President Barack Obama welcomes Israeli President Shimon Peres in the Oval Office, Tuesday, May 5, 2009. Image by Pete Souza/White House

By Aiden Pink August 6, 2017

Former president Barack Obama will appear in an upcoming documentary about the life of former Israeli prime minister and president Shimon Peres.

“Never Stop Dreaming: The Life and Legacy of Shimon Peres” is being directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Richard Trank for Moriah Films, the filmmaking unit of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Trank told The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday that Peres himself had asked the center to create a documentary about his life before he died in September.

Production began in January 2016, and the filmmakers were able to capture 60 hours of interviews before Peres’s death.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis of the crisis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Trank and SWC director Marvin Hier met with Obama in mid-July to talk about his relationship with the Israeli leader. “The president said he was so honored to do this, and we were so honored to be sitting there with him,” Hier said. “It was a great experience.”

(Hier claimed earlier this year that Obama’s decision not to veto an anti-Israel United Nations resolution was the most anti-Semitic event of 2016.)

Obama often spoke of his admiration for Peres and traveled to Israel to deliver a eulogy at his funeral.

Other notable figures slated to appear in the documentary include Benjamin Netanyahu, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and Barbra Streisand.

Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount