Ronit Elkabetz

Ronit Elkabetz is one of the most outstanding personalities that the Israeli cinema has given.  Celebrated actress, screenwriter and director, she made her debut in The Appointed by Daniel Wachsmann (1989).

She would mostly play powerful roles, impersonating women of strong will and intense emotions, which rapidly led the way to an international career. For Late Marriage by Dover Kosashvili (2001), she won her second Israeli Ofir for Best Actress (she won her first Ofir with Sh’chur by Shmuel Hasfari, back in 1994). Or by Keren Yedaya (2004) won the Caméra d’or in Cannes, whereas with her role in The Band’s Visit by Eran Kolirin (2007) she won yet another Ofir award for Best Actress.

In France, she works with André Téchiné (The Girl on the Train, 2009), Pascal Elbé (Turk’s Head, 2010) and Brigitte Sy (Free Hands, 2010). In parallel, she has directed three feature films in collaboration with her brother Shlomi: To Take a Wife (2004), winner of the Audience Award at the Venice Film Festival, Shiva (2008) and Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem, which was selected at the Directors’ Fortnight in 2014, was nominated to the Golden Globes, won the Best Film of the Year Ofir Award and was awarded other twenty international prizes. Ronit Elkabetz has also shot a TV series for Arte, Trepalium, by Belgian director Vincent Lannoo.

After the selection of Or in 2004 and the screening at the opening night of Shiva in 2008, Ronit Elkabetz returned in 2015 at La Semaine de la Critique, as President of the Jury.