The Most Famous
FILM DIRECTORS from Israel
This page contains a list of the greatest Israeli Film Directors. The pantheon dataset contains 2,041 Film Directors, 10 of which were born in Israel. This makes Israel the birth place of the 30th most number of Film Directors behind Switzerland, and Mexico.
Top 10
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Israeli Film Directors of all time. This list of famous Israeli Film Directors is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Israeli Film Directors.
1. Amos Gitai (b. 1950)
With an HPI of 60.42, Amos Gitai is the most famous Israeli Film Director. His biography has been translated into 22 different languages on wikipedia.
Amos Gitai is an artist and an Israeli filmmaker, born 11 October 1950 in Haifa, Israel. Gitai's work was presented in several major retrospectives in Pompidou Center in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and Lincoln Center in New York, and the British Film Institute in London. To date, Amos Gitai has created over 90 works of art, including a wide variety of formats such as feature and short films, fiction and documentaries, experimental work, television productions, installations and theater works. Between 1999 and 2017 ten of his films participated in the Cannes Film Festival for the Palme d'Or as well as The Venice International Film Festival for the Golden Lion award. He has worked with Juliette Binoche, Jeanne Moreau, Natalie Portman, Yael Abecassis, Samuel Fuller, Hanna Schygulla, Annie Lennox, Barbara Hendricks, Léa Seydoux, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Henri Alekan, Renato Berta, Nurith Aviv, Éric Gautier and more. Since 2000 he has been collaborating with the French screenwriter Marie-José Sanselme. He received several prestigious prizes, in particular the Leopard of Honor at the Locarno International Film Festival (2008), the Roberto Rossellini Prize (2005), the Robert Bresson Prize (2013), the Paradjanov Prize (2014) and Legion of Honour (2017). In 2018, Amos Gitai was elected professor at the chair of artistic creation at the Collège de France, with a series of 12 lessons on cinema. In 2019 he received the Grande Ufficiale dell'Ordine della Stella Italia. His film Shikun (2024), starring Irène Jacob and Bahira Ablassi, was an official selection at the Berlin International Film Festival.
2. Assi Dayan (1945 - 2014)
With an HPI of 59.27, Assi Dayan is the 2nd most famous Israeli Film Director. His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.
Assaf "Assi" Dayan (Hebrew: אסף "אסי" דיין; 23 November 1945 – 1 May 2014) was an Israeli film director, actor, screenwriter, and producer.
3. Menahem Golan (1929 - 2014)
With an HPI of 59.13, Menahem Golan is the 3rd most famous Israeli Film Director. His biography has been translated into 29 different languages.
Menahem Golan (Hebrew: מנחם גולן; May 31, 1929 – August 8, 2014, originally Menachem Globus) was an Israeli film producer, screenwriter, and director. He co-owned The Cannon Group with his cousin Yoram Globus. Cannon specialized in producing low-to-mid-budget American films, primarily genre films, during the 1980s after Golan and Globus had achieved significant filmmaking success in their native Israel during the 1970s. Golan produced films featuring actors such as Sean Connery, Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Charles Bronson, and for a period, was known as a producer of comic book-style films like Masters of the Universe, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, Captain America, and his aborted attempt to bring Spider-Man to the silver screen. Golan also wrote and polished numerous film scripts under the pen name Joseph Goldman. At the time of his death, Golan had produced over 200 films, directed 44, and won 8 "Kinor David" awards as well as "Israel Prize" in Cinema. He was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Foreign-Language Film for Franco Zeffirelli's Otello.
4. Ralph Bakshi (b. 1938)
With an HPI of 53.73, Ralph Bakshi is the 4th most famous Israeli Film Director. His biography has been translated into 33 different languages.
Ralph Bakshi (born October 29, 1938) is an American retired animator and filmmaker, known for his fantastical animated films. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1994, he directed nine theatrically released feature films, predominantly urban dramas and fantasy films, five of which he wrote. He has also been involved in numerous television projects as director, writer, producer and animator. Beginning his career at the Terrytoons television cartoon studio as a cel polisher, Bakshi was eventually promoted to animator and then director. He moved to the animation division of Paramount Pictures in 1967 and started his own studio, Bakshi Productions, in 1968. Through producer Steve Krantz, Bakshi made his debut feature film, Fritz the Cat, released in 1972. It was based on the comic strip by Robert Crumb, was the first animated film to receive an X rating from the Motion Picture Association of America, and is the most successful independent animated feature of all time. Over the next 11 years, Bakshi directed seven additional animated features. He is well known for such films as Wizards (1977), The Lord of the Rings (1978), American Pop (1981), and Fire and Ice (1983). In 1987, Bakshi returned to television work, producing the series Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, which ran for two years. After a nine-year hiatus from feature films, he directed Cool World (1992), which was largely rewritten during production and received poor reviews, consequently being his last theatrical feature-length film to date. Bakshi returned to television with the live-action film Cool and the Crazy (1994) and the anthology series Spicy City (1997). During the 2000s, he focused largely on fine art and painting, and in 2003, co-founded the Bakshi School of Animation with his son Eddie and Jess Gorell. Bakshi has received several awards for his work, including the 1980 Golden Gryphon for The Lord of the Rings at the Giffoni Film Festival, the 1988 Annie Award for Distinguished Contribution to the Art of Animation, and the 2003 Maverick Tribute Award at the Cinequest Film Festival.
5. Avi Arad (b. 1948)
With an HPI of 52.85, Avi Arad is the 5th most famous Israeli Film Director. His biography has been translated into 28 different languages.
Avi Arad (; Hebrew: אבי ארד; born August 1, 1948) is an Israeli-American studio executive and producer of film, television and animation. He became the CEO of Toy Biz in the 1990s, was the chief creative officer of Marvel Entertainment and is the founder, former chairman and former CEO of the latter's successor, Marvel Studios. Since then, he has produced and sometimes written a wide array of live-action, animated, and television comic book adaptations, including Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
6. Ari Folman (b. 1962)
With an HPI of 50.37, Ari Folman is the 6th most famous Israeli Film Director. His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.
Ari Folman (Hebrew: ארי פולמן; born December 17, 1962) is an Israeli film director, screenwriter, animator, and film-score composer. He directed the Oscar-nominated animated documentary film Waltz with Bashir (2008) and the live-action/animated film The Congress. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
7. Elia Suleiman (b. 1960)
With an HPI of 49.70, Elia Suleiman is the 7th most famous Israeli Film Director. His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.
Elia Suleiman (Arabic: إيليا سليمان, IPA: [ˈʔiːlja sʊleːˈmaːn]; born 28 July 1960) is a Palestinian film director and actor. He is best known for the 2002 film Divine Intervention (Arabic: يد إلهية), a modern tragicomedy on living under occupation in Palestine which won the Jury Prize at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. Suleiman's cinematic style is often compared to that of Jacques Tati and Buster Keaton, for its poetic interplay between "burlesque and sobriety". He is married to Lebanese singer and actress Yasmine Hamdan.
8. Hany Abu-Assad (b. 1961)
With an HPI of 46.60, Hany Abu-Assad is the 8th most famous Israeli Film Director. His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.
Hany Abu-Assad (Arabic: هاني أبو أسعد; born 11 October 1961) is a Palestinian-Dutch film director. He has received two Academy Award nominations: in 2006 for his film Paradise Now, and again in 2013 for his film Omar.
9. Samuel Maoz (b. 1962)
With an HPI of 42.34, Samuel Maoz is the 9th most famous Israeli Film Director. His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.
Samuel Maoz (Hebrew: שמואל מעוז; born c. 1962) is an Israeli film director. His 2009 film, Lebanon won the Golden Lion at the 66th Venice International Film Festival. He also won the award for Best Screenplay for Lebanon at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards in 2010.
10. Oren Peli (b. 1970)
With an HPI of 37.20, Oren Peli is the 10th most famous Israeli Film Director. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.
Oren Peli (Hebrew: אורן פלאי / אורן פלי; born January 21, 1970) is an Israeli filmmaker, best known for writing and directing the 2007 horror film Paranormal Activity. He acted as producer on subsequent films in the franchise, as well as on the first five films in the Insidious franchise.
People
Pantheon has 11 people classified as Israeli film directors born between 1929 and 1974. Of these 11, 9 (81.82%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Israeli film directors include Amos Gitai, Ralph Bakshi, and Avi Arad. The most famous deceased Israeli film directors include Assi Dayan, and Menahem Golan. As of April 2024, 1 new Israeli film directors have been added to Pantheon including Etan Cohen.
Living Israeli Film Directors
Go to all Rankings
Amos Gitai
1950 - Present
HPI: 60.42
Ralph Bakshi
1938 - Present
HPI: 53.73
Avi Arad
1948 - Present
HPI: 52.85
Ari Folman
1962 - Present
HPI: 50.37
Elia Suleiman
1960 - Present
HPI: 49.70
Hany Abu-Assad
1961 - Present
HPI: 46.60
Samuel Maoz
1962 - Present
HPI: 42.34
Oren Peli
1970 - Present
HPI: 37.20
Etan Cohen
1974 - Present
HPI: 33.10
