Science Fiction Takes Off in Israel

Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Crossposted from Haaretz
Uri Aviv wonders who could imagine a science fiction film coming out of Israel. Yet among the country’s film buffs and science fiction geeks, expectations are high for Ari Folman’s upcoming adaptation of Stanislaw Lem’s book “The Futurological Congress.”
The movie is not a one-off. After years of wandering in the desert, science fiction and fantasy are once again taking off in Israel. The film “Twilight 4,” for example, was a tremendous box office success and sales of fantasy books in Israel have increased fourfold in the past five years. Leprechaun, a new journal of science fiction and fantasy, began coming out on the first of November this year.
Why I became the Forward’s editor-in-chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
, editor-in-chief