Overview

The first decade of the 21st century has brought a prosperous era to Israeli cinema, both for drama and documentary. The Israeli cinama audience grew, critics praised more films, and several Israeli films gained respect and won awards in film festivals around the world. This success could be ascribed to the significant improvement in the quality of the films, a decrease in overtly political emphasis, and to an increased funding from both the state and television industry. The Israeli commercial TV channels (Channel 2

Channel 2 (Israel)

Channel 2 is an Israeli commercial television channel.- History :In 1990, after 13 years of deliberations, the Knesset passed a law that paved the way for the establishment of commercial television in Israel. The goal was to enhance pluralism and create competition. Channel 2 began broadcasting on...

, Cable television

Hot (Israel)

HOT Telecommunication Systems Ltd. is a company that provides cable television, last-mile Internet access, broadband and telecommunication services in Israel. It also provides various data transmission services and network services at different rates, services to the business sector and other...

 and Satellite television) were contractually obliged to fund cinematic film productions in exchange for their future broadcasting rights. Furthermore, royalties which the television companies once paid to the government now go to the Israeli cinema industry.

Among the most prominent films of this period: Late Marriage (Dover Koshashvili), Broken Wings

Broken Wings (film)

Broken Wings is a 2002 Israeli film directed by Nir Bergman and starring Orly Silbersatz Banai, Maya Maron, and Nitai Gaviratz.- Plot :The unexpected death of the family patriarch throws every member of the Ullmann clan off course. Widow Dafna takes to bed for three months and when she finally...

(Nir Bergman), Walk on Water

Walk on Water (film)

Walk on Water is an Israeli film released in 2004. It stars Lior Ashkenazi, Knut Berger, and Caroline Peters. It was directed by New York-born Israeli director Eytan Fox. The screenplay was written by Gal Uchovsky...

and Yossi & Jagger

Yossi & Jagger

Yossi & Jagger is a 2002 Israeli romantic drama film directed by Eytan Fox about soldiers at the Israel – Lebanon border who try to find some peace and solace from the daily routine of war.-Plot:...

(Eytan Fox

Eytan Fox

-Biography:Fox was born in New York City and moved with his family to Israel when he was two. His father, Seymour Fox, was a Conservative rabbi and a leading professor of Jewish education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His mother, Sara Kaminker-Fox, was the head of the Jerusalem city...

), Nina's Tragedies

Nina's Tragedies

Nina’s Tragedies is a 2003 Israeli dramedy film directed by Savi Gavison and starring Ayelet Zurer, Yoram Hattab, Alon Abutbul, Shmil Ben Ari, and Anat Waxman. It won 11 Ophir Awards.-Plot summary:...

(Savi Gavison), Campfire

Campfire (film)

Campfire is an Israeli movie released in 2004, written and directed by Joseph Cedar.- Synopsis :The story of a young widow , mother of two beautiful teenage daughters, who wants to join the founding group of a new settlement of religious Jews in the West Bank, but first must convince the...

and Beaufort

Beaufort (film)

Beaufort is a 2007 Israeli war film. The film was directed by Joseph Cedar and was co-written by Cedar and Ron Leshem, based on Leshem's If there's a Heaven...

(Joseph Cedar

Joseph Cedar

Yossef Cedar is an Israeli film director and screenwriter. He has won a Silver Bear and an Ophir Award for Best Director, and an Ophir Award for writing a Best Screenplay. He also won the best screenplay award at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. for his film Footnote .-Biography:Cedar was born in...

), Or (My Treasure)

Or (My Treasure)

Or is a 2004 drama film starring Dana Ivgy in the title role of Or, a teenager who struggles to be responsible for her prostitute mother Ruthie, played by Ronit Elkabetz...

(Keren Yedaya

Keren Yedaya

Keren Yedaya is an Israeli filmmaker. She was born in the United States, but her family moved to Israel in 1975 when she was just three. She trained at the Camera Obscura School of Art in Tel Aviv....

), Turn Left at the End of the World (Avi Nesher

Avi Nesher

Avi Nesher is an Israeli film producer, film director, screenwriter and actor.- Biography :Avi Nesher was born and raised in Ramat Gan, Israel. The child of a Romanian-born diplomat, and a mother who came from Russia. In 1965, he moved with his family to the United States...

), Noodle

Noodle (film)

Noodle is an award-winning 2007 Israeli film directed by Ayelet Menahemi, written by Shemi Zarhin and Ayelet Menahemi, and starring Mili Avital, Chen Baoqi, and Alon Aboutboul.-Plot:...

(Ayelet Menahemi

Ayelet Menahemi

Ayelet Menahemi is an award-winning Israeli film director, producer, writer, editor, and actor.-Life and Works:Menahemi was born in Tel Aviv in 1963...

), The Band's Visit

The Band's Visit

The Band's Visit is an acclaimed 2007 Israeli film directed by Eran Kolirin.The Band's Visit was Israel's original Foreign Language Film submission for the 80th Academy Awards, but was rejected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences because it contained over 50% English dialogue...

(Eran Kolirin

Eran Kolirin

Eran Kolirin is an Israeli screenwriter and film director.His directorial debut and as of 2008 his only feature-length film is The Band's Visit . The film was a critical success, winning eight Awards of the Israeli Film Academy and prizes at several international film festivals...

), Waltz With Bashir

Waltz with Bashir

Waltz with Bashir is a 2008 Israeli animated documentary film written and directed by Ari Folman. It depicts Folman in search of his lost memories from the 1982 Lebanon War....

(Ari Folman

Ari Folman

Ari Folman is an Israeli film director, screenwriter and film score composer.-Biography:Ari Folman was born in Haifa to Holocaust survivors. His wife is also a film director...

) and Ajami

Ajami (film)

Ajami is a 2009 Arab/Jewish collaboration drama film. Its plot is set in the Ajami neighborhood of Jaffa.-Overview:Written and directed by Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani , Ajami explores five different stories set in an actual impoverished Christian-and-Muslim Arab neighborhood of the Tel...

(Scandar Kobti and Yaron Sheni) .

External links

• Israeli film at the Internet Movie Database
  Internet Movie Database
  Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...