Woke Up Alive began in 2006 when Mark Blacknell, an agnostic,
thirty-five-year-old, environmental policy analyst from Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania sat down to watch television. Trying to unwind after
a hectic day at work, Blacknell channel-surfed his way to a PBS
documentary featuring the ideas of Israeli peace advocate and
nature conservationist Dr. Yossi Leshem. Leshem, a wild-looking
Orthodox Jew in a yarmulke, believes birds and nature can teach
us all what we need to know about peace, tolerance and even
ourselves. Leshem pointed out that for tens of millions of years,
migratory birds have successfully done what humans can’t seem to
do: share the Middle East.

As Blacknell watched Leshem enthusiastically release a
rehabilitated bird into the desert sky while telling a mixed group of
smiling Palestinian and Israeli children that “Birds know no
boundaries,” Blacknell’s imagination flew off with the bird in a
new direction.

“After I watched the show and had some time to digest it, I
felt Yossi’s message had an accessible wisdom that far exceeded
anything I had ever heard before. I could’ve cared less about
Israel before that night. But after that night, Israel became
the place I had to be. Nature and peace were my connection
to the Holy-Land—not religion or politics.”
-Mark Blacknell

In the months that followed, the two comrades developed a long-
distance friendship and it wasn’t long before Leshem invited Blacknell
to Israel to see for himself how the natural world was influencing
peace and healing in the region. Hoping a radical change of
environment would energize his lagging spirit, Blacknell made the
risky decision to drop everything for a three-month adventure of a
lifetime across the Holy Land.

Dr. Yossi Leshem remembers the first day he talked to Blacknell:
“When he [Mark] first called on the phone, I thought 'Wow, this guy
is just as crazy as me' but I could tell right away he would bring a
different perspective over here. He wasn’t a typical tourist, so without
really thinking I told him to come. It takes people as crazy and
committed as the two of us to bring about change.”

Recent Boston University film graduate Jesse Goldberg heard about
Blacknell’s trip from an old professor and decided to tag along with a
camera. Not wanting to distort reality, Blacknell agreed to Goldberg’s
request but insisted on no scripts or direction as a condition of filming.

“I had absolutely no clue what Mark hoped to achieve in Israel and
I don’t think he really knew at the time. Mark was all over the
place. We just went from one place to the next with no particular
order to it all. It wasn’t exactly the best way to make a movie but
following him around Israel was equally one of the most spiritual
and absurd experiences I ever had in my life. Spiritual absurdity,
yeah, that’s what defines this project best.”
-Jesse Goldberg

Israel is a small place and word soon spread about a curious American
traveling around the country looking for friends who appreciate nature
and peace. From providing gear or a meal to sending Blacknell to an
interesting person or place, hundreds of people all over Israel (Arab,
Christian and Jew) offered help. Digital Samsara donated their music
for the soundtrack; a non-profit environmental organization provided
free rooms at their field schools; an Al Jazeera cameraman invited the
filmmakers to his mountain home; a Bedouin sheepherder offered up
one of his desert tents for the night. Wherever they went, the spirit
of the project was clearly appreciated.

And the help didn’t end when the camera shut off. Nearly four years
after Blacknell first left Pennsylvania, a dedicated team of international
volunteers led by first-time filmmaker Michael Poggenburg of Seattle,
Washington and producer Eyal Bartov of Israel National Geographic,
saved Woke Up Alive from the brink of death.

“I began this project as an editor, but soon learned that I would be
taking on the role of a director just as much. When I first talked to
Mark, he definitely had ideas, but I was in charge of digging through
more than a hundred hours of footage and finding how to turn
those ideas into a film – something two editors had previously tried
to do without much success. Despite never setting foot in Israel,
I’ve come to know the country and its people, and despite working
with Mark for over a year, I’ve managed to maintain my sanity!”
-Michael Poggenburg

One of Israel’s most cherished national figures, Dr. Yossi Leshem
sums it up best: “This movie Woke Up Alive is a good thing for nature
and a good thing for peace. Mark is also a great example of a grown-up
person who isn’t afraid to learn and change. When you capture this
type of diversity and perspective in a single movie, it’s bound to be a
big story, no matter how small the budget.”