Jewish producer making film about AMIA bombing says he was threatened

Marcy Oster

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — A Venezuelan-born Jewish producer making a movie about the 1994 AMIA bombing case and its special prosecutor, Alberto Nisman, said he has been threatened for his choice of topics.

Stan Jakubowicz, who currently lives in Miami, will produce the movie, to be called “The Prosecutor.”

“This film is not Nisman’s biopic. The film takes a close look at the terrorist attack against the AMIA building, its victims and suspects and the web of lies and corruption that creeps beneath the surface. It also takes a close look at the alleged Iranian involvement,” Jakubowicz told JTA.

“Iran’s threat to the world is as relevant as it has ever been,” he said.

Eighty-five people were killed and hundreds injured in the attack on the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires. Iran has been blamed for the attack, but none of the accused have ever been brought to justice. Nisman, who was heading the probe into the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish center, was found shot dead in his apartment on Jan. 18 hours before he was to present evidence to Argentine lawmakers that the country’s president and other government officials covered up Iran’s role in the attack.

The film has a budget of about $3 million and will start production later this year. Film locations have not been disclosed by Jakubowicz, but it is reported likely that it will be shot in Buenos Aires.

“Nisman’s death and all the recent developments surrounding this case has created lots of fear, especially among Argentinians. We have received all kinds of messages trying to convince us not to make this film. As a security measure for our cast and crew, we have considered taking production to another country but nothing is confirmed yet,” Jakubowicz told JTA.

The Venezuelan filmmaker will develop the film in co-production with Spain’s “A Contracorriente Films” company.

Jakubowicz studied at the Herzl-Bialik College in Caracas, Venezuela, and has a Bachelor’s Degree in International Communications from Lynn University in Florida

This will be the second film in Jakubowicz´s “trilogy of impunity,” which takes place in Argentina. The first movie of this series was “Wakolda,” or “The German Doctor,” about Nazi war criminal Joseph Mengele’s escape to Argentinian Patagonia. The film, co-produced by Jakubowicz, was Argentina’s official submission to the Oscars and Golden Globes in 2014.

The third film, will be about the unconfirmed theory that Adolf Hitler did not commit suicide, but escaped and lived in multiple Latin American countries, including Argentina.

With a similar budget, Israeli filmmaker Amos Gitai also is preparing a movie about AMIA and Nisman.