hall, follows the story of Duo Amal, which comprises Palestinian pianist Bishara Haroni and Israeli pianist Yaron Kohlberg. They have been worked together since 2008, and their collective name is the Arabic word for hope.
Despite the devastating conflict between Israel and Hamas, which controls Palestine, and the duo’s different backgrounds, they share a passion for music and how it can unify people. The film follows their personal stories and the challenges of their collaboration, along with the impact their music has around the world.
Eros Zhao, the film’s director said the project began when he met Haroni and Kohlberg during a piano restoration project.
“From the beginning, I sensed something extraordinary there, something that could become a compelling film,” said Zhao. “As someone based in the U.S., most of what I hear about the Middle East is filtered through news headlines and political narratives. What drew me in was the opportunity to explore that world through the intimate, human lens of their story. Their friendship offers a perspective we rarely get to see – one that goes beyond conflict and reveals the quiet power of connection across division.”
Haroni and Kohlberg provided a statement, writing: ““We are not here to offer answers. We are here to offer music – complicated, layered, sometimes dissonant, sometimes breathtakingly in sync. Just like the story we share.”
Zhao is the director and produces alongside Maria Giacchino. Mira Ledger is exec producer alongside Adam J. Segal, who founded Watch Documentaries. Director of Photography is Oded Plotznizki, the editor is Mo Stoebe, music arrangement comes from Jeff Kryka and Brian Vibberts mixed the music. The film comes from Zhao’s Templux Films.
Watch Documentaries will launch it globally. Last month, the channel debuted on YouTube with a pair of short films, Seeds From Kivu and Voices From the Abyss.
