TEL AVIV, Israel (Press Release) – Want to determine how a couple falls in love? In Israel? A group of Tel Aviv students is utilizing the latest interactive video technology to tell a love story and give Israeli tourism a boost.
The Tel Aviv University students are part of the StandWithUs Fellowship, an Israeli campus leadership program focusing on public diplomacy.
They produced an interactive video clip using revolutionary technology by Interlude, the successful Israeli startup founded by Yoni Bloch, who previously worked with Bob Dylan. The video is translated to nine different languages- English, Italian, Portuguese, French, Russian, German, Chinese, Spanish and Arabic!
Users are able to chart the course of a love story between a tourist to Israel and someone he meets while on vacation. The beautifully-shot HD video takes in the landscape of Israel from north to south. Love blossoms for our young couple in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and down in Eilat. Users have 7 seconds to click and choose which way they want the story to go. What they choose affects the outcome of where and how the couple fall in love.
It has been adopted by the Foreign and Tourism Ministries, and will be distributed by Israeli representative offices all over the world.
Featuring emerging actors including Yonatan Bashan, the video’s catchy soundtrack is performed by Lola Marsh, an indie-pop band by creative duo Yael Shoshana Cohen and Gil Landau.
The video was celebrated on December 22, the 7th night of Hanukah at a special event held at the funky Google Israel office in Tel Aviv. Guests include former Miss Israel Yityish Titi Aynaw – the first Ethiopian-Israeli to hold the title- “As a former officer in the IDF, this video touched me and made me feel proud about my country”.
Entering its ninth year, the StandWithUs Israel Fellowship trains 150 students on eight Israeli campuses per year to be life-long ambassadors and create ideas to elevate Israel in the world. Learn more: http://www.standwithus.co.il/fellowship/
Orr Grosman, an Israeli Fellow – “The way Israel is portrayed in the international media is nothing like the real Israel we experience every day. We wanted to use an innovative way to bring that experience — and the beauty of our country — to people”.
StandWithUs Israel Director Michael Dickson said: “We believe that young Israelis can be the best ‘ambassadors’ of Israel to the world, the true face of Israel. We challenged them to be creative in reaching out to people and showing them Israel – they have more than met the challenge with this amazing initiative”.
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Preceding provided by StandWithUs