“Succession” star Shekhar Kapur on board the film “Song of Songs”

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EXCLUSIVE: Succession Actress Ashley Zukerman is among the cast of the new film Song of Songswhose executive producer will be Elizabeth Director Shekhar Kapur.

The Anita Lester-directed identity drama, developed by Screen Australia and sold by LevelK, is one of three development projects supported by a new fund for Jewish Australian films launched by producer Jamie Bialkower of Jump Street Films.

A second project, called Subscribe toThe film stars Israeli actors Yael Abecassis and Shlomi Elkabetz and is sold by M-Appeal. Scroll down for details of funded projects.

The privately funded fund will be used for stories that advance the representation of Jewish Australians on screen, by Jewish Australian creatives, with a focus on authenticity and visibility, Bialkower explains. Financial terms of the grant were not disclosed.

The producer says the fund is necessary because “there is insufficient funding in Australia to promote Jewish narratives, there is insufficient support for Jewish artists at a structural and institutional level, and to counter anti-Semitism through the portrayal of Jewish stories on screen.”

Jump Street Films is calling on both emerging and established filmmakers to participate and expects funding capacity to increase in the coming months. Bialkower also wants to provide opportunities for Jewish Australian crew members at all levels of production.

Jump Street Films has jointly released the Anthony Hopkins drama in Australia and New Zealand. Freud’s last session with Sharmill Films. The film has so far grossed $850,000 Australian dollars at the box office.

The company says it is also committed to providing more opportunities for female directors. In addition to Lester, Bialkower is currently working on feature films with directors Miranda Nation, Neasa Hardiman and Romi Trower.

The company’s new fund will initially support the following three projects:

THE SONG OF HIS HOLINESS

During the seven days of mourning following the death of her grandmother, Miriam forms a forbidden bond with a young rabbi that sets in motion the disintegration of a complex family grappling with its identity. The debut feature from acclaimed multidisciplinary artist Anita Lester is in development with support from Screen Australia, with LevelK on board for international distribution. Ashley Zukerman will star in an all-Jewish cast, with Shekhar Kapur serving as executive producer.

SHOSHANNAA

In Justin Olstein’s debut feature, a Hasidic woman wrestles with her growing desire for the woman she hires to care for her ailing husband. Israeli actors Yael Abecassis and Shlomi Elkabetz, winner of the Australian Writers’ Guild’s Monte Miller Award for Best Feature Screenplay and a Sundance Screenwriters Lab nominee, are set to star, and Elkabetz will co-produce with Galit Cahlon and lead producer Clea Frost. M-Appeal has handled international sales.

THE WHITE DOVE

Anita Lester’s second film follows Australian painter Lola Cohen, whose controversial exhibition leads her to accept an invitation to spend a month in Israel’s Golan Heights with famed American-Jewish artist Ivan Moshinsky. As Lola falls into the orbit of her unseen mentor, the arrival of Ivan’s son Rene sparks an unlikely love triangle that leads to a poignant exploration of opportunism, conflict and unattainable love, underscored by the enduring power of art. The film is shot in Australia and Israel.