Koudelka Shooting Holy Land

The Disappeared follows the story of an action-feature film produced by the Israeli Army in 2000 and then censored just a few weeks before its release. Titled Hane’elam (The Disappeared) in Hebrew, the original film was intended to address a contentious subject in Israeli society and one of the military’s absolute taboos – the rising number of soldier suicides. The ambitious production was of a scope rarely seen in the local film industry at the time and included hundreds of soldier-extras, an entire armored brigade, military helicopters, and special operations personnel. With a lavish budget and a cast of leading Israeli actors, shooting commenced in multiple locations around the country, among them also a top-secret missile base. Soon after editing began and preparations for its commercial, nation-wide distribution were underway, The Disappeared disappeared.