As befits the exhibition, the documentary series “After Midnight: The Best Kept Secret in the City” opens with a description of Tel Aviv’s nightlife in 2015, and places within this world – sex, drugs and alcohol and a lot of music – the businessman and real estate man, a member of a rich and famous family, Alon Kastiel .
Read more in Calcalist:
Journalist Shira Meykin sums up this world as follows: “The place for the perfect crime, nightlife, if your perfect crime is to rape women.”
In the end, as is well known, there was no perfect crime here, as Castiel was sent to prison for 4.9 years in prison, in a plea deal that included only four women out of 17 who complained against him, and on lighter charges than he was initially charged with, and did not include rape. However, his case, which was published thanks to talented journalists Shforer from “The Hottest Place in Hell,” changed something fundamental in the way women deal with those who hurt them.
The series by director Keren Shayu (winner of the Ophir Award for her film “Atonement”) and producer Mika Timor (“Shadow of Truth”) accompanies many of the women who complain chronologically. Their story is told from the moment they realize something happened to them without their consent, to the realization that they may have been raped, dared to tell their story, complain, confront their attacker and face the decision to include or not in the final indictment. The experience of hurting them all is very similar. It features a blackout like no other has ever known, one even left Castiel’s house barefoot in the middle of the night. In some cases they asked him what happened that night. “Hey Alon, could it be that you raped me?”, One of the victims wrote to him.
The women talk openly
The most important thing is to see them speak with an open face, a brave act, which frees them from the shadows, wigs and distortions of the voice that are often forced upon them because of the law. In between, the owners of the “block”, one of the only club owners who agreed to be interviewed for the film, and that Castiel was their partner, tell about the information they deserve about him. At first, they admit, it bothered them that he was handing out chasers to many women. Then when more and more rumors and complaints come to them, they support it a bit, and only after there are more and more cases (which come to their attention thanks to the “Good Night” association), do they decide not to put him in the club anymore.
2 View the gallery
Sheri Golan (right) and Irad Marciano Zeiger from the series. Brave evidence in an open face
(Photo: Matan Ackerman, courtesy of yes Docu)
The hypothesis that there was a use of rape is repeated again and again, also by policewoman Yael Kfir, who investigated the cases (“You must understand the magnitude of the women,” she tells the creator), and in the end it was not included in the indictment. As the series explains, it is very difficult to find remnants of a rape drug in the system of the rapist, even shortly after the act. But it is known that it is used (but two months ago the police arrested an architect on suspicion of trying to import 6 kg of rape drug to Israel).
Beyond being an important, thorough and comprehensive “After Midnight” series, it is also interesting and well done; She manages to gather all the testimonies of the victims, the journalists, the owners of the club, the policewoman and the representative of the State Attorney’s Office into a clear and organized narrative. Both those who have followed the affair closely and those who find it difficult to hear the case descriptions and the frustration of bringing them to trial will find it difficult to stop watching it. The three episodes will be broadcast starting today on yes docu and are all on yes’s VOD.