An event held in partnership with the Keele School of Law, chaired and co-organised by Yaar Dagan Peretz.

Good stories are never scripted in advance and they often find you rather than vice versa. In this talk, Fredi Gruber, who worked for 31 years as a documentary filmmaker for Israel's Public Television broadcaster (Channel One), will share his experiences from a lifetime of journalism. He will talk about the concept of God as Director vs Director as God, the need for humility in the work of a journalist and the dangers and pitfalls of the ego. He will endorse ambiguity and argue for uncertainty as a blessing rather than a threat. Fredi will share highlights from his work including a film about a unique Pizza parlour in Tel Aviv and a visit by British Birds Watchers to the Hula Valley Wildlife Sanctuary.

About the speaker

Fredi Gruber was born in 1947 in a Camp for Displaced Persons in Germany. His father, Nestor Zenon Sniadanko, a Ukrainian, had saved the life of his Jewish mother, Antonia Gruber, during the Holocaust. They were fellow students at the University of Lwow in Poland. Fredi holds his BA in Sociology and English Literature from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and his MA in Journalism from the School of Public Communication at Boston University. He was a producer and host of the Israel Radio Hour, a weekly show on WNTN, a commercial radio station in Newton, Massachusetts and served as the Foreign News Editor and documentary filmmaker for the News Department of Israel's Public Television (Channel 1) and a Lecturer on Documentary Film Making and Media Analysis.

During his thirty year career in journalism, Fredi Gruber covered Palestinians under occupation in Hebron, Bedouins struggling to hold on to their lands in the Negev desert, the destruction of the Old Arab Town of Jaffa and the plight of illegal immigrants. His colourful human interest stories about people he had met randomly on the road won him public accolades and his controversial documentary on the 50th anniversary of the Israel Philharmonic, caused a public scandal. Fredi Gruber interviewed American Presidents Jimmy Carter and George Bush and produced profiles of Stephen Hawking, Isaac Stern, Ariel Sharon and many others.

Refreshments will be available from 5.00pm onwards.

This lecture is free and all are welcome to attend.

Please note that are no restrictions for visitors parking in areas marked for staff parking from 5.00pm.

 

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Book event