Where in The World Is Shmuel Hoffman? Midwest Edition

Last week we gave you a peek into the projects that Shmuel was working on in Israel.

This week we want to share with you some of his adventures in filming in the Midwest this summer.

You may recall that we shared with you some info about the film we produced for the Zekelman Holocaust Center as part of its new permanent exhibit.

"Wanderers: The History of The Jews in Europe" covers the ups and downs, edicts and expulsions of Jewish people in Europe from our arrival there thousands of years ago, up until the Holocaust. The film acts as a quick history lesson for visitors, giving them a concept and more of an understanding of the tumultuous, love-hate relationship of Europeans toward Jews across the millennia.

We can't post the film here (you'll have to go to the museum itself in Farmington Hills!) but here's a sneak peak:

In June, Shmuel went to Michigan to do the final installation of the film. The film is in Dolby surround sound on a super-wide, curved screen, for an immersive experience.

For scale, here you have Shmuel in front of the film on the screen.

We also produced the accompanying tabletop map animation to go alongside the film, showing in real-time where all the events on the main screen were happening.

Next, Shmuel hopped over the Chicago for a quick, 1-day shoot. Part of the shoot was at Millennium Park, so his crew grabbed a shot of him filming in front of the dynamic background of the Cloud Gate sculpture (colloquially known as the Chicago bean, a sculpture whose curved metal surface makes for some awesome reflections and lighting.

In July, Shmuel and team headed to Wisconsin to film at CKids Gan Israel Wisconsin, a unique overnight camp for kids of all backgrounds, from all over the U.S. and Canada.

The warm atmosphere at CKids was impressive - the crew stayed for a week to capture the essence of that warmth, as well as the various activities and fun programs of the camp. While over 100,000 kids across the world attend Gan Israel day camps, there's finally an overnight camp that fits the same need - a camp with Jewish values where kids of all backgrounds can have fun in an immersive, non-judgmental environment.

Here's their link - go check them out for your kids for next summer. Thank me later.

Stay tuned for our next Where in The World post, where we'll go over Shmuel's experience speaking in the UN, and filming for a wide range of clients like Sababafest, Artscroll, multiple day schools in NYC, a basketball tournament, and a rap music video.