Ikey’s saga of crime and love
DURING the past 25 years, British-born Jerusalem-based filmmaker Alan Rosenthal has been making documentaries on important moments in modern Israeli history, ranging from the Adolf Eichmann trial to the Oslo peace agreement.
Now he has turned his focus on Australian history and to the story of a Jewish convict transported to Van Diemen’s Land in the 1830s.
The docudrama, The First Fagin, will have its premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival on August 16.
“It is set around the story of a Jewish convict, his family and crime and punishment in the 19th century,” explained Rosenthal earlier this year in Melbourne, during a break in the production of the movie.
“It’s a fantastic story for a film, although more of a drama than a documentary.”
As co-director and co-writer with Helen Gaynor, and one of three producers, Rosenthal had a major involvement in the film, which was shot on location in Tasmania late last year.
The lead role of Ikey Solomon is played by Tasmanian actor Ryk Goddard, the breakfast presenter on Hobart’s ABC station who is making his film debut. The role of Ann Solomon is played by Carrie McLean, and Governor Arthur is played by Guy Hooper, both Tasmanian actors.
The music is by leading Australian film and TV composer Guy Gross and the narration by award-winning actress Miriam Margolyes.
“We spent six months making the film, but it took one-and-half years to get the finance organised,” says Rosenthal.
The idea for the film on Ikey Solomon was born three years ago when Rosenthal was in Australia to give a series of lectures at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School – an activity that has been bringing him here for more than 20 years.
“Helen was visiting Tasmania and saw an old magazine that had a story about a Jewish convict who had been imprisoned there in the 1830s and was thought to be the model for the villainous Fagin of Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist,” he recalls.
“At that moment, a lightbulb went off in my brain for a film idea. I contacted Judith Sackville-O’Donnell, author of The First Fagin: The True Story of Ikey Solomon, and found the story fascinating and promptly optioned the rights to make a docudrama.”
Rosenthal says that the film is set around Solomon, a petty thief from London’s East End, who is arrested for burglary and held in Newgate jail before escaping and fleeing to America in 1827. This creates headlines in the press and embarrassment for the police.
Soon afterwards, Solomon’s wife Ann is arrested for possession of stolen property and transported to Van Diemen’s Land.
When Solomon hears of this, he leaves the safety of New York to travel to Van Diemen’s Land to be with Ann, believing he’s out of reach of British law.
But Governor Arthur connives to send Solomon back to the Old Bailey for trial and in 1830, he is sentenced to a 14-year term in Van Diemen’s Land. Among those at the trial is a young Charles Dickens researching his Fagin character.
However, after a few years in Van Diemen’s Land, Solomon is released but faces a rocky reunion with Ann. Later he seeks solace in the Jewish community and helps to establish the Hobart Synagogue.
“Ikey’s story really fascinated me,” says Rosenthal.
However, film financing proved to be a challenge and after unsuccessful attempts at obtaining backers in England, Canada and Australia, he secured a deal with ZDF & Arte in Germany.
The filming was shot in Hobart with a cast and crew of 60 people.
“We found an old estate where we could recreate 19th-century England and Van Diemen’s Land,” he says.
“Ikey’s story gave us a unique chance to explore crime and punishment in 19th-century society in Australia, in a way which hadn’t been done before. We wanted to show Ikey’s Jewishness and had a Shabbat scene with candle-lighting and a wedding scene with a l’chaim.
“There were 180 scenes to film in 12 days, which meant that we all worked long hours.”
After filming was completed, Rosenthal stayed in Melbourne for post-production work on the film. After it was wrapped up, he and his wife Tirtza went to New Zealand for a holiday before returning to Israel.
Born in London in 1936, Rosenthal studied law at Oxford and then an MBA at Stanford in the United States, where he discovered film studies which became his passion. He first travelled to Israel as personal assistant to the television producer who filmed the 1961 trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. He then returned as a volunteer during the Six-Day War in 1967, and was invited to set up the country’s first TV station in 1968.
He later became an independent filmmaker based in Israel and his work includes movies about Zionist history, the Yom Kipper War and Stalin.
Recently, a documentary about Rosenthal’s career was made titled Jerusalem, Take One! Memoirs of a Jewish Filmmaker. Rosenthal has made more than 50 documentaries and written several books on filmmaking.
He is also a guest lecturer at universities and film schools around the world. He has lectured at York University in Toronto and Stanford University in California, as well as the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Now Rosenthal is waiting for the premiere with great anticipation and will make the trip from Jerusalem to Melbourne for the first screening.
“Ikey Solomon was a fascinating character – I have a sneaky admiration for him.”
The Melbourne International Film Festival is being held from August 2-19.
The First Fagin screens on August 16-17. Bookings: www.miff.com.au.
REPORT by Danny Gocs
PHOTO of Ikey Solomon (played by Ryk Goddard).
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