French pay-TV group Canal+ has acquired “Pollard,” an investigative documentary series about Jonathan Pollard, the notorious American Jewish spy. It is the first sale recorded by the content extension, which represents the title internationally.
Pollard pleaded guilty to spying and providing highly classified information to Israel and was sentenced to life imprisonment in the United States in 1987. He was released from prison in 2015 and now lives in Israel.
“Pollard” was directed by Gilad Tokatli and Shani Haziza, based on an investigation by Omri Asenheim, who served as a reporter for Uvda, the top-rated current affairs program on Israeli television for 16 years.
Pollard was working as an analyst for the US Navy in the late 1970s when he encountered an Israeli hero in the war, which set off a chain of events. He continued to steal more than a million top-secret documents from the most sensitive US Naval intelligence vaults over a period of a year and a half – the largest of its kind. With his espionage activities unraveling, Pollard is abandoned by his handler, leaving him at the mercy of the FBI on the street outside the Israeli embassy.
Tokatli is a respected figure in the Israeli television industry and has been the director of Uvda for 27 years, and Shani Haziza, the creator of popular documentaries for the Israeli public broadcaster.
“Canal+ audiences will see a true spy story like no other,” said Hadas Moses Lichtenstein, Founder and Head of International Content at ADD Content.
Lichtenstein added: “Pollard is a wonderful and eccentric character, who aroused suspicion earlier in his career, but was not arrested until he became the most prolific thief of American security secrets.”
The executive said that the documentary tells “the story of one man’s greed and ideology, as well as disguised betrayal uncomfortable for both people and nations.”
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