The divide between secular and Orthodox Jews in Israel is taken to the next level in the Israeli drama series “Autonomies,” now being shopped in the international marketplace by its distributor, Keshet International.
In the series, which premiered in Israel in September, the Orthodox have seceded from secular Israel and have created a separate nation, The Autonomy. At the center of the story is a contentious custody battle over a child by adults on opposite sides of the wall. The show was described in the Israeli press as “Ultra-Orthodox society meets ‘Black Mirror,’” and “an original, impressive and fascinating dystopian drama.”
“The show really moves between the micro and the macro, and that’s what I like about it,” said Keshet International’s Keren Shahar. “It can resonate with audiences around the world, both as it is and as an adaptation, and you can really apply it to the most burning [societal] issues in almost any territory.”
In addition to selling the original to an American outlet, Keshet is working on an English adaptation of the show that would present a United States divided along red and blue state lines.