Simone Bitton

{{short description|French-Moroccan documentary filmmaker|bot=PearBOT 5}} {{Infobox person | name = Simone Bitton | native_name = סימון ביטון | native_name_lang = he | image = | caption = | birthname = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1955}} | birth_place = Morocco | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = Director, Producer, Writer }} '''Simone Bitton''' ({{Langx|he|סימון ביטון}}; born January 3, 1955) is a French-Moroccan documentary filmmaker. Her films have been nominated for or won the César Award, the Marseille Festival of Documentary Film Award, and the Sundance Film Festival, Special Jury Prize (for ''Mur'').

==Personal life== Bitton was born the daughter of a Jewish jeweller in Rabat, Morocco. In 1966 she immigrated to Israel with her family and served in the IDF during the Yom Kippur War. She describes herself as a Mizrahi Jew.<ref>[http://www.wallthemovie.com/bio.php Director's bio] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308191401/http://www.wallthemovie.com/bio.php |date=2012-03-08 }} Wall the movie. Retrieved on 2 July 2010</ref> After settling in France, where she now mainly lives she graduated from the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques in 1981.<ref name=nyt>[https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/world/europe/13france.html French Protest of Israeli Raid Reaches Wide Audience] New York Times. 12 June 2010</ref><ref>[http://www.chris-kutschera.com/A/wall.htm WALL] The Middle East Magazine. November 2004</ref>

In December 2023, alongside 50 other filmmakers, Bitton signed an open letter published in ''Libération'' demanding a ceasefire and an end to the killing of civilians amid the 2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, and for a humanitarian corridor into Gaza to be established for humanitarian aid, and the release of hostages.<ref>{{cite news|date=28 December 2023|title=Gaza : des cinéastes du monde entier demandent un cessez-le-feu immédiat|url=https://www.liberation.fr/idees-et-debats/tribunes/gaza-des-cineastes-du-monde-entier-demandent-un-cessez-le-feu-immediat-20231228_WMAUSVJVLFEBNK4ME4XU3ZRU3M/|newspaper=Libération|language=fr|access-date=24 January 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://thefilmstage.com/claire-denis-ryusuke-hamaguchi-kiyoshi-kurosawa-christian-petzold-apichatpong-weerasethakul-more-sign-demand-for-ceasefire-in-gaza/|title=Claire Denis, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Christian Petzold, Apichatpong Weerasethakul & More Sign Demand for Ceasefire in Gaza|last=Newman|first=Nick|date=29 December 2023|website=The Film Stage|access-date=24 January 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=31 December 2023|title=Directors of cinema sign petition for immediate ceasefire|url=https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-780176|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post|access-date=24 January 2024}}</ref>

== Filmography == * 1981 : ''Solange Giraud, née Tache'' * 1990 : Great Voices of Arab Song<ref>{{Cite web |date=2007-03-03 |title=Simone Bitton's "Wall": An Existential Study on Being Shut in and Shut Out {{!}} Qantara.de |url=https://qantara.de/en/article/simone-bittons-wall-existential-study-being-shut-and-shut-out |access-date=2024-07-25 |website=qantara.de |language=en}}</ref> * 1992 : Palestine: story of a land * 1996 : Umm Kulthum * 1997 : ''Palestine/israel, histoire d’une terre'' * 1998 : ''Ben Barka, l'équation marocaine'' * 1998 : ''Mahmoud Darwich'' * 1999 : Pigu'a / The Bombing * 2000 : ''L'Attentat'' * 2001 : ''Citizen Bishara'' * 2004 : ''Wall (Mur)'' * 2009 : ''Rachel''

==References== {{Reflist|2}}

==External links== * {{official website|http://www.simonebitton.com}} * {{IMDb name|0084585}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20090108013152/http://www.filmfestivals.com/marseille/_juryawards.htm Filmfestivals.com] * [http://fidmarseille.org/french/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9&Itemid=7 Fidmarseille.org]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bitton, Simone}} Category:Moroccan film directors Category:20th-century Moroccan Jews Category:French people of Moroccan-Jewish descent Category:Moroccan emigrants to France Category:French women film directors Category:Israeli women film directors Category:1955 births Category:Living people Category:Institut des hautes études cinématographiques alumni Category:Israeli film directors