Ilan Moskovitch

Ilan Moskovitch (Hebrew: אילן מוסקוביץ'; born August 3, 1966), is an Israeli filmmaker, producer, director, casting director and acting instructor.^[1]

Biography

Ilan Moskovitch was born and raised in Acre, Israel, second generation to immigrants from Romania, holocaust survivors. His father, Meir, owned a kiosk in ancient Acre, near the Arabic cinema "Bustan", and his mother, Anna, worked as a hospital nurse.^[2] Moskovitch is a graduate of the cinema department of "Camera Obscura – School of Art" (1992). In the year after his graduation, he worked as a production coordinator and manager for various TV projects, working with the directors Dan Wolman, Ze'ev Revach, and others. In 1995 he met the international Israeli director Amos Gitai. Moskovitch worked as his assistant in the movie "Dvarim," and since then the two cooperated in more than twenty-five movies, many of which were feature films for cinema, including "Free Zone", "Promised Land",^[3] "Alila", "Carmel", "Kadosh", "Disengagement", "Kippur", "Eden", "Kedma",^[4] "Yom Yom" Four of those films: "Kadosh (1999), "Kippur" (2000), Kedma" (2002) and "Free Zone" (2005), participated in the Official Competition of the Cannes Film Festival (in which Moskovitch was the artistic consultant and the casting director). Moskovitch was the casting director in the film "Free Zone" in which Hana Laszlo won the Best Actress Prize in 2005 at the Cannes Film Festival, for her role in the film.^[5] Moskovitch produced documentary films with Gitai, among them "Tapuz",^[6] "The Arena of Murder", "Golan Diary", "Milim" and a video installation entitled "The Public Residence of The Fifties", which was shown at the Mishkan Museum of Art, Ein Harod and at the Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Herzliya.

Besides his work with Amos Gitai, he established in 1997 the production company "Cinemax" along with director David Noy; he produced the films "Peach", "What Now?", and "Arlekino Behind The Masks".^[7] In 2001 he produced commercials and communication videos with the journalist David Gilboa, for the Israeli Ministry of Environmental Protection, United Jewish Appeal, Shahal, Bank Hapoalim and Ford Motor Company. In 2003, he established "Impro" – Acting Studio for Cinema and TV with his partner, theater director Avi Malka. In 2008 he produced the feature film "Who kidnapped Moshe Ivgy?",^[8] directed by Avi Malka. This is the first full-length feature film produced by an acting school in Israel, in which all the major and lead roles were acted by third year graduates.^[9] In 2009 he produced the documentary film "The Ambassadors", directed by Tal Agassi for Israel Channel 8.^[10] Together with Eran Paz he produced the documentary film "Jeremiah", directed by Eran Paz.^[11] The movie won the Best Director Prize Award for Documentary Film in the Jerusalem Film Festival 2010.^[12]

In 2013, together with Dan Bronfeld, Moskovitch directed and produced for Channel 8 a documentary film entitled "Appolonian Story". The film is about a man who built his home in a cave and lived there for forty years.^[13] The film participated in film festivals around the world, including AFI Docs, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, Jerusalem Film Festival, Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival, and Thessaloniki International Film Festival.^[14] In the same year, he worked on Giati's film "Ana Arabia," in which he served as the casting director. The film participated in the main competition at the 70th Venice International Film Festival. It's 81 minutes long filmed in a one shot. The actors include Yuval Scharf, Yussuf Abu-Warda, Sarah Adler, Assi Levy, Uri Gavriel, Shadi Srour, and Norman Issa.^[15] In 2015, he was the casting director and the artistic consultant for Amos Gitai's feature film "Rabin, the Last Day," about Shamgar Commission, which investigated the circumstances leading to the assassination of Israeli's Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, twenty years ago. The film participated at the Venice Film Festival - Official Competition 2015 as well as the Toronto International Film Festival, 2015.^[16] In 2017, he worked as a producer on the film "Holy Air," with director Shadi Srour.^[17] The film participated in the official competition in the Tribeca Film Festival,^[18] participated in the Palm Springs International Film Festival^[19] and won FIPRESCI Prize as best debut in the national competition of the Jerusalem Film Festival of 2017.^[20] It was acquired for distribution in North America by Samuel Goldwyn Films. Srour and Laetitia Eido played the main roles.^[21]

In 2018, he was the casting director of the movie "A Tramway in Jerusalem" directed by Amos Gitai.^[22] The film participated in the Venice Film Festival.^[23] In 2020, he was the casting director of Gitai's movie "Laila in Haifa."^[24] The plot transpires through a night in nightclub in Haifa. The film participated in the competition at the Venice Film Festival.^[25] In 2024, he was one of the producers of Gitai's movie "Shikun," an Israel-Frence-Swiss-Brazil-United Kingdom co-production starring Irène Jacob. The film participates in the Berlin International Film Festival.^[26]

In 2024, he directed and produced alongside Dan Bronfeld for Kan 11 the film "Desert Laws" (80 minutes), which tells the story of Farhan Al-Nabari, a third-generation arbitrator in his family. Representatives of clans arrive at his tent in an unrecognized village in the Negev so that he may settle their disputes. Concurrently, he deals with the State of Israel's attempts to evict the residents of the village, where it had settled them seven decades earlier. The film discusses issues of identity, family, home, tradition, blood feud, reconciliation, house, and state. ^[27] The premiere screening of the film took place at the Jerusalem Film Festival, where it participated in the documentary competition. ^[28]

