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Israeli film The Band’s Visit (Bikur HaTizmoret) received prestigious awards and was shown worldwide - except for the Arab world. The film, which depicts a fictional visit of a ceremonial Egyptian police orchestra to a remote Israeli town, was boycotted in Egypt and in other Arab countries ‘to avoid cultural normalization with Israel’.

Last week, the Israeli Embassy in Egypt invited distinguished local intellectuals for a private screening of the movie at the Four Seasons Hotel. Film director Eran Kolirin was also invited and answered questions raised by the audience after the screening. Since local Egyptian cinemas do not show the movie, Kolirin encouraged local folks to “take it off the Internet, anyone who wants, get pirate copies off the Internet and watch it“.

Here is the video evidence from this evening’s Israeli Channel 10 news:

Last night on Lior Shlein’s late night show on Channel 10, Israeli singer Shiri Maimon confessed to bootlegging the Mama Mia musical in London for personal use. I should emphasize I am not complaining in any way, shape or form - quite the opposite, I was very happy to learn she has a blasé attitude towards intellectual property, especially since her new album was just released and may find its way into various peer-to-peer networks.

Enjoy her ‘funny story’ of fooling the security guard (Hebrew):

Now that Shiri de facto joined the movement against intellectual property, she should educate herself by watching Steal This Film.