‘The Bibi Files,’ with leaked Netanyahu footage, can't be seen in Israel. Israelis are finding ways
“The Bibi Files” started with a sudden leak that turned into a deluge
NEW YORK — Veteran documentarian Alex Gibney, who in a decades-long career has tackled many a thorny issue, wasn't planning a film about Israel — until one day last year, when a stunning leak fell into his hands.
The leak turned out to be more like a deluge.
Suddenly, Gibney, through a source who contacted him on the Signal messaging app, was being offered access to copious video recordings of police interviews with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his wife Sara, his son Yair, and a host of associates and benefactors, all conducted as part of the sprawling corruption case against Netanyahu. It amounted to an astonishing 1,000-plus hours of tapes.
The Oscar-winning filmmaker didn’t speak Hebrew, but sensed this was something big. He turned to longtime Israeli investigative reporter Raviv Drucker, who did a deep dive into the material, Gibney says, and showed him that “we had something that was very explosive.” Then Gibney enlisted colleague Alexis Bloom, who had worked in Israel, to direct.
The result: “The Bibi Files,” a hard-hitting documentary that certainly has timing on its side — this week, as it was released on streaming, Netanyahu took the stand in the long-running case.
If the timing is fortuitous, the film faced other obstacles. For one thing, Gibney and Bloom had to raise funds without disclosing to potential backers what they had, given the secrecy involved. Many potential backers and distributors were also nervous about getting involved, especially once war broke out after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Then there was the biggest obstacle of all: The film cannot legally be shown in Israel, due to privacy laws
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