Search Results

news Margarita Linton wins DocAviv Mayor of Tel Aviv Award Thrilled to announce that our alumna and teacher, Margarita Linton, has won the DocAviv 2022 prize for Best Debut Film. The jury statement reads: "This bold and creative debut feature appears to use cinema in an inventively therapeutic manner that showed great promise to this jury. Choosing to approach the subject of an artist and their work through the complicating factor of the director's own proximity to this artist, the film offers both a dual portrait narrative and a struggle for authorship and agency that exhibits real potential all the way to the film's closing revelations. Margarita and Yaniv Linton, with this debut work, have marked themselves out as a directorial duo to watch in coming years."

News Hollywood Reporter 2023 list!! For the seventh year in a row, our school has been selected as one of the 15 best film schools outside of the US. This year's best global film schools includes only one film school from Israel - and it is the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School! We are very proud and will continue to strive to ensure a vital role for the Israeli industry

News Haifa Film Festival 2023 Fifth year student, Amnon Halbersberg, is competing in the shorts competition with his film "After Life"! In addition, many alumni are taking part in the festival this year including Dani Rosenberg with his feature "The Vanishing Soldier". Good luck to all!

ur two-year screenwriting program began in 1999 and offers intensive studies with the goal of turning out inspiring writers who will lead the industry and advance the role of the screenwriter as a vital partner in the filmmaking process. Main Track Screenwriting Screenwriting Program “I allow Louis Bunel to make Louis Bunel films” screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere, during a 2012 master class at JSFS To write a script is to create a universe, to invent characters, to weave stories that move readers and transport viewers – to allow directors to make movies. Our two-year screenwriting program began in 1999 and offers intensive studies with the goal of turning out inspiring writers who will lead the industry and advance the role of the screenwriter as a vital partner in the filmmaking process. The bi-weekly program is based on inspirational writing classes and workshops led by the best screenwriters working in Israel today. Theory classes are in conjunction with students from the full directing department. Workshops include directing, working with actors, one-on-one tutoring in addition to master classes with leading guests from abroad. Every year the program accepts students with a proven ability to write and express themselves in composition. Our goal is to help them develop first and foremost as independent-minded storytellers, and only after that as writers for film or television. Among our alumni are screenwriters, directors, authors, playwrights, literary editors and cultural leaders. Towards the end of their studies, students undergo preparation for marketing and promotion of their screenplay culminating in a festive event for the industry in search of the next big thing. At this point all of the study at JSFS is in Hebrew only. If this is relevant for you, we encourage you to be in touch with our registrar’s office avital@jsfs.co.il

news Able Hands - Strong Hearts Our students joined the national effort to help farmers in need of able-bodies and went to help on a pepper farm. An important way to make an impact.

NEWS Hollywood Reporter - Sixth year in a row! For a 6th year in a row, the Hollywood Reporter has named the JSFS on its list of leading film schools outside the US. The annual list includes international film schools with strong reputations and a solid record. Sam Spiegel is honored to continue to be on the list, highlighting our educational and artistic vision - as we prepare to move to our new permanent home in central Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School is considered Israel’s leading film school, having won Best Film School 16 times. Named one of the best film schools outside the US by the Hollywood Reporter six years in a row About Why JSFS Management Producer Sam Spiegel The Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School is the leading film school in Israel. On the Hollywood Reporter list of 15 best global film schools for seven years in a row, the school was founded in 1989 by the Israeli Ministry of Education and Culture and the Jerusalem Foundation, as Israel’s first independent, national school for film and television. Among those who played key roles in the school’s establishment were: Israel’s fifth president, Yitzhak Navon; Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek and Ruth Cheshin, Director, Jerusalem Foundation. The executive director of the school is Dana Blankstein Cohen, who took over from founding director Renen Schorr in November 2019. Alongside funding from the Culture Ministry, the City of Jerusalem, and others, the JSFS invests in young filmmakers telling the story of Israeli society with all its facets, placing the School as a hub for the flourishing Israeli cinema. Serving on its board of directors are senior figures in the arts and industry, as well as other public figures, all of whom give of their time and energy on a volunteer basis. Currently JSFS has 180 students enrolled in two tracks: the full track, a four-year program; and the screenwriting track, a two-year program. Thus far, Sam Spiegel has produced over 800 graduates, 75% of whom are employed in the industry, forming the backbone of Israeli cinema and television. An ongoing dialogue with our students is conducted by our 75 instructors, 30 mentors/guidance counselors, 23 support staff, and dozens of guest lecturers. Among the school’s most prominent alumni are Rama Burshtein, Nadav Lapid, Talya Lavie, Tom Shoval, Nir Bergman, Noah Stollman, Yehonatan Indursky, Amichai Chasson, Elad Keidan and Ra'anan Alexandrowicz. The Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School has been recognized at 220 tributes and retrospectives in 56 countries at various festivals and institutions, including at MoMA, the Berlinale (twice), the London Film Festival, the Rotterdam Film Festival, the Sarajevo Film Festival, the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival, Cambridge University Film Festival (twice), the Jerusalem Film Festival (three times), and the Haifa Film Festival (twice). Every year, close to 40 shorts; dramas, and documentaries are produced at Sam Spiegel, most of which are screened at 400 festivals worldwide, among them Cannes, Berlinale, Venice, and Toronto, as well as student, LGBTQ, Jewish, and women’s, children’s, and youth film festivals. In 2011, and as a way to provide horizon for our students and the entire Israeli industry, Sam Spiegel launched the Jerusalem International Film Lab , which brings 12 outstanding young local and foreign filmmakers to Jerusalem to work on their debut feature films. Along with outstanding film editors from around the world, from its first year, the JSFL has become an international hub of full-length feature filmmaking, 70% of which were produced, screened, and won accolades internationally, including the Academy Award for Son of Saul (Laszlo Nemes, Hungary) and the Camera d’Or for Murina (Antoneta Kusijanovic, Croatia). In December 2021 the Sam Spiegel Series Lab was launched with the aim of creating a bridge between Israeli creators and international audiences. With the support of Netflix and Paramount, the Sam Spiegel Labs are able to continue to back bold storytellers, who look deeply into the human experience in search for their unique truth. A new Preparatory Program opened in January 2022, as a six-month program for Arabic speaking residents of east Jerusalem to train and guide an under-served population towards entrance exams for the School. The Preparatory Program is creating a film community in East Jerusalem; integrating Arabic speaking students into the JSFS student body and adding diversity to an already mixed group; teaching academic, artistic and practical skills; and increasing the chance of getting accepted into film school. Out of the first class of 10, four pupils passed the entrance exams and are now full-time students at the School. The second session is currently underway. About School Founder , Renen Schorr Renen Schorr, born Jerusalem, Israel, 1952 is a film director, screenwriter, film producer and Israeli film activist. In 1989, he founded Israel's first independent, national school for film and television, the Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School, and served as its director for thirty years, until November 2019. Since his days as a student in the film department at Tel Aviv University, Schorr has worked towards defying perceptions and erecting new platforms. He was among the founders of the Israel Film Fund (1979); chair of the film department at Beit Zvi (1982-85); the initiator and advisor for the New Fund for Film and Television (1992); the engineer of the Gelfand Fund for Short Films (1996); the driving force behind Israel’s addition to the European Film Academy (2001); the founder and chair of the Jerusalem Film Fund (2008); the founder of the Cinematheques in both Herzliya and Holon (2007, 2008); initiator and founding director of the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab (2011); the founder and director of the First Feature Fund for Sam Spiegel graduates (2015), and more. Among his films as director are After (1977); The Battle of Fort Williams (1981); A Wedding in Jerusalem (1985); Late Summer Blues (1987); The Loners (2009) and Rabbi Heller Blues (2021)

The Sam Spiegel Foundation donates through the Jerusalem Foundation annually from royalties. This donation, with the help of other benefactors, both from Israel and around the world, allows the School to maintain this platform for the students to create and work. About Why JSFS Management Producer Sam Spiegel About The Producer Sam Spiegel, 1901-1985 Sam Spiegel was born Samuel P. Spiegel in Jarosław, Galicia, Austria-Hungary (now Poland) to a Rabbinic-Zionist family. He went to the University of Vienna, and upon immigrating to Israel he served as a pioneer in the “Gdud HaAvoda” socialist group. Spiegel married and started a family in Jerusalem, and after his divorce in 1927 decided to leave Israel. In the early 1930’s Spiegel served as the head of Universal Studios in Berlin, specializing in promotion and distribution of the Studios’ films. He was friends with Jewish-German directors Billy Wilder and Otto Preminger. With the rise of the Nazi party in 1933 Spiegel left Germany and began producing independently, first in Vienna, Prague and Paris, and after 1935 in the U.S.A. Between 1935-1954 he signed his films as S.P.Eagle, and only afterwards did he begin to use his real name. Spiegel is considered one of the greatest most daring producers in the history of American cinema. He won 3 Oscars as a solo producer on his films On the Waterfront (1954), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), and Lawrence of Arabia (1962). Spiegel also won the prestigious Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for his lifetime achievements. Spiegel is known for his artistic and professional partnership with director John Huston (The African Queen 1951) and his long time partnership with British director David Lean (Lawrence of Arabia, The Bridge on the River Kwai). He has worked with the greatest directors, screenwriters and actors of Hollywood such as Orson Welles, Elia Kazan, Marlon Brando, Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, Harold Pinter, Budd Schulberg, Jack Nicholson, Robert Redford, Robert De Niro, Peter O'Toole, Arthur Penn and Jeanne Moreau. He was also close friends with Rainier III, prince of Monaco and his wife Princess Grace Kelly. Spiegel was considered a storyteller that chooses complex outlines that serve the charismatic hero in his fight against the world. He was also known as an opinionated head-strong producer that often chose leading actors with, or sometimes against, his directors, as well as a high risk taker. After he died his good friend Billy Wilder said: “Hollywood without Sam Spiegel is like Tahiti without Gaugin”. Spiegel kept in touch with Israel during the years, especially with noted personalities such as Golda Meir, Ariel Sharon, Ruth Cheshin, the Jerusalem Foundation president, and his good friend Teddy Kollek, Mayor of Jerusalem. Spiegel donated from his private fortune to various Zionist causes. In his final years Spiegel returned to his Jewish and Zionist roots. He saw a rabbi every week and left a big part of his fortune to the city of Jerusalem. His heirs and managers of his estate – his son Adam Spiegel, daughter Alicia Freedman z“l, his niece Judge Raya Dreben; his grandson Michael Freedman and his lawyer David Bottoms, decided to relocate his impressive art collection to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The Sam Spiegel Foundation donates through the Jerusalem Foundation annually from royalties. This donation, with the help of other benefactors, both from Israel and around the world, allows the School to maintain this platform for the students to create and work. In 2005, when the School celebrated its 15th anniversary, the alley where the School is located was renamed “Sam Spiegel Alley”. The street sign reads “Sam Spiegel – Jewish American Film Producer, Oscar winner, pioneer and Zionist”.

Prize Special Mention Prize for "Digital Diary" "Digital Diary" by Yasmine Scheft won the Special Mention prize at the Early Bird Student Film Festival in Bulgaria. The jury statement read: With a simple and great idea, we are able to see what is going on in a young man’s head. As a teenager, he goes through a lot of things, hesitating between following his friends, and doing what sounds good to him. The spectator is entering the intimity of this young woman through the eyes of the teenager, and feels as an intruder, hoping that he will make the right choices. A beautiful piece of life.

News Graduation! 30th Year We celebrated with the class of 2023 at our 30th graduation event where the honorary fellowship was given to Ruth Cheshin. Ruth is a true builder of Jerusalem and among her many worthy projects is the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School which she helped establish in 1989. Congratulations to all of our new graduates!!

Executive Director Dana Blankstein Cohen, who took over from founding director Renen Schorr in November 2019. About Why JSFS Management Producer Sam Spiegel Dana Blankstein Cohen Executive Director Rami Shemesh CFO Mor Eldar Director of the Sam Spiegel Labs Dr. Adi Sheffi Head of Curriculum Shir Shoshani Deputy CEO, Head of the Film and TV Department Cara Saposnik Director of International Relations Tzvika Kertzner Head of Screenwriting Department Board of Directors Chair Asaf Vitman , CEO IPM Zvi Agmon , lawyer Amir Elstein , Chairman Tower Semiconductors Doron Birger , Chairman technological companies Ruth Diskin , Director Culture & Arts, Jerusalem Foundation Prof. Vered Vinitzky-Seroussi , Hebrew University Dorit Hakim Kramer , director and screenwriter, JSFS graduate Ruth Cheshin , Jerusalem Foundation emerita, JSFS founder Gilad Tocatly , director and producer, JSFS graduate Eli Yones , former CEO Bank Mizrachi Oren Most , founder and president of Golan Telecom Yossi Urzad , author and chair of Dog TV Avraham Pirchi , owner UCM Films Efrat Shapira Rosenberg , media personality and lawyer Gideon Tadmor , CEO Navitas Petroleum Former Chairs Micha Shagrir z”l (1989-1994) Eli Younes (1995-1997) Eitan Raff (1997-2005) Erez Vigodman (2005-2010) Gilad Sher (2010-2013) Dov Beharv (2013-2015)

NEWS First place! CILECT Prize 2023 "Before Bedtime", the award-winning documentary by Fábio Zilberman Iuchno just took first place in the 2023 CILECT Prize! Each year film schools worldwide choose and rank the best student films - and this year the best documentary was awarded to our student!