Avi Mograbi

Directing

Avi Mograbi

Born May 9, 1956 · Tel Aviv, Israel (age 70)

Studied Philosophy at Tel Aviv University and Art at Ramat Hasharon Art School. Worked as First Assistant Director in local and foreign feature films and commercials before directing.

Known For

When Night FallsWhen Night Falls · 1985
When Night Falls
5.81985
MovieDrama
Giora (Assi Dayan) runs a bar and dreams of opening a restaurant. He has made a mess of his life — his marriage is in trouble, since he is pathologically cheating on his wife; his parents (Yosef Millo and Orna Porat) have separated; and his father arrives for an extended visit from Nahariya. Giora spends time with his army buddies, recalling their experiences during the War in Lebanon. His father is undergoing a major life crisis and finds both the loneliness of the city and his son's lifestyle unappealing. As a non-Jew in a Jewish society, he feels estranged, an outsider who has never been able to adapt, and contemplates suicide. Eventually, Giora's parents decide to attempt a reconciliation, until tragedy strikes.
Wait, It's the Soldiers, I'll Hang Up NowWait, It's the Soldiers, I'll Hang Up Now · 2002
Wait, It's the Soldiers, I'll Hang Up Now
2002
MovieDrama
Between FencesBetween Fences · 2016
Between Fences
5.72016
MovieDocumentary
Avi Mograbi documents an Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers’ theatre workshop taking place in an immigration detention centre. In the process, he posits a flurry of questions: What leads men and women to upend their lives and embark on a journey into the unknown? Why does Israel, a country founded by and for refugees, refuse to consider the status of those who have fled war, genocide, and persecution in their native countries, as the mandated by the Refugee Convention? And are Israelis, who work with the asylum seekers, capable of walking a mile in their shoes and relating to their predicament?
DeportationDeportation · 1989
Deportation
8.01989
MovieDrama
A short film consisting of one scene in which three people (clearly Palestinians) are deported from their country. What happens in the film doesn’t quite look like a deportation. All its brutal externals have been peeled away, to leave the act itself exposed to a moral discussion.
Once I Entered in a GardenOnce I Entered in a Garden · 2013
Once I Entered in a Garden
6.02013
MovieDocumentary
Fantasizes an 'Old' Middle East, wherein communities were not divided along ethnic and religious lines; a Middle East in which even metaphorical borders had no place
The ReconstructionThe Reconstruction · 1994
The Reconstruction
6.21994
MovieDocumentary
On December 8, 1983 a fifteen year old Jewish boy from the city of Haifa was kidnapped, murdered and sexually abused after his death. Five Arabs who worked in in the neighborhood’s supermarket were convicted and imprisoned for life and 27 years. The conviction was based only on the defendants’ confessions and reconstructions. Seventeen years after their conviction, the five defendants still claim they are innocent. "​The Reconstruction" follows the police investigation and juridical process step by step. The heart of the film is the original videotaped reconstructions of the murder performed by the defendants in which they admit their guilt.
Avenge But One of My Two EyesAvenge But One of My Two Eyes · 2005
Avenge But One of My Two Eyes
7.02005
MovieDocumentary
Shot in the Occupied Territories by Israeli director Avi Mograbi, this controversial documentary film draws parallels between the Israeli - Palestinian situation today and the enduring myths of Samson and Masada. Mograbi offers a powerful, at times chilling, lament of the continuing cycles of violence rooted in the past and threatening to engulf everyone's future. With the roots of so much real-world conflict left unexamined by today's restless media, this film reminds us just how vital filmmakers like Avi Mograbi are. Documentary today is rarely immersed in questions of this magnitude - or tackles them with the level of eloquence shown here by Mograbi. An exceptional and challenging film.
Z32Z32 · 2009
Z32
5.42009
MovieDocumentary
A former Israeli soldier participated in a mission of retribution in which two Palestinian policemen were killed. He seeks forgiveness for what he did. His girlfriend does not think it is so simple and raises questions that he is not yet able to cope with. The soldier willingly testifies before the camera as long as his identity is not revealed. The filmmaker, while seeking a solution to protect the identity of the soldier, questions his own political and artistic conduct.

Filmography

Sort
When Night FallsWhen Night Falls · 1985
When Night Falls
5.81985
MovieDrama
Giora (Assi Dayan) runs a bar and dreams of opening a restaurant. He has made a mess of his life — his marriage is in trouble, since he is pathologically cheating on his wife; his parents (Yosef Millo and Orna Porat) have separated; and his father arrives for an extended visit from Nahariya. Giora spends time with his army buddies, recalling their experiences during the War in Lebanon. His father is undergoing a major life crisis and finds both the loneliness of the city and his son's lifestyle unappealing. As a non-Jew in a Jewish society, he feels estranged, an outsider who has never been able to adapt, and contemplates suicide. Eventually, Giora's parents decide to attempt a reconciliation, until tragedy strikes.

Second Assistant Director

Avenge But One of My Two EyesAvenge But One of My Two Eyes · 2005
Avenge But One of My Two Eyes
7.02005
MovieDocumentary
Shot in the Occupied Territories by Israeli director Avi Mograbi, this controversial documentary film draws parallels between the Israeli - Palestinian situation today and the enduring myths of Samson and Masada. Mograbi offers a powerful, at times chilling, lament of the continuing cycles of violence rooted in the past and threatening to engulf everyone's future. With the roots of so much real-world conflict left unexamined by today's restless media, this film reminds us just how vital filmmakers like Avi Mograbi are. Documentary today is rarely immersed in questions of this magnitude - or tackles them with the level of eloquence shown here by Mograbi. An exceptional and challenging film.

Director

Our Beds Are BurningOur Beds Are Burning · 2021
Our Beds Are Burning
2021
MovieDocumentary
The film presents fascist ideologies since the beginning of the 20th Century. The actor/presenter of Maurice Barrés argues against foreign labor on the Tel Aviv beach. Mussolini in a gym. Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera in a bookshop. Carl Schmitt at court. Abba Ahimeir and Itamar Ben-Avi in a public library. Gudrun Streiter recalls her love affair with an SA Stormtrooper with Hitler and Himmler on a bench in a park. Three Rabbis from the Yitzhar Settlement on the West Bank: Shapira, Ginzburg and Elitzur have recently ruled that “there is a reason to kill a child if it is clear that it will grow to harm us” (Torat Hamelekh, 2009, pg. 207). They too appear and discuss their interpretation of Divine commands on a park bench.