Yoav Shamir is an Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

i documentary

Documentary

A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...

 filmmaker most noted for the films Checkpoint and Defamation

Defamation (film)

Defamation is a 2009 documentary film by award-winning filmmaker Yoav Shamir. The film examines antisemitism, and in particular the way perceptions of antisemitism affect Israeli and U.S. politics...

. Shamir's films have received awards from independent film festivals including Best Feature Documentary at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, Best International Documentary at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, and the Golden Gate Award for Documentary Feature at the San Francisco International Film Festival

San Francisco International Film Festival

San Francisco International Film Festival is the oldest continuously running film festival in the Americas. Organized by the San Francisco Film Society, the International is held each spring for two weeks, presenting an average of 150 films from over 50 countries...

. Shamir's viewpoint of Israeli political policies in his documentaries made him a focal point of criticism and garnered accusations of anti-semitism

Anti-Semitism

Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...

. His latest film - 10% - What Makes A Hero? - A Documentary is focused on the premise that a small minority of people, less than 10%, will always fight for what is just regardless of circumstance.

Recent News

Yoav Shamir recently launched a fundraising appeal for his latest movie - 10%. One of the first Israeli documentary makers to use online crowd-funding website Indiegogo to help raise money for a film.

Personal life

Yoav Shamir was born in Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...

 in 1970. He graduated from Tel Aviv University

Tel Aviv University

Tel Aviv University is a public university located in Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel. With nearly 30,000 students, TAU is Israel's largest university.-History:...

 with a BA in History and philosophy. He obtained a MFA in cinema with honours.

Controversies

After the success of Checkpoint, Shamir was referred to as the "Israeli Mel Gibson" by American journalists and accused of antisemitism. This inspired him to do a project about contemporary antisemitism, the film Defamation

Defamation (film)

Defamation is a 2009 documentary film by award-winning filmmaker Yoav Shamir. The film examines antisemitism, and in particular the way perceptions of antisemitism affect Israeli and U.S. politics...

.

Filmography

• Full Gas (2010)
• Hashmatsa (International title: Defamation
  Defamation (film)
  Defamation is a 2009 documentary film by award-winning filmmaker Yoav Shamir. The film examines antisemitism, and in particular the way perceptions of antisemitism affect Israeli and U.S. politics...
  
  ) (2009)
• Flipping Out
  Flipping Out (film)
  Flipping Out is 2007-film directed by Yoav Shamir describing the drug use of Israeli men and women in India. After finishing their compulsory military service, tens of thousands of young Israelis head for India to unwind, get stoned or, in some cases, go insane—all of which are explored in the...
  
  (2008)
• 5 Days (2005)
• Machssomim (International title: Checkpoint
  Checkpoint (2003 film)
  Checkpoint is a 2003 documentary film by Israeli filmmaker Yoav Shamir, showing the everyday interaction between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian civilians at several of the regions Israel Defence Forces checkpoints...
  
  ) (2003)

External links

• Yoav Shamir at IMDb
• http://www.yoavshamirfilms.com Yoav Shamir Films website
• http://vimeo.com/yoavshamirfilms Yoav Shamir Films at Vimeo
  Vimeo
  Vimeo is a video-sharing website on which users can upload, share, and view videos. It was founded by Zach Klein and Jake Lodwick in November 2004...
  
  
• http://www.facebook.com/yoavshamirfilms Yoav Shamir Films at Facebook
  Facebook
  Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
  
  
• http://www.twitter.com/yoavshamirfilms Yoav Shamir Films at Twitter
  Twitter
  Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
  
  
• http://www.indiegogo.com/10-Percent-Movie Yoav Shamir Films - 10% - at Indiegogo
  Indiegogo
  IndieGoGo is a crowd funding site founded by Slava Rubin, Danae Ringellmann and Eric Schell in 2008. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, California...