About Us
Promises Films is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Justine Shapiro and B.Z. Goldberg. The mission of Promises Films is to produce exceptional educational media with regard to public issues, particularly in the areas of conflict, human rights, social justice and history.
Promises, produced by Promises Films, follows the lives of seven Palestinian and Israeli children over a five-year period. In 2002, this landmark film was nominated for an Academy Award and won two National Emmy Awards for “Best Documentary” and for “Outstanding Background Analysis”. More than forty million people around the world have seen Promises, and its educational outreach campaign continues to be used by interfaith and conflict-resolution organizations as well as thousands of middle schools and high schools across the nation. Learn more about Promises.
Promises Films is currently in post-production for a new feature-length documentary, Our Summer in Tehran. The documentary follows American mom Justine Shapiro and her six year-old son Mateo as they travel to Tehran and meet three Iranian families. Throughout the summer they explore a culture and a city where modernity and tradition sit uncomfortably, side by side. Part poetry, part family drama, Our Summer in Tehran invites us into the family home where we discover the extraordinary in the ordinary — where humor, affection, and humanity prevail. Learn more about Our Summer in Tehran.
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Justine Shapiro
Justine Shapiro was born in South Africa and grew up in Berkeley, California. After graduating Magna Cum Laude with honors in History and Theatre from Tufts University, Justine spent 10 years as a travel show host for the PBS series GlobeTrekker which took her off the beaten track to over 40 countries. In 1996, Justine co-founded the non-profit production company Promises Films with B.Z. Goldberg. Justine speaks Spanish, French, English.
BZ Goldberg
B.Z. Goldberg was born in Boston and grew up just outside of Jerusalem. After studying filmmaking at New York University Film School, he worked as a sound recordist and producer covering the Palestinian “Intifada” for Reuters TV, the BBC, NBC, CNN and NHK (Japanese TV). After dodging countless rocks, and inhaling much too much tear gas, B.Z. left his TV job to study alternative approaches to conflict and conflict resolution. He spent seven years as a management consultant for a variety of companies (Including Fortune 500, multi-nationals social organizations, universities, etc.) In 1995 B.Z. and Justine Shapiro founded Promises Films to produced the award winning documentary PROMISES which was released in 2001. From 2004 to 2009 BZ directed and produced a series of 170 short films (all filmed around the world on the same line of longitude) for the world’s first museum on climate change, the “Klimahaus” located in northern Germany. BZ lives and works in Jerusalem.