NEW YORK— The first season of the hit television series and international sensation “Arab Labor” will be available on DVD nationwide July 14 through E1 Entertainment Distribution, it was announced by Alive Mind. The series premiered on U.S. television on Link TV this past fall to enormous success and media attention. The uniqueness and quality of the series also led to the unprecedented presentation of individual episodes at leading U.S. film festivals, causing “Arab Labor” to become known as the “Israeli All In the Family.” Upon the U.S. television premiere, the Los Angeles Times called the series, “…groundbreaking and amazing,” and the San Francisco Chronicle called its creator, Sayed Kashua, “The Palestinian Seinfeld.”

Just as American sitcoms like “All In The Family” and “The Jeffersons” broke ground a generation ago by probing class and race in America, “Arab Labor” appears to be doing the same in Israel. Created by Sayed Kashua, a 32-year-old Israeli-born Palestinian journalist, “Arab Labor” (translated from the Hebrew “Avoda Aravit” which colloquially implies “shoddy or second-rate work”) focuses on Amjad, a Palestinian journalist and Israeli citizen in search of his identity as he seeks high status in the society into which he was born but where his car is searched everyday when he drives from his neighborhood to his job at a newspaper in Jerusalem. Poking fun at the cultural divide, Kashua and his characters play on religious, cultural and political differences to daringly depict the mixed society that is Israel. This show marked a milestone on Israeli television as the first program to present Palestinian characters speaking Arabic on prime time. Alive Mind is pleased to bring the series to a wide U.S. audience in order to offer a fresh perspective on Israeli-Palestinian cultural friction while presenting an unbelievably entertaining show that has made an international splash.

Series synopsis

In his search for acceptance, the brazenly witty and loveable Amjad goes to extremes to try to conceal his Palestinian identity. He buys a new car, sends his preschooler to a Hebrew-speaking school and drags his family to a Passover Seder where he fervently sings holiday songs along with his new Jewish friends, all in a hilarious attempt to pass as a Jewish-Israeli. In the midst of a walloping identity crisis, Amjad jockeys between two cultures as he tries to polish his image for his Jewish friends and colleagues while enjoying his own down-to-earth family life. The result is a raucous, irreverent, side-busting comedy that pierces the taboos surrounding Palestinian-Israeli culture, popping the politically correct bubble of acceptable language and humor surrounding the prickly, long-standing status quo in which Palestinian and Jewish Israelis live side by side.

“Arab Labor” (Avoda Aravit) is a production of Dori Media Paran, written by Sayed Kashua, directed by Roni Nino, and produced by Danny Paran. The cast features Norman Issa, Mariano Idelman, Clara Khoury, Salim Dau, Mira Awad and Fatima Yihia, Slwa Naara, Dori Media Paran.

About Alive Mind

Alive Mind releases documentary programming in the areas of enlightened consciousness and cultural transformation. Alive Mind was launched by industry pioneer Richard Lorber as a specialty distribution arm of his new company, Lorber HT Digital. The company seeks to provide its audience with intellectually provocative work from leading filmmakers that delivers the “aha” response of a transformative experience. Current releases include the documentary film on the generation changing stage sensation “Hair: Let the Sun Shine In”; Academy Award-winning director Jessica Yu’s “Protagonist, Hippie Masala,” a portrait of Western expatriates who moved to India in the ’60s and ’70s seeking enlightenment; and, “Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara: The Bolivian Diary,” Che’s personal account of his attempt to start a revolution in his country.

Alive Mind’s upcoming theatrical releases include Antonio Ferrera and Albert Maysles’ landmark documentary “The Gates,” about Christo’s monumental Central Park installation; John Walter’s “Theater of War,” featuring Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline; “Intangible Asset #82,” Emma Franz’ electrifying debut documentary about Australian drummer Simon Barker’s search for his muse, Korean Shaman Kim Seok-Chul; “Fierce Light,” Velcrow Ripper’s groundbreaking documentary film and odyssey on spiritual activism, and other titles soon to be announced.