Directing
Nov 3, 1935
Tel-Aviv, Israel
Uri Zohar
Directing
Biography
Uri Zohar was a prominent Israeli film director, actor, and comedian who later became an Orthodox rabbi. Born in Tel Aviv, he began his career in the entertainment industry in the 1950s, gaining fame for his work in Israeli cinema and television. Zohar directed and starred in several influential films, including Hole in the Moon (1964), Three Days and a Child (1967), and Big Eyes (1974). His films often explored social issues and the complexities of Israeli society. In the late 1970s, Zohar experienced a significant personal transformation, embracing Orthodox Judaism and leaving the entertainment industry to become a rabbi. He dedicated the latter part of his life to religious study and community work, becoming a prominent figure in the Orthodox Jewish community. Zohar passed away in Jerusalem at the age of 86.
Feature Films (20)
A comic and episodic satire, the film uses improvisation to illustrate the clash between fantasy and reality in real life. Although conceived in the style of Mekas’ “Hallelujah the hills” (1962), it’s an authentically Israeli satire, an openly rebellious and individualistic expression that poked fun at the sacred myths of earlier zionist films. The technique of film within the film is used to portray cinema as reflection of the imagination, a miracle based on dreams and fantasies that take on concrete characteristics – parallel to the miracle of Israel, the dream that has become reality. Although not a commercial success, its importance is beyond any measure, though it remains a unique experiment, boldly uncommercial and subversive, out of any context in that patriotic, ideological epoch.
Hole in the Moon
A slapstick comedy lampooning bureaucracy and the madness of everyday life in Israel centers on an escaped lunatic who digs up the streets of Tel-Aviv with a drill.
The Big Dig
Gote and Eli are two aging friends who don't want to age. Gote is a lifeguard who's fighting peepers on the Tel Aviv beach. Eli is a guitar player who dreams of building a night club in altman's restaurant.
Peeping Toms
Professional big-dude Paul Smith in an Israeli-produced action-comedy that looks to take inspiration from the Hill/Spencer comedies.
They Call Me Shmil
Bumbling private detective Schwartz and his equally inept part Simcha are hired by a man to find out if the man's wife is cheating on him with the family doctor. The blundering duo run afoul of mobsters and experience other mishaps during their investigation.
Schwartz: The Brave Detective
An experimental and absurd avant-garde film about a bunch of unrelated people, all standing on the side of the road waiting for the traffic light to change from red to green, but the traffic light won't change. More and more people gather on the sidewalk, and a kind of class society is formed there. The film was shot during one day in which Ephraim Kishon lent Uri Zohar the set of "Blaumilch Canal" at Herzliya Studios.
The Other Side
A musical, semi-documentary motion picture considering the making of "Shablul", a rock album by Arik Einstein and Shalom Hanoch. The film demonstrates fragments of being, a few funny sketches and musical numbers, much affected by The Beatles' flicks. "Shablul" reminds its viewers the taste of 60s, showing them the Israeli pop/rock scene of these jolly years.
The Snail
A group of children embrace an eccentric old man, and working together, build a ship on a rooftop.
Dreamboat
A little group of people in Israel decides to track down a treasure which, according to the legend, is placed in the city of Petra in the kingdom of Jordan. No man ever survived this treasurehunt "to the other side" (of the Jordan River) before and the adventure ends up with fatal consequences.
Burning Sands
Documentary following Uri Zohar on the set of a short film he's directing, years after leaving the cinematic world for the religious world.
