The critically acclaimed Israeli animated historical drama film Legend of Destruction is about to make history by becoming the first film in history to be minted as artistic NFT paintings.
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NFT, or non-fungible token, is a non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a blockchain, a form of digital ledger that can be sold and traded. NFT art is used to document the ownership of items such as images, videos, and other collectibles and is currently the hottest crypto trend in the art world.
According to a press release from Monday, the highly anticipated reveal of this one-of-a-kind NFT collection from digital art label ±3000 will take place within the next two weeks and include 1,500 art pieces of Legend of Destruction.
The animated feature, directed by Gidi Dar and co-written by Dar and religious actor Shuli Rand, is based on Talmudic stories of the Second Temple's destruction.
Leading Israeli actors Rand, Ze'ev Revach, Amos Tamam, Moni Moshonov, Yael Abukasis and Yigal Naor lent their voices to the movie.
The film, which was eight years in production, was not produced using traditional animation techniques, but by projecting about 1,500 still paintings illustrated by Academy Award-nominated artists David Polonsky and Michael Faust. The two reviewed books, visited the Temple Institute in Jerusalem, and used the model of Jerusalem from the Israel Museum to accurately depict Jewish life during this period.
The plot is a historical epic described through the perspective of six historical figures during the Roman era in Israel and is based on historical sources such as the Talmud and Josephus Flavius's book, Jewish Wars against the Romans, which tells the story of the deteriorating Jewish revolt in the Roman Empire.
Jewish society at the time was torn apart by the bloody civil war that culminated in the destruction of the Second Temple.
The film was released on 15 July 2021 in Israeli cinemas to critical acclaim.
"I watched Legend of Destruction at a Tel-Aviv theater. Just two still images into the movie, I turned to my best friend and business partner and we immediately recognized the immense value in converting this film into an NFT industry disruptor," said Ido Dotan, head of ±3000.
"By taking this 3,000-year-old legend, captured in pure cinematic beauty, and placing it on the blockchain, we are not only immortalizing history through the eternal blockchain, but we are also disrupting the chain by democratizing art and creativity," Dotan continued.
"Our original goal was to innovate an artistic way of telling this epic historical tale, and now our vision has become transformative and accessible on the blockchain for art and history appreciation through NFTs," said Faust.
According to the statement, the NFT collection includes all the production paintings from the film, as well as the original drawings from the artistic production process of the movie.
A pre-sale of 500 paintings and sketches will be available to community members and project partners for 48 hours. Following this pre-sale, the remaining 1,000 NFTs will open to the public toward the end of February, with minting expected to run until early March.
After minting on the blockchain is complete, the collection will be randomly distributed amongst "token holders," i.e. those who purchased an NFT from the film.
Each digital wallet is allowed to mint a maximum of four art pieces from the collection. The pieces will be hidden and placed into a digital box, revealing themselves 72 hours after the sale is complete to their collectors.
After the reveal, collectors can continue purchasing additional paintings to complete their personal collection of full movie scenes through OpenSea.
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