Dan Wolman


Dan Wolman is an Israeli filmmaker and lecturer in film studies.

Biography

Dan Wolman was born in Jerusalem, in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine. His father was Moshe Wolman, a pioneering physician. He spent part of his childhood in Ethiopia. Wolman studied film at the Film Institute of City College New York between 1962 and 1965 and at the New York University film department between 1965 and 1968.

Academic and film career

In 1974 and 1978, Wolman taught at the School of Visual Arts and at New York University. In 1981 he taught screenwriting and production at Tel Aviv University. Wolman has been a judge in several international and Israeli film festivals.
One of Wolman's central themes is the nuclear family. Examples are My Michael, the screen adaptation of Amos Oz's book about a married couple, and Foreign Sister, which deals with an Israeli bourgeois family that takes in a foreign worker from Ethiopia.

Awards and recognition

Wolman received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Jerusalem Film Festival and the Silver Hugo award at the Chicago International Film Festival for his "unique vision and innovative work." In January 2015, he was awarded the Arik Einstein prize for his achievements and contribution to Israeli cinema and culture. In 2016, he won the Ophir Lifetime Achievement Award of the Israeli Film Academy. He was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at India's International Film festival of India IFFI in Goa in 2018.

Filmography

Feature films

Television dramas

  • 1976 "The Story of Bash" based on short story by Isaac Bashevis Singer. Won The Best Television Drama of the Year by Israel's Broadcasting Authority.
  • 1977 "Gimpel the Fool" Based on a short story by Bashevis Singer. Competed in the Italian Television competition.
  • 1988 "Stempenyu" based on the first novel of Sholem Aleichem. Competed in Italia Television contest.
  • 1992 "Mivchan Magen" based on a script by Aliza Olmert.
  • 1993 "Scape Goat" a two-part mini series based on a novel by Eli Amir.
  • 1999 "Protected Species" for Reshet production.

Short films

  • 1965 "The Living" – Winner of best film, best director and best editor prizes at the American Photographic Society of America film festival.
  • 1966 "Habit", Cin’e award, Golden Eagle award. A.F.I. Film Festival.
  • 1968 "The Race", "The Golden Eagle Award" at cin'e competition.
  • 1968 "The Gospel" winner of The Kingsly Award for best film of the year at N.Y.U. film festival.
  • 1978 "The National Poet".

Documentaries

  • 2023 "The children of Sally Bein", about the institution for Jewish children with special needs, that was active in Beelitz, Germany, from 1908-1942, and its manager Sally Bein.
  • 1968 "Saffed". 1970 "Men of the Holly Mountain". 1978 "To touch a city" – Jerusalem.
  • 1981 "Big days small stories" 1991 "Mosaic" the story of Beit She'an.
  • 1997 "Reuven Shiloah". 1999 "Yolande". 2001 " Yitzhak Sade"
  • 2007 "Spoken with Love" official selection "DocAviv" film festival

Theater

  • 1982 "Bells in Jerusalem" Khan theater in Jerusalem.
  • 1983 "She wasn’t there". Written in collaboration with Blanka Metsner "Tzavta" theater.
  • 1991 "Ben’s Biography". Presented at "Theaterneto" in Tel Aviv, Edinburgh theater Festival, "Village Gate" New York.
  • 1995 "The Operation" Festival for Alternate Theater
  • 2003 "Last Curtain in Damascus"
  • 2004 "Yadja" opened in Paris. Later that year "Yadja" was presented at the Avignon Theater Festival
  • 2006 "The Lit Darkness". Presented at Tzavta Theater