Amichai Chasson


Amichai Chasson is an Israeli poet, curator and filmmaker. Since 2015, Chasson has served as the artistic director and chief curator at the Beit Avi Chai in Jerusalem.

Biography

Amichai Chasson was born in Ramat Gan, Israel, in 1987, to an Orthodox Jewish family. His father is from Tripoli, Libya, and his mother, granddaughter of Samuel S. Bloom, is from New York City, United States. Chasson attended state-religious schools in Bnei Brak, and after Yeshiva High School, he moved to the hesder yeshiva in Yeshivat Otniel. He studied at the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School and the Mandel Leadership Institute in Jerusalem. He was Writer in Residence at Brandeis University in 2024–2025.
Chasson lives in the Katamon neighborhood of Jerusalem with his wife Dr. Miriam Chasson. The couple has two sons and a daughter.

Journalism and literary career

Chasson has worked as a journalist and literary critic for the papers Yedioth Ahronoth, Makor Rishon, and Maariv, and as a speechwriter for then President of Israel, Reuven Rivlin. He is an editor of the poetry journal Meshiv Haruach; and is a broadcaster for the public radio channel Kan Tarbut – Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation.
His first book of poetry, "Talking with Home", was published in 2015, and won the Minister of Culture's prize that year. In 2018, his second book, "Bli ma", was published by the veteran Bialik Institute Press. His poems often deal with the tension between his religious faith and artistic sensibilities, and stand on the border between cultures, identities, sources and places.
In 2018, Nechama Rivlin presented the First Lady's Prize and the Dr Gardner Simon Prize for Hebrew Poetry to Chasson for his book "Bli ma", at a ceremony at the President's Residence in Jerusalem. A year later, the book was placed on the shortlist of finalists for the Brenner Prize for poetry.
In 2013, Chasson co-directed the documentary film "Footsteps in Jerusalem", a tribute to the late Israeli documentary filmmaker David Perlov. In 2018, he released a documentary film about the poet Avoth Yeshurun, called "Yeshurun in 6 Chapters", which premiered at the Docaviv International Documentary Film Festival that same year. He has written and directed a number of films and TV series, including "The Conductor" and "Iron Dome". In 2019, he participated in the Intellectual Incubator for Documentary Filmmakers convention at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute.
Chasson served in a number of public offices, including jury judge for the Sapir Prize in Literature in 2020, and in 2021 serving as a member of the and Mifal HaPais Council for the Culture and Arts.

Awards and recognition

Poetry

  • 2015 – Medaber eem ha bayit/Talking with Home
  • 2018 – Bli Ma/Emptiness
  • 2022 – ''Shirim Al Saf/Liminal Poems''

    Edited books

  • 2019 – Man walks in the world: conversations with Abraham Joshua Heschel
  • 2017 - Nanopoetics: A Tribute to Allen Ginsberg
  • 2015 - Respite on a Green Island: A Tribute to Zelda
  • 2014 - ''Company Required for the Holiday Season: Short Stories''

    Filmography

Director

  • 2013 – Footsteps in Jerusalem: a tribute to In Jerusalem
  • 2016 – On the Six Day
  • 2018 – ''Yeshurun in 6 Chapters''

    Screenwriter

  • 2017 – Kipat Barzel
  • 2018 – ''HaMenatzeah''

    Curated exhibitions

  • 2016 – Ronny Someck: Tow time Chai, Beit Avi Chai, Jerusalem
  • 2018 – Joel Kantor: Night Guard, Beit Avi Chai, Jerusalem
  • 2019 – Emerging from the shadows: the photographs of Sarah Ayal, Beit Avi Chai and The Knesset, Jerusalem
  • 2022 – Marek Yanai: On the Threshold, Beit Avi Chai, Jerusalem
  • 2023 – Anatoli Kaplan: The Enchanted Artist, Beit Avi Chai, Jerusalem
  • 2024 - Pinchas Litvinovsky: You Must Choose Life—That is Art, Beit Avi Chai, Jerusalem
  • 2025 - My Life at the Moment, Beit Avi Chai, Jerusalem