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WHO IS … Amos Gitai ?

Amos Gitai was born on 11 October 1950 in Haifa. He graduated as an architect from the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa and gained a PhD in architecture at Berkeley University in California. He fought in the Yom Kippur War in 1973, during which he was injured. Attracted by directing, he became a professional filmmaker in 1980 with House. From that point he created many films, fiction and documentary. His films have brought him considerable international recognition rewarded by many prizes in the most important festivals. Four of his films have been shown in competition at the Cannes Film Festival and four others at the Venice Mostra between 1999 and 2010. As a stage director, Amos Gitai created The War of the Sons of Lights Against the Sons of Darkness, at the Festival d’Avignon in 2009, and at the Théâtre de l’Odéon in 2010. He also presented video installations such as News from Home, News from House in Berlin 2006, Citations in Bordeaux in 2009. Many uncut retrospectives of his works have been shown around the world, particularly in London (British Film Institute, 1989), Paris (Centre Pompidou, 2003), São Paulo (2004), Berlin (2006), New York (Museum of Modern Art, 2009) and Moscow, Tokyo and Jerusalem. He was distinguished Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 2000, received the Rossellini prize in 2005 and 2007 and was awarded a Leopard of Honour at the Locarno Film Festival in 2008. He now lives mainly in Haifa and Paris.

To know more about Amos Gitai: http://www.amosgitai.com/html/home.asp

And: http://oglobo.globo.com/cultura/cineastas-iraniano-israelense-participam-da-mostra-de-sp-falam-de-afinidades-politica-liberdade-6553046

Amos Gitai accepted to answer to the international survey conducted to the Forum d’Avignon among 100 personalities of the world of culture about the “reasons to hope for culture”:

The « raison d’être” of culture: creating bridges where there are none