Moskovitch has worked with well-known Israeli film actors, among them: Moni Moshonov,^[29]Yael Abecassis,^[30]Hana Laszlo,^[31]Moshe Ivgy, Hanna Maron, Keren Mor, Yussuf Abu-Warda, Juliano Mer-Khamis,^[32]Ronit Elkabetz, Assi Dayan, Lea Koenig, Samuel Calderon,^[33] Liron Levo, Uri Klauzner,^[34]Amos Lavi. Moskovitch has also worked with international film actors such as: Jeanne Moreau, Juliette Binoche,^[35]Natalie Portman, Carmen Maura (Almodovar Films),^[36]Samantha Morton,^[37]Anne Parillaud (La Femme Nikita), Hanna Schygulla, Rosamund Pike.^[38]

Filmography

References

1. ^ cinefondation L'atelier 2013, Cannes Film Festival, p. 23.
2. ^ Ilan Moskovitch at IMDb
3. ^ "Promised Land Hotel". in UniFrance.
4. ^ Scheib, Ronnie (September 6, 2007). "Review: ‘Disengagement". Variety.
5. ^ Kuriansky, Judy (2007). Beyond Bullets and Bombs: Grassroots Peacebuilding between Israelis and Palestinians (Contemporary Psychology). Praeger. p. 174.
6. ^ Tapuz. in International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam.
7. ^ "Arlecchino: Behind the masks". in The New Fund for Cinema and TV.
8. ^ "Who kidnapped Moshe Ivgy?". City Mouse Online.
9. ^ Parkhomovsky, Marat (November 28, 2012). "Who kidnapped Moshe Ivgy?". Walla!.
10. ^ "The Ambassadors". The New Fund for Cinema and TV and "The Ambassadors" Archived 2016-03-05 at the Wayback Machine in Israel Film Center
11. ^ "Jeremiah" Archived 2016-03-05 at the Wayback Machine. in Israeli film database and "Jeremiah" Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine. in Kraków Film Festival 2010
12. ^ list of participants and award winning prizes at the 27the Jerusalem Film Festival, 2010].
13. ^ "Rome Independent Film Festival 7/15 Maggio Riff Awards 2015". Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2015-10-22.
14. ^ "Apollonian Story". The New Fund for Cinema and TV.
15. ^ Felperin, Leslie (September 2, 2013). "Venice Film Review: ‘Ana Arabia’". Variety.
16. ^ Debruge, Peter (September 7, 2015). "Venice Film Review: ‘Rabin, the Last Day’". Variety.
17. ^ Holy Air. Israeli Film Fund.
18. ^ Sheri Linden (April 20, 2017). ‘Holy Air’: Film Review | Tribeca 2017. The Hollywood Reporter,
19. ^ Holy Air. Palm Springs International Film Festival.
20. ^ Holy Air. FIPRESCI Prize.
21. ^ Tom Grater (May 23, 2017). Samuel Goldwyn acquires Israeli comedy 'Holy Air'. Screen Daily.
22. ^ Un Tramway a Jerusalem.
23. ^ Deborah Young (September 6, 2018). ‘A Tramway in Jerusalem’: Film Review | Venice 2018. Hollywood Reporter.
24. ^ Laila in Haifa. Israeli Film Fund.
25. ^ Guy Lodge (September 8, 2020). ‘Laila in Haifa’ Review: Amos Gitai Paints the Town Beige in a Dull Nighttime Ensemble Piece. Variety.
26. ^ Berlin Film Festival.
27. ^ Oron Shamir (January 1, 2025). "Desert Laws": Internal Struggles Pale in Comparison to the External Threat. Haaretz.
28. ^ Desert Laws Jerusalem Film Festival
29. ^ Cast of the movie "Kedma"
30. ^ Cast of the movie "Kadosh"
31. ^ Cast of the movie "Free Zone"
32. ^ Cast of the movie "Yom Yom"
33. ^ Cast of the movie "Devarim"
34. ^ Cast of the movie "Kippur"
35. ^ "Cast of the movie "Disengagement"". Archived from the original on 2011-09-11. Retrieved 2015-10-22.
36. ^ Cast of the movie "Free Zone"
37. ^ Cast of the movie "Eden"
38. ^ Cast of the movie "Promised Land"

External links

• Moskovitch Official site
• "Apollonian Story" official site
• Ilan Moskovitch at IMDb
• Moscovitch in Cinemotions
• (June 10, 2014). "Questions and answers with Ilan Moskovitch". American Film Institute.

About the movie "Apollonian Story":

• "Apollonian Story"^{[dead link]} at the AFI Docs
• "Apollonian Story"^{[dead link]} at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival.
• Doyle, Ronan (April 2, 2014). "Full Frame: Apollonian Story Review" at the Next Projection.

About the movie "Holy Air":

• (November 16, 2017). Interview: ‘Holy Air’ is comedic commentary set in Nazareth. Hollywood soapbox.