Forever Pure
Beitar Jerusalem F.C. is the most popular and controversial football team in Israel, and was the only club in the Premier League never to sign an Arab player. Midway through the 2012-13 season, the team owner, Russian-Israeli oligarch Arcadi Gaydamak, brought two Muslim players from Chechnya onto the team through a secret transfer deal. This led to the most racist campaign in Israeli sport and sent the club spiralling out of control. One season in the life of this famed club tells the story of Israeli society, personal identity, politics, money, and how racism is destroying a team and society from within.
Maya Zinshtein is an award-winning Israeli filmmaker and journalist. She emigrated from Russia as a child and now lives in Tel Aviv. She holds a BA in Cinema and French studies and an MA in Security and Diplomacy, both from Tel Aviv University. She directed and produced the award-winning feature-length documentary Forever Pure about the Beitar Jerusalem F.C and also produced numerous other documentaries, including Thieves by Law (by Alexander Gentelev, ARTE/ZDF), the inside story of Russian Mafia. Zinshtein’s background is in investigative journalism. Working for the prestigious Israeli paper Haaretz, she covered many of the ills of Israeli society and directed investigative stories for television channels.