Assaf Amir | |
Birth Place: | Rehovot, Israel |
Spouse: | Orly Maiberg |
Children: | 3 |
Chairman of The Israeli Academy of Film and Television | |
Alma Mater: | City College of San Francisco, The New School for Social Research |
Assaf Amir (he|'''אסף אמיר'''; born 1954) is an Israeli filmmaker and television and film producer, former chairman of The Israeli Producers Association and the current chairman of The Israeli Academy of Film and Television.
Amir was born in 1954 in Rehovot and grew up in Bat-Yam. During his childhood, he was a child actor at the Habima National Theatre.
Amir studied cinema and philosophy at the City College of San Francisco and continued his studies at The New School for Social Research in NYC. During his time in New York, he met his future wife, artist Orly Maiberg.
Upon his return to Israel, Amir began producing films. He was the executive producer for Aviya's Summer and Israeli Academy Awards for Best Film Winner Life According to Agfa.
In 1994, Amir founded Norma Productions, an independent production company. His first independent production was Elia Suleiman’s Chronicle of a Disappearance in 1996. It won the Best First Film Prize at the Venice International Film Festival.
In 1997, Amir produced Pick a Card (aka Afula Express), which won the Israeli Academy Award for Best Film.
In 2003, Amir produced Nir Bergman's Broken Wings, which won the Israeli Academy Award for Best Film and the Audience Award at the Berlinale film festival. Amir collaborated with Bergman again in 2010 producing his film Intimate Grammar.
In 2005, Amir produced What a Wonderful Place, which won the Israeli Academy Best Film Award, and the Special Jury award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
During the Following years, Amir produced the films Noodle, The Loners and Zion and His Brother.
In 2012, Amir produced Rama Burshtein's debut film Fill the Void, which won the Israeli Academy Best Film Award and the Best Actress award at the Venice International Film Festival.
In 2016, Amir went on to produce Burshtein's next film, The Wedding Plan (aka Through the Wall).
In 2005, Amir created the television drama "Reaching for Heaven" in collaboration with Shlomo Mashiach and Roni Ninio, which won the Israeli Academy Awards for Best Drama Series. In 2007 Amir produced the television drama "Walk the Dog" directed by Nir Bergman, which won the Israeli Academy Award for Best Television Drama. In 2020, Amir created Together with Noa Koller and Erez Drigues the comedy-drama Rehearsals, which won eight Israeli Academy awards (including Best Series) and was acquired by American network Hulu and distributed worldwide.
Amir produced many documentaries including Tali Shemesh's The Cemetery Club, Yair Qedar's Gay Days, Michal Weits's Blue Box and Nur Fibak's A Minor Crime which won the Israeli academy of film and television award for Best Documentary Film (max. 60 minutes) in 2023.
Amir served as the chairman of The Israeli Producers Association during the years 2012–2015. He is currently serving as the chairman of The Israeli Academy of Film and Television beginning in 2019.
Amir is the grandson of Meyer Weisgal, an American Journalist, Zionist activist, and one of the founders of Weizmann Institute of Science and Beit Hatfutsot (the Jewish Diaspora Museum). His parents were among the founders of Kibbutz Shoval. Amir is married to artist Orly Maiberg. They have three children. He currently resides in Tel Aviv.
1988 | Aviya's Summer | Executive producer |
1993 | Life According to Agfa | Executive producer |
1996 | Chronicle of a Disappearance | Executive producer |
1997 | Afula Express | |
2003 | Broken Wings | |
2004 | Riky Riky | |
2005 | What a Wonderful Place | |
2007 | Noodle | |
2009 | The Loners | |
2009 | Zion and His Brother | |
2010 | Intimate Grammar | |
2010 | Dusk | |
2012 | Fill the Void | |
2016 | The Wedding Plan | |
2016 | Epilogue | |
2016 | The 90 Minute War | |
2022 | Sand Flakes | |
2004 | Melting Siberia | |
2006 | Tali Fahima Crossing The Lines | |
2006 | The Cemetery Club | |
2007 | A Million Bullets in October | |
2009 | Gay Days | |
2013 | Turning Thirteen | |
2015 | This Boy Is Me | |
2015 | Meshulam | |
2016 | Let's Dance | |
2017 | Rachel Agmon | |
2019 | Chasing Yehoshua | |
2019 | Open Your Mouth | |
2020 | Blue Box | |
2023 | A minor Crime | |
2000–2005 | Reaching for Heaven | |
2009 | Walk the Dog | Written by Shirly Moshaioff |
2009 | Castles in the Sky | |
2010 | The Journalists | |
2012 | The Albums | |
2017 | A Standard Love Song: Arik Einstein | |
2020 | Rehearsals | |