Synopses & Reviews
Mike's Place was one of the few spots in Tel Aviv where Jews, Christians, and Muslims could hang out peaceably, surrounded by the expats who filled the bar every night. It was a cosmopolitan haven from the conflict, a local gem that many pointed to as a hopeful sign that peace could come to the Middle East after all. In the spring of 2003, filmmakers Jack Baxter and Josh Faudem had just begun making a documentary about the phenomenon of Mike's Place. And then the bar was destroyed in a suicide bombing that took three lives and wounded another fifty people—an attack that changed Jack and Josh's lives forever. With art from Israeli cartoonist Koren Shadmi, Mike's Place is a gripping nonfiction accounting of the lives of a handful of people who came together in hope, then had to find their way together through despair.
Synopsis
There's a rule at Mike's Place: never, ever talk politics or religion. At this blues bar on the Tel Aviv beachfront, an international cast of characters mingles with the locals, and everyone is welcome to grab a beer and forget the conflict outside. At least, that's the story Jack and Joshua want to tell in their documentary.
But less than a month after they begin filming, Mike's Place is the target of a deadly suicide bombing. Jack, Joshua, and the Mike's Place family survive the only way they know how-by keeping the camera rolling.
Written by filmmakers Jack Baxter and Joshua Faudem and illustrated by award-winning cartoonist Koren Shadmi, Mike's Place chronicles the true story of an infamous terrorist attack in painstaking detail. Rarely has the slow build to tragedy, and the rebirth that follows, been captured with such a compassionate and unflinching eye.
Synopsis
A nonfiction graphic novel about the aftermath of a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv in 2003 -- from documentary film makers Jack Baxter and Josh Faudem.
There's a rule at Mike's Place: never, ever talk politics or religion. At this blues bar on the Tel Aviv beachfront, an international cast of characters mingles with the locals, and everyone is welcome to grab a beer and forget the conflict outside. At least, that's the story Jack and Joshua want to tell in their documentary.
But less than a month after they begin filming, Mike's Place is the target of a deadly suicide bombing. Jack, Joshua, and the Mike's Place family survive the only way they know how-by keeping the camera rolling.
Written by filmmakers Jack Baxter and Joshua Faudem and illustrated by award-winning cartoonist Koren Shadmi, Mike's Place chronicles the true story of an infamous terrorist attack in painstaking detail. Rarely has the slow build to tragedy, and the rebirth that follows, been captured with such a compassionate and unflinching eye.
About the Author
Jack Baxter is a filmmaker and freelance journalist from New York City. He and his wife Fran Strauss-Baxter co-produced the award-winning film "Blues by the Beach."
Joshua Faudem is an American-Israeli documentary filmmaker who has made many notable documentaries and television shows in Israel and Europe and is the director of the award-winning documentary "Blues by the Beach."
Koren Shadmis graphic novels have been published in France, Italy, Spain, Israel, and the US. His work was selected for the Best American Comics 2009 anthology edited by Charles Burns and his illustrations have won several awards at the Society of Illustrators. The graphic novel Mike's Place is their first collaboration